The Verses

Stop. I know what you're thinking. It's got "satanic" in the title. The book must be about the devil. Nope.

The title actually refers to an old Islamic legend/myth that Muhammad, tired of his new sect being persecuted made a compromise deal with the Meccan authorities to recognize three of their local deities to pacify the local chieftains. This obviously went against the first tenet of the new religion of Islam which stresses monotheism. So, according to the legend Muhammad had those verses in the Quran excised. He said that Shaitan had tempted him and he called these apocryphal passages "the satanic verses." So no, this novel isn't really about Satan. Rest easy.

 

You also might remember that this is the book that made the Ayatollah Khomeini so angry he issued a $1 million dollar reward for the death of the author and issued a religion edict banning its existence. Is it really so bad that the author deserves death? Absolutely not! Now, if I was a religious extremist then I might be a bit offended because the book isn't too kind to dogmatic religious extremism. Blasphemous? I'm not Islamic so I can't really say. Doesn't seem so to me.

 

So I became a fan of Salman Rushdie over 20 years ago. He is one of our greatest writers and thinkers. In his interviews he always comes off as generous of spirit, kind, funny, intelligent and heroic. This man who had to go into hiding for years and later was violently attacked by a fundamentalist for this work seemed anything but "satanic" to me.

 

Still, although I read many of his other works, it took me a long time to finally decide to pick this one up, mainly due to the controversy surrounding the fatwa and rumors that it was a challenging read. I also grew up in a tradition that was deeply afraid of anything even remotely associated with Satan. The fact that name was in the title was enough to cause me to shy away despite that not really being the subject of the book. But I haven't been scared of the devil in a long time so I finally got around to picking this book up and diving in. This is an astonishingly beautiful work. It is sensitive and yet forceful in its critique of blind dogmatism. It allows for both mysticism and rationalism. It is epic in scope and grand in ambition. I'm afraid many have probably been scared off from this work, as I was for years, by the title and fatwa controversy. A tiny protest against the Ayatollahs and their ilk is to read this spectacular work. I'm glad I finally braved it.

Pope and Dylan

An American Pope holds audience with the American Bard just as the prophecy foretold. 

Camus Birthday

Camus has been one of the greatest influences on my worldview and social and political ideology. One of the great moral philosophers and writers of the 20th century. Today is his birthday. 

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Announcement.

A recent post of mine regarding my thoughts on public education has been shared widely and it has led to the mis-conception by those who are not Facebook Friends of mine that I won some elective office in the State of Texas. I have received many messages from people I don’t know congratulating me on my victory and giving me ideas on educational policy they would like to see implemented. I’m honored by your kind regards but I must say for the record that I did not run for or win any political office. I have no governmental authority in any capacity. I am a humble teacher in the Texas Public Education system and have no plans to ever run for office. I can’t even win enough votes to win Teacher of the Year. The idea of campaigning, asking for money and shaking hands with thousands of people is one that causes me anxiety just thinking of it. I encourage you to send your petitions to Austin beginning January 19th when the new government of The Republic of Texas is inaugurated. Thank you for your attention! Peace and Love!

16 things

 As a Public Educator, here is what I hope to see now that the State of Texas will have a new Governor, Lt. Governor, control of the State House of Representatives and possibly a majority on the State Board of Education….

1) Name a new Education Commissioner on Day One. Governor-Elect Hinojosa has promised this. 

2) Repeal the School Voucher Scam and restore this lost funding to our public schools. 

3) Dramatically raise Teacher salaries to near the top of the nation. I’m aware this is self-serving. Texas currently ranks 33rd in the U.S. Texas currently has a budget surplus of $23.8 billion alongside a rainy-day fund of $28 billion. A fraction of that could immediately double the salary of every teacher in Texas overnight. 

4) Once salaries are raised and a transition period has occurred, make sure all teachers in classrooms are fully certified or actively on the path toward certification. 

5) Eliminate the STAAR test and other phony standardized exams that are rigged against students and teachers. These simply exist to enrich testing companies and place unfair levers of control over public schools. They do not come close to accurately monitoring student progress. Let teachers help design true diagnostics to guide progress. 

6) Tie teacher pay to administration pay. Superintendents/Principals etc receive a raise, teachers recieve a raise. 

7) DOGE and trim the administrative bloat at the Texas Education Agency. 

8.) Create a formula that more equally balances district administrative positions with student/teacher population. 

9) Restore the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and not force/mandate religious imagery to be displayed in publicly funded classrooms. 

10) Suspend the cryptic and opaque A-F district accountability ratings until a fair and transparent system can be formulated in coordination with professional public educators. 

11) Suspend all current vendor contracts. These contracts were often given to friends and donors of the Governor. Enforce or create ethics laws that prevent this type of corruption and double dealing. Make the process transparent to the public. 

12) Restore funding to public schools and prohibit funding initiatives to be tied to political mandates of the Governor. Don’t use funding to strong arm political initiatives. 

13) Fund better health insurance policies for our teachers and retired teachers. 

14) Bolster and enhance the Teacher Retirement System and raise the cost of living allotment for retired teachers on a more regular schedule. 

15) Create a curriculum in conjunction with teachers that eliminates political or religious bias (example: scrap Bluebonnet Learning and try again). 

16) Repeal Senate Bill 12 and address the concerns in a new, refined bi-partisan bill that addresses the valid concerns of parents and teachers that were addressed in this flawed piece of legislation but which indulged too much in political engineering. 

These are just a few public education initiatives off the top of my mind I’d like to see implemented. Governor-Elect Hinojosa has promised to enact many of these. We will see if any of this actually happens. But at least now there’s an actual chance. Before last night we had no hope for real reform in our Public Education system. Today we do.

Blue Tsunami

Days like this are rare. I try not to take them for granted. Last night the nation, the State of Texas and millions of people repudiated the racism, bigotry, misogyny and cruelty of the current administration. 

The polls under-estimated the Democrat's chances. Virtually all statewide races in Texas went blue. And most of these races were not even close. This was a blowout of epic proportions. Staggering and surreal. The people proved that even half a billion dollars spent by the world's only trillionaire can't defeat the power of the people's vote.  

Last night went far better than even what I could imagine. I expected Talarico to win. But Hinojosa for governor is just as wonderful. Abbott has done great harm to our public education systems in Texas. Maybe there's hope for our schools. Dems also knocked out that troll Dan Patrick as Lt. Governor. AG, Texas Railroad Commissioner, comptroller etc... It almost all went Democratic. Even the Texas State House could fall into the control of the Democrats once all the ballots are tabulated. This state has been a one-party state since I moved here thirty years ago. And in one startling night, it changed blue. 

I'm not saying everything will be roses and rainbows from here on out. Those who lost will be even more determined to lash out. But for now, the direction of this state and this nation has changed in a more hopeful, compassionate and thoughtful direction. Day by day, step by step evil can be defeated.

We still have a raving madman in the White House. A desperate criminal is dangerous. The next two years could be bumpy. No telling what a deranged fool might do once they've been stripped of their support base. 

But for now, I will enjoy this day.  

The Day

 Election Day. Let's see if a Blue Tsunami really happens. We have been disappointed before. Let's hope this year is different. 

Shirt

 I can only wear this shirt once a year. 

Company

 Sometimes I have company when I get ready in the mornings. 

Liars and Hoaxes

A quote by Salman Rushdie that I find especially powerful, especially considering the trials he has faced in the name of speaking the truth...

"We can sing the truth and name the liars, we can join in solidarity with our fellows on the front lines and magnify their voices by adding our own to them." 

I intend to do all of this in this post.

As a public educator in the State of Texas it's important for me to let you know that not one student has ever been told by a school employee in any school to undergo transition surgery. The Governor of Texas is intentionally mis-leading you. The only incidents where this was claimed were revealed in a Texas Court of Law to be hoaxes perpetrated by political activists of a political action committee that supports Governor Greg Abbott.

School employees cannot even provide Tylenol or cough drops without written parental permission and a phone call home, much less engage in a complicated and expensive procedure to alter the gender of a student. This week I had to sign permission simply for my daughter to visit a pumpkin patch with a school organization. 

This is a deliberate and malicious attempt to undermine our public schools. As someone who has served as a public school teacher for twenty-eight years I find these preposterous lies offensive and patently stupid.