Escape to Ethiopia in NYC

This year is the year of new experiences and adventures. First was India, and now its Ethiopia! However, I didn’t hop on a plane this time… just took the 2/3 uptown.  Thanks to my friends Chanel and Veralyn who were raving about Ethiopian food and decided to take me once they found out I had never been. We ended up at this place call Awash (the one on Amsterdam and 106/107). It’s a cute, little, quaint place, but it has charm, and it was full of patrons!! So what’s the food like…AMAZING!!! I didn’t know exactly what to order so I spent the entire day on Yelp trying to figure out what dishes to get and Google-ing what the heck they were! (Very helpful, btw). I ended up getting one of their combination platters where you can choose two meat selections and three vegetables. I ordered Special Tibs (Cubed meat in a really spicy sauce---delicious!), and Doro Wat (Chicken in Berbere sauce) as my meat choices. For the veggies, Shiro (ground split peas and chick peas), Yemisser Kik Wat (red lentils in Berbere sauce), and Gomen (collard greens). My favorite of the five had to have been the Special Tibs. It kinda reminded me of carne guisada (Dominican dish- beef sautéed in a tomato sauce I think would be the translation), but more spicier and less saltier lol. I wasn’t too crazy about the veggies, though. Never really have been a vegetable-eating kinda girl, but if they are seasoned well enough I can go crazy on them. Not the case here. Maybe I’m just spoiled with my culture and the craze with sabor, but their vegetables were a little … “dull” I guess would be the word (they weren’t really bland). The flavor didn’t kick me in the mouth the way it did with the Special Tibs and Doro Wat.  Next time I go, I’m sticking to the beef and chicken. Maybe I might try some lamb, but we’ll see J

Here's the link to Awash. They actually have 3 locations: Uptown, Downtown, and BK!! 

Letting Go: Thoughts Provoked by Veralyn

Another post within the same week!!! I am on a roll, lol! But I couldn’t help it… had to talk about this video blog is saw today. I know I’ve been talking a lot about keeping it moving, but I forgot to mention the “keeping strong” portion.  This is an area that I am working on in my life. Veralyn, the video blogger, discusses the fact that she has had relationships in the past that have gone “back and forth”; she has never severed ties and always kept these people around. Sadly, I am guilty of the same. I think its time that I start to end things when I mean to. If things aren’t working out, I need to leave the situation completely alone and really, truly, END things. No communication, no visitations, no nothing. If we’re done… we’re done! Now Veralyn posses a good question for those who have been able to walk away from their relationships without looking back: Was it hard? Now my question is, what did you do to keep yourself from even lifting a finger to contact them? How did you get yourself to think? Its obviously easy to say “I don’t want to have anything to do with you anymore”, but as females we are extremely emotional and sometimes that can cloud our judgment, lol. Looking forward to hearing your responses :) 

Veralyn the Video Blogger

Find Heaven in Yourself and God

So, to keep it simple, I recently got my heart crushed and have been trying figure out how to pick up the pieces and keep it moving. The first and easiest thing I could think of was exercise! Yes it creates great endorphins to make me cheery, but also I need to get fit for the summer time ; . As I’m running on the treadmill, Common’s Geto Heaven Part II comes on. For some reason, every time I go to the gym one of common’s songs always seems to speak to me. Anyway, there’s a part where he says “want a certain type of guy, gotta reach a certain point too.”  I don’t know why but I started to think about the fact that right now, I’m not in a good place; I’m not who I want to be right now and I realized that there are a few of things I want to work on about me. Like I need to learn to be stronger and not such a “yes” woman all the time. I need to focus not only on my goals and where I want to be, but also on my person. What makes me happy? What are some flaws I have? What are the things I’ve always wanted to do? What do I need to do in order to be where I want in the future? By focusing on answering these questions (and doing them) this, Ill find “Heaven in myself and God”… Ill find happiness and peace of mind.

To conclude my small rant… who needs men? They cause so much unnecessary drama!! lol. Well I hope this may inspire some of you.

Don't Bite the Hand that Feeds You

I have been thinking a lot about the professional field that I am currently working in and how my feelings towards it have changed. I am a teacher in the NYC school system. I teach in one of the toughest districts in Brooklyn, and on top of that, its an all boys high school. So when I say its tough, I mean it!

Like any business, its success depends on how well it is managed and how good your workers are. How do you get good workers? How do you know if these workers are good? That seems to be the question that pops up everywhere in society, and everyone has their own standards they like to put teachers on. Bottom line, if your students are engaged and learning, that means your doing something good.

I don't believe standardized tests are a good indicator of whether you are doing your job or not, especially since there are many factors that effect the testing results. You have issues of biased information- Global Studies is heavily European and does not relate at all to my students. Most of them are of Caribean and African descent so I can teach them about their cultures and history from the perspective of their cultures, yet it will not appear on most standardized tests. You also have issues with students who are intelligent but are not great test takers (that's where I fall). I'm not even going to touch upon the students who fail because they don't receive the proper educational services they deserve, or the students who lack motivation because no one at home sees the value of education. But that's a different discussion.

Everyone seems to be focused on weeding out "bad" teachers, but no one is focusing on how to KEEP them. If you look at NYC's retention rate, 30 % of new teachers say they will most likely not return after 3 years of teaching. Unfortunately, I am part of that number and here is one reason why.

Salary:
One day, as I sat in my room after paying off all my bills and looked at what I had left for groceries and leisure, this depressing feeling came over me. I've worked so hard all these years, managed to get a masters degree while teaching as well, and what do I have to show for it?? Almost nothing!!!!! I started to think about my coworkers who are able to afford going out for drinks and buying new clothes every month or so and I realized, all of them live with their partners or a roommate! I live by myself and my rent alone is a little more than 1200/mo (which isn't too bad for living in Brooklyn) which is pretty much an entire paycheck. I thought to myself: "Why am I living paycheck to paycheck when I have a college and a graduate degree, and I have a professional career, not just some job I do to make ends meet.

I looked up an article in the Huffington Post that read,

In New York, the minimum wage is $7.25, far below the $11.86 an hour it takes to actually live in the city, according to the Living Wage Project. And it takes six figures to effectively belong in the city's middle class. A 2009 study from the Center for an Urban Future found that someone making $60,000 and living in Manhattan is equivalent to someone making $26,092, according to the New York Daily News.

So I'm not the only one struggling to live in this great city, but why are TEACHERS living like this?! If education is the backbone of any nation, if it is what we need in order to become top, leading nations in the world, why the hell are we not acting like we value it?! Here's a chart I found in the NYC.gov archive (*copy of doc can be found at the bottom of this post)

City or County in NY	Median Salary
Scarsdale	$90,0001
Bronxville	$86,0002
Chappaqua	$75,1903
Westchester	$68,4004
White Plains	$68,0005
Yonkers	$67,2916
Nassau	$66,2627
New York City	$47,3458

New York City has one of the toughest populations, and the worst (overall) scores and education problems, so why are we getting paid the least? We work in schools that have little to no resources, and with students who, most of the time, can't afford notebooks or folders or pens. We come out of pocket from our salaries (which are, quite frankly, a JOKE!) to make up for the lack in our schools. We are dedicated, and we care, but at a certain point we get burned out (or burnt out??). I love my students, but  I can't continue to live in conditions like this. I can't continue to work for a boss that doesn't value my effort and commitment to my students, and that doesn't support me in my growth as a teacher. If your workers aren't happy, your business won't be "happy" (successful). NYC education systems need a change and need it quick!

Teacher Attrition and Retention - Please look through this. It really touches on everything most teachers  are feeling about their jobs in NYC. We really do love what we do and who we serve, but we can't do it running on empty. 

Commentary on Freidman’s Op-Ed: “Need a Job? Invent It”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/opinion/sunday/friedman-need-a-job-invent-it.html?smid=pl-share 

Came across this article that couldn’t have come at a better time. Not only does this article talk about those of us who are in a rut in our careers, but it also discusses how we need to change our education system.

To begin with, this article discusses how our generation now has to re-create our jobs or simply invent knew ones because of technology and our every changing world. I recently mentioned in a post how I felt like I was going nowhere in my current job, and how I needed to take risks. This was exactly the risk I needed to hear about, as I’m sure many of you out there need to hear it to. It’s time for us to step out of the “norm”, move away from the comfort zone, and begin thinking creatively about our skills and what we have to offer as professionals. Upset about the way your field is running, write a book, figure out a way to change it, and talk about it! Become your own boss and create the dream job you want!!

Now on the other hand, this article deals with the education system in the US, and I can’t agree with it more. As an educator, I can speak first hand and say that we aren’t preparing our students for the future. I fully agree with Wagner about the fact that we need to stop focusing on “college readiness” and begin looking at “innovation readiness”. I know I’ve said it before that being prepared to get into college isn’t enough. We need to make sure that our youth are ready and prepared for beyond college, AKA the real world. Which means, how to problem solve, how to lead, how to manage, and how to create. I teach in an all boy school where the population is 99.9% Black. And I know that many of them lack the ability to think for themselves, or at least in a creative capacity (except when it comes to music, lyrics, and fashion). Its sad to think that education is only regurgitated material that is stuffed into their brains.  When will the US wake up? Maybe its time for educators who are fed up to put their feet down and take the reigns.

At any rate, this book will be in my summer reading list.