Vaguely Pissed Off Rant:

My nephew Trevor was in a motorcycle accident this past weekend. He’s fine. He laid the bike down on the highway on his first long trip taken with a friend and his friend’s father. He did everything right. He stayed with the bike. He was wearing good leathers. He doesn’t have a scratch on him. His gas tank and handle bars are messed up, but both he and the bike will also live. About a year ago a friend of his was killed on his bike when he tried to pass someone and got into a head on collision, so I was surprised that he wanted a bike and more surprised that he got one.

My sister’s advice after the accident was that he get right back on the bike. Some mothers would want the thing melted down ASAP, but we are not that sort of family or those sorts of people. Trev was prepared. He had taken the right classes and when the trial by fire came, he did everything right. I told this story in my class last night because there had been a number of presentations on protecting kids that went along the lines of “how do we prevent them from…” and I said I am more worried about creating a culture of fear than I am worried about the possibility of any of these cultural boogie men that the media throws up to frighten parents.

We had just tried to discuss an article that suggested that 80 % of teens do not have a rough time, get along with their parents, and transition easily to adulthood. A large segment of the class didn’t want to believe this. My assertion that you raise good people and get the hell out of the way was an unpopular position and I got cold shouldered at break time by the radical interventionists.

This weekend Jason’s friend Chris asked me why in the world I would want to teach high school. As I smoked my cigar and got ready to tee off on the fourth hole I said, “The lousy pay and the discipline problems first drew me to the field.” I was kidding of course, but the high school environment I am being shown in this class is a gloom and doom version of legalese and liability. I am not sure that quality education is possible in that context. I am beginning to think that high school may not be right for me. I’m glad that I am in these classes and I do think that this program was the right move, but teaching might not be the end result.

What does this mean in pragmatic terms for my life? I love St. Louis, but if I want to teach anything other than high school I will have to leave St. Louis, both to get a job and a Ph.D. I may need to leave because neither of those opportunities are here.

Part of what happens on some blogs (this blog) is that people bitch about things. My gas tank, my cupboard, and my bank account are all empty (negative actually) and I am getting really sick of it. I had to walk to school today because I need to save my gas for emergencies. I am also getting fairly sick of the reactionary fear based cultural shift that America has taken. I really do think that most manifestations of the conservative movement are not just wrong thinking, but are actually evil. It is evil to deny gay couples equal treatment under the law. It is evil that lower classes don’t have equal access to health care and prescription drugs. The invasion of Iraq and the ongoing death parade is an evil akin to many of the atrocities of history. In a more enlightened future Bush will be acknowledged as one of the worst presidents in our history who did more to blight the planet in the repeal of environmental legislation and regressive social policy than any ten previous big business administrative lackeys. I am worn out and a large part of me wants out.

If I am thinking about leaving America for some as yet unspecified liberal Eden where long hairs like myself have a shot at both happiness and solvency, where should I go? Where is the liberal Eden? Is it Sweden? Would things go more my way in Norway? Today I feel like America is too far gone, the pendulum has swung more than I can tolerate.