“It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play.”
–Lennon/McCartney
The year of anniversaries. Ten years ago, 2009, Obama was inaugurated and I tried to get my students interested in watching history in the making. Not everyone is interested in history. Kids ask, “Why do I need to learn history if it already happened?” “Why do I need to learn about dead people?” I usually respond with some confounded response about how history lays bricks for future roads. Continue reading
I found this hidden amongst my old emails. It was a writing made upon my cell phone notes as I walked around the beautiful splendor of Rome.
To begin, we go back in time to the end of WW2. The Japanese lost the war and were forced to relinquish control of their annexed Korean territory which they had established in 1910 and cruelly administered. The Soviets, who had only entered the Pacific theater of the war weeks before, were given temporary authority over lands north of the arbitrarily decided 38th parallel whereas U.S.A. was given the lands to the south. Continue reading
Teaching Korean kindergarteners about Rosa Parks involves a lot of backstory. The story doesn’t begin on that bus in Alabama. Its roots are profoundly sad and incomprehensible. I found myself saying things like, “White people didn’t like black people,” and really struggling to find a simple answer to their, “Why?” It is an oversimplification for sure, but slavery and its legacy in America is both undeniably understood as a construct of capitalism yet difficult to comprehend in a moral context. Continue reading
I’ve been to 10 countries this year but spent the bulk in either Italy or Korea. I think somehow I’m fully American diluted with Italian and Korean blood now. My roots spread far. Both countries have their pros and cons, but which is the better place to live? Continue reading
“Morgan Freeman died,” my co-teacher whispered to me in a hushed tone befitting the situation. A famous, beloved actor, who has brought many of us cinephiles great joy, had passed away. Continue reading
There are four horse shows in Texas for me per year. I don’t ride. I don’t really work. I don’t even know much about horses. But my talented, beautiful girlfriend does. She is part of the longest tradition of partnerships, i.e. horse and man. They have conquered continents together, vanquished the Aztec and Inca empires together, and now man only rides them for pleasure. The once proud warrior breeds wouldn’t know a battle if they stepped in it. It’s only natural that the horse is put into pleasure riding after cars were invented. It makes me believe that when auto-pilot cars or flying smart cars are created that we will pine for the days of operated automobiles and there will be car competitions with spectators marveling at how well the driver can shift gears or make smooth turns. We are in a new world and we have new pastimes. Our cars carry horsepower; however, they are powered by the convenience of just filling up and pulling out on the highway to explore the strip malls and fast food joint of America’s paved crossroads.
William Sabia 