I was going to take a break from doing these for a while, but enough interesting stuff came up this week to do another, so here it is.
Tres Palmas Goes Green
Those who stopped by our place last weekend after the Picnic may remember that there was a toilet in the front room. This toilet has now been installed and is doing good service. It is a low-flow dual-flush design with one button for No.1 and another for No.2. I expect dramatically lowered water bills. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Mas About MAS
The May 23 issue of The Nation magazine, in their Noted section, had coverage of the TUSD board kerfuffle.
AZ STUDENTS FIGHT BACK: Flanked by 100 police officers in riot gear, the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) board agreed at a heated May 3 meeting to allow community input before voting on a controversial resolution that would demote the Mexican American Studies (MAS) program from a core curriculum to an elective. The decision ended a weeklong showdown, including a nonviolent occupation of the board chambers by the student group UNIDOS on April 26, but ensure that TUSD will remain a flashpoint in the statewide assault on ethnic studies.
Outraged by the excessive show of force, many parents at the meeting charged TUSD superintendent John Pedicone with disregarding local residents and Tucson's heritage, encouraging cultural division and reneging on his promise to challenge the constitutionality of the ethnic studies ban passed by the Arizona State legislature in May 2010. (MAS director Sean Arce and other TUSD teachers have filed a federal suit against the ban.)
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In a prepared statement, education scholar Nolan Cabrera challenged board president Mark Stegeman's assertion that the MAS program had "marginal success at closing the achievement gap." An internal analysis concluded in March that MAS students have "a measurable advantage over non-MAS students" in standardized tests and that students who participate "graduate at higher levels than their non-MAS counterparts."
US Rep. Raul Grijalva, father of TUSD board member Adelita Grijalva, had this to say in this morning's Arizona Daily Star. The Star also covered NBC News superstar and UA grad Savannah Guthrie's commencement address to UA's Class of 2011. More below ...
Baja Arizona in the News
Baja Kossack rasbobbo put me on to this at wonkette. I love that picture of Ed Abbey, my sentiments exactly. The Wonkette piece links to this from Reuters.
Meanwhile at Blog for Arizona
Blog for Arizona has been very good lately. David Safier posted this on ALEC the other day. Apparently AZ ALEC public sector chairman Debbie Lesko sent an email to all members of the Arizona House inviting them to ALEC's carnevál of corruption in New Orleans and Safier got hold of it. Attached to the invitation is a list of current Arizona ALEC members. The complete membership list is the Holy Grail among ALEC watchers. We now have the Arizona list. If every state had someone like Lesko, we'd have the national list. Of course, Baja's favorite jack-ass, Al Melvin is on the list. Safier added this on Cap'n Melvin in a post this morning. And then there's this: "Margarita Madness" at Safier's place on the northside, June 12, to benefit District 26 Dems. I left a comment chiding him for his lack of patriotism, (Shouldn't that be Baja Libre Madness?) and said I might attend if Baja's Official Drink were available. Jeez, it's not like it's gonna' kill him to buy a bottle of Squirt. I don't live in LD26, although who knows what's going to happen with redistricting, but we'll probably go. We will be happy to contribute $52 of our tax refund towards putting Cap'n Melvin out to pasture. Anybody else wanna' go ? Talk to me.