Teacher Book

Former Teacher Writes Book about What it's Really Like to Teach in Chicago

Second City Teachers is a news blog dedicated to investigating the crimes committed against teachers, especially from the ruling class that is hell bent on destroying public education in the name of privatization, Race to the Top standardized testing mania, closing public schools and opening up fraudulent charter schools that do no better, if not worse.

There are teachers who are also authors and they are writing intriguing books. We would like to highlight those books on this website. We highlighted Greg Michie who wrote the fantastic book Holler if You Hear Me about 20 years ago that detailed what it is like to teach middle school students armed with idealistic dreams to educate the working poor. My colleague Carol Etheridge wrote a wonderful fantasy book  called The Girl Who Howled at the Moon.

The next book we would like to highlight comes from my good friend Peter Nerad who worked as a high school teacher on the Northwest Side until he became a casualty like so many others who jumped into this noble profession to make a difference until the administration decided to ax his services based on a silly evaluation.

We highlighted Peter's story on this site several years ago when he was fired for trying to save a student's life, by grabbing the kid so he wouldn't run out into a busy street during a fire alarm drill. A teacher/ informer dutifully reported to the principal that Peter had aggressively handled the kid and substitute teachers have practically no rights. A substitute teacher fired - another feather in the cap for an education reform administrator looking to move up the ranks.

I found out that Peter wrote a book called Teaching the Invisibles about six years ago that really captures what it is like to teach in an inner city school. I have not read a book that really grasped our profession like Peter.

Peter Nerad knows how to write. He was an ad writer in his prior profession, and a playwright who wrote, produced, directed and starred in a fantastic play about two old Civil War veterans suffering from the effects of PTSD, a disorder than can effect teachers as well as soldiers who experienced traumatic events.

We decided that it would be best to provide our reading public free access to this book so that they can read and feel the day to day insanity, the joy and tribulations, the lessons that go well, while the student antics and their stories, all written from the teacher's perspective of what it is really like to teach today.

Teaching the Invisibles, available on Kindle on Amazon, is a fun, cynical, funny, heart-warming as well as eye-opening and oh my God, yes that is how we feel, well written tale of teaching in a Chicago public high school. The inside jacket reads:

"Teaching in an inner city school, or for that matter just walking around in one, is to suddenly find yourself at the Rape of Nanking. And even the wittiest of gallows humor won’t prevent your depression at the end of the day. 

"In 'Teaching the Invisibles,' a former ad man turned English teacher, loaded with happy stories and horror stories, catches on to the school reform ruse. A corporate scam that would make a conman wonder how he ever missed it. All it takes is another shitty charter school, a new and improved standardized test, or some other cure-all, and they've got a revenue stream flowing. (Funny how the suburban schools never need any competition or fixing.) And as our teacher gets the boot as a bad apple, he knows poverty kids won't learn a damn thing until their social problems get fixed. And the price tag for that will make Wall Street's bailout look like lunch money."

I thought these two reviews well summed up the book:

Al wrote: 

This was a breezy memoir. The writer goes off on tangents that are interesting. This looks like a free book, with lots of editing errors (and some homonymic spelling errors too). I can't tell if he is bitter that he lost his job after three years and ended up substitute teaching for some more. But his portrayals of students and teachers and staff are definitely zingers.

High school teacher wrote:

This book could have been written about my school hundreds of miles from Chicago! Seeker describes the ins and outs of the public school that is heartwarming yet sad. While there are hundreds of teachers who aren't doing their jobs, I believe there are more who are committed and dedicated like Seeker. There is hope for public education.

We begin with the Introduction which though written almost seven years ago, is as true today at it was then regarding the precarious state of our public education: 

Introduction

Or why bother reading this memoir and invective of what goes on in 

non-suburban schools

 

Hey, intros go in the beginning of the book, you freakin’…

Wow. I didn’t know you guys were so rule-bound.  Please be assured this intro placement is not a mistake. It’s a pedagogical device for what may be a more helpful reading method.

I’ve found that reading intros in fiction is best done after reading the book. You won’t know enough about the novel to know what the editor or commentator is talking about.

In nonfiction however, the intro contains important background information, as well as the author’s main argument and approach to the material. As to whether this rule contains an element of truth, The Buddha, when asked if he was teaching THE TRUTH, replied, “Try it out in your own life, if it works it’s true.” Then he said, “Jesus, do whatever you want, it’s not like I’m getting paid for this.”

 

 

Before beginning I had to decide if there was indeed a message that needed to be told.  After all, in the last several years education has been big time news. Even Hollywood has taken up the torch with movies like “Freedom Writers,” “Stand and Deliver,” and “Waiting for Superman”, the documentary on how charter school admission is run by lottery.

But notice that the messages of these films are about how to improve education. Now there are fewer and fewer sweet stories about a Mr. Chips, or a film like “To Sir with Love,” where a young engineer teaching temporarily decides he will stay and help improve the lives of lower-class Cockney kids. Or the classic, “Blackboard Jungle,” about how a high school teacher tackles gang members head on and saves the day. The difference with these fifty-year-old stories is that while the teachers in them are accomplishing great things, they’re not an indictment on the whole system.

Now, I’m not saying that a movie shouldn’t have a point of view. I’m pointing out how education, in fiction and the media, has gone from teachers as heroes and inspired guiding lights, to “Man, that one teacher is good. If we could get rid of all the shitty ones we wouldn’t have an education problem.” Well, that would take some work seeing how there are 7.2 million teachers in the country. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)  

As far as hard news goes, education has a daily section in the New York Times and is often front page news in New York, Chicago and L.A.  Like when Chicago Mayor Daley in Chicago announced he wasn’t seeking another term and his Superintendent of Schools quit in the middle of the year. The hell with finishing his new initiatives and consistency for the teachers and students. Business is business. Something education has turned into and won’t be going back from for a long time.

When New York’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, appointed his new board superintendent, she was a high-powered publishing executive, no education experience whatsoever. She was visiting an Hispanic school district in need of more schools for their rising student population. At the parent meeting–and I’m not making this up–she asked, “Haven’t you people ever heard of birth control?” She lasted six months.

Recently in Newsweek, they assessed the results of the sheer billions pumped into public schools by Gates and the other philanthropists only to find out that scores inched up a percentage point, exactly the outcome after the last instructional reforms of the 60s and 70s. In fairness though, there are of course initiatives and new curriculums that work, but they’re usually from education professors that have spent years in research. Not everyone is a teacher, we just think we are.

Even more disturbing, when the US and China had an educational exchange, the Chinese laughed and pointed out that the rote, fill-and-drill and test we’re doing is exactly what they’re leaving, because that method leads to a lack of original and creative thinking, a mental ball and chain for their economic progress, and they know it.

Every generation seems to have its “educational crisis.” This new one seems to be, “Gee, what’s going to happen with a thirty percent national high school dropout rate in years to come?”  Maybe this is why we have charter schools and standardized tests and formatted course plans. And why Corporate America is infiltrating the schools with profit making schemes.* Lots of dough to be made and all guaranteed by public funding.

I also get the feeling it’s just another way we like to solve things on the cheap. If we had to address the root cause, that one in five children is being raised in the kind of chaotic poverty that prevents learning, it would be a bill we’re not willing to pay. 

*One company peddling standardized tests got busted for bribing education district purchasing agents with trips for seminars to London and Switzerland. The school buyers insisted the excursions were necessary, useful, and in no way influenced their procurement decisions. Guess the testing company was only trying to help the schools out.

State legislatures have been lobbied for, and have enacted, new on-line schooling by private companies. And the GED test has recently gone from a government program that’s been around for years to one that is now partially privatized. A matter of time, one would think, until it’s all privatized.

Wow, one in five kids in poverty is trying to learn in school every day? Sounds like an Orwellian dystopia

Pretty much. There isn’t an education problem in America, there’s an educating-the-poor problem in America. That’s what this book is about. Digging into what the real problems are and what the state and federal governments should be trying to fix. 

You’re about to get an insider’s perspective, and perhaps therefore a wider perspective, on why one in three high school students drop out. And when you’re one of the 20% of poor children, the problems don’t have to be very big. An ear ache, a mere ear ache, can keep a child out of school for over a week because his or her family can’t afford a doctor or antibiotics.

But large numbers of kids missing a week out of class because of an ear ache is a dry fact. This book’s aim is to fill in the emotional reality behind those facts. It’s a tale of what it’s like to teach kids that go to schools with metal detectors that catch small razor blades hidden away for self-protection hidden in backpacks, with security guards on every floor, and two assigned policemen with their own office in the buildings. Schools that need six squad cars to prevent violence when the students are let out. That have racial and gang fights that force teachers and students to go on lockdown, and of course have nowhere near enough learning going on. All being run by teaching staffs, which instead of being supported and assisted, are instead antagonistically supervised and threatened with replacement.

They’re the schools attended by the kids we never see. The Invisibles. And this is their chance to be heard.

In a way it’s a little unbelievable we don’t know more about their lives. After all, most of us live next to a large city. And yet we don’t. And when you do, I suspect you’ll react the same way I did when I first began teaching: “I had no idea this was going on.”

 

Covid increases

NUMBER OF INFECTED SOARS AGAIN

FEAR OF SECOND WAVE

By Stephen Wilson

 

            'In Russia there is no second wave.This is because  the pandemic has not gone away anywhere. The epidemiological process continues as part of the first wave.The scenario of this virus before its demise is unknown: 

'Do Covid 19 and the flu strengthen each other? Do they replace each other? or  Do they weaken each other? Only time will tell the answer to those questions.' stated Aleksandr Gorelov, the Deputy Director of a research institute. 

This candid answer succinctly sums up the uncertainty of how events are unfolding. But whether you choose to label it a first or second wave one thing is evidently clear. The number of people infected in Russia has soared over the past two weeks. Whereas in August it had leveled out to just over 4000 a day, now it has climbed to beyond the 7000 figure. In Moscow it has shot up to 1500 a day.

 

Many people feel the intense stress more than others. When I recently spoke to an old neighbor Inna Tamarova, who lives in the Aeroport district of Moscow, she told me, "My  brother as a doctor is working in a Covid 19 Zone. Can you imagine? He often sees people who are dying. The situation is just terrible. I'm at my wits end and worried he can get infected and bring it home ... I feel there is no 100 Percent protection against this virus even if you wear gloves and masks. This virus is in the air. It can envelope and overwhelm you ". {Inna Tamarova helped out  refugees who had come from the war in Ukraine and we had cooperated on this 6 years ago}.

 

I spoke to Olga Stefanonva who also seemed worried. At School Number 1223, three classes were cancelled because children had contracted the virus. She stated, "I heard that of 5-6 children who were tested positive they showed none of the classic symptoms. But what disturbs me is that a ten-year-old pupil has been left alone at home without care because both his mother and grandmother were admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Since the boy  also has an infection many people will be reluctant to come and look after him. I don't know how he will manage. I'm wondering what we should do."

 

Local government officials are tightening up the rules. The local mayor has issued a warning where he strongly recommends that people with strong illnesses and those over 65 should stay at home and companies should encourage their employees to switch to on-line work.

The state inspectorate Rospotrebrnadzor closed down some supermarkets whom they had accused of violating the rules. As many as 48 shops belonging to firms such as Perekrestok and Magnoliya have been closed down. They found that staff and customers had not been wearing masks or gloves and not making a supply of masks available. If an inspector finds that a customer is not wearing a mask the company is still obliged to pay the fine. Unlike in Scotland, the staff in a shop must enforce the rules. This is sharply distinct from Scotland where managers of supermarkets claim that only the police can enforce such compliance. For instance, I received a report from Scotland where Jane told me that today in a Tesco supermarket a woman customer was shouting at the manager because some people weren't wearing masks. She reminded me of myself before my nervous breakdown. She seemed on edge as me! The manager told her only the police can approach people not wearing masks. She was really quite upset at this customer. Probably she was risking catching Covid-19 in Tesco as she was shouting for ages. People are pretty frightened as the number of infected people is rising again. 

The government response to Covid-19 has become more politicized. The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has won approval of 70% of polled Scots for her handling of the crisis in contrast to the perceived inept and hapless response of the British Prime Minister. According to a string of opinion polls, support for Scottish independence has slightly passed the 50% mark. The Scottish Minister seems to come across as very articulate, calm and caring. For instance, she expressed dismay at the tactless handling of the university authorities who have introduced stringent rules of banning going out, visiting pubs and even socializing with other students at Glasgow University.

 

One of the biggest problems facing the authorities, whether in Scotland or Russia, is how to enforce strict observation of rules. It is simply impossible to fine people en-mass and counter productive. If around 50 % of people using the metro are not wearing masks what do you? Usually the Russian police use gentle persuasion or might fine one passenger as an example.

The problem of the virus is confounded by the fact that this is the flu season. A massive campaign is underway to convince people to take a vaccination against flu. But some people are weary about this because they are scared of unforeseen negative side affects. In the institute of Power and Energy, teachers have been told, "If you don't take the vaccination against the flu you will be fired". {This threat in itself is illegal.} Teachers have to provide a medical certificate confirming they have taken the vaccination.  The Russian authorities have so far stated that they have no desire to return to a full scale lock down. They have attempted to reassure the public that no such plans exist. Nevertheless, as in countries all over Europe, Russia seems to be facing a dramatic rise in infections. We are still in the woods.

Book Review

BOOK REVIEW

JUST ONE MORE THING

 

Stories from my life.

Peter Falk  

Arrow Books, 2008, London.

 

Review by Stephen Wilson

'I have just written a book . Talk about change! Who would dream I would ever write a book! Not me ! Not my wife, not my doctor, dogs, family, friends, or acquaintances. Let me sum up by saying it was a blast! The funny stuff! Reliving it. Putting it on paper. If you had such fun reading it as I had writing it, you'll be dancing on the ceiling. For those of you still in your chairs, I'm delighted you 're still awake.' declares the legendary actor Peter Falk ,best known for playing the eccentric  but genius detective Columbo. 

The quote from the late actor's autobiography perhaps best sums up the style of the book. It is written in a very colloquial, chatty, warm and self depreciating way. But the book is full of many amusing anecdotes that it is just the medicine to cheer you up during those trying times. What I like about the book is just how generous the actor is when it comes to praising other actors, film directors and people who encouraged his career. Falk comes across not only as a great storyteller, but an unconventional actor who is his own man. He is full of admiration for  film directors such as Wim Wenders and John Cassavetes who break with standard notions of making films.

 

What emerges from his autobiography is that Falk did not always have an easy time as an actor. For years he was typecast as a gangster and was offered very minor roles in films which he often detested. Although Falk is largely known for his role as the detective Columbo, he played endless roles in the theater and in films such as 'Robin and the Seven Hoods',  directed by  Frank Sinatra, 1958, and Wings of Desire, 1987,directed by Wim Wenders. And this is to name but a few!

 

Peter Falk comes across as a childlike person who is often 'On the Moon'. His agent managed to arrange an interview with the head of Columbia Pictures Harry Cohn. The agent praised him as 'a second John Garfield. But the interview did not go well! Falk narrates the story as going:

'My agent was an enthusiastic young lady and she opened the meeting with Mr Cohn by pointing out that, "Yes- it is true Peter is a young John Garfield, but it is important for you, Mr Cohn to know that he is also a versatile actor and has done the plays of O'Neill, O'Casey, and Christopher. Mr Cohn's answer in the form of a question was designed to put an end to the subject of versatility: Young lady, do you think I care if Marilyn Monroe can play an old lady?" He then looked me straight in the face and said something that bewildered me: "Young man, I am concerned about your deficiency."

I had no idea what he meant. To me, if you weren't getting enough vitamins, you had a vitamin deficiency. I didn't think I had a vitamin deficiency, but even if I did, how would he know? "I said, 'I don't know what you mean'."

He looked as though he wasn't sure that I was telling the truth. He must have felt that this was sensitive, so he replied gently, "I think you do know what I am referring to'. I said again I had no idea.

Finally he came out with it - "I m concerned about your eye".

"Oh that - that's nothing. Not to worry . No problem."

But for Mr Cohn, it was a problem and Falk argued with the director. The director answered, "Young man, for the same price, I'll get an actor with two eyes". Falk, who had one of his eyes removed when he was three, correctly regarded it as irrelevant. In fact Russian viewers of Columbo have told me, "I didn't notice he had one eye". This was because they were mesmerized by his performance.

 

Another incident which indicates how Falk got into a misunderstanding is when, during an interview with the director Frank Capra,  he told him, "Mr Capra, do you read people?"

Falk meant "Could you give me a test?" Capra thought Falk was asking whether he could read his palms by fortune telling to discover whether Falk had a future as an actor!

 

Falk even tried to join the C.I.A. because he naively thought it would offer a life of adventure as opposed to landing a dull 9 to 5 office job. That interview also went wrong. The interviewer told him, 'You are the first and last man to be interviewed who built a railway for Tito." As a young man, Falk had visited Yugoslavia and helped to build a railway for Tito. He was also accused of belonging to a communist dominated trade Union.

 

On the eve of the Cuban revolution Peter Falk was arrested because the authorities thought he was with Fidel Castro. He was playing a minor part in the film 'Wind Across the Evergrades'. The role he called for demanded he wear a black beard, a mustache and mop of black hair and suit which just happened to be what Castro and his men looked like. After his arrest and release, Falk wrote, "I didn't hang around Havana. I was gone that afternoon, and three weeks later Castro and his men came down from the hills, captured Havana, and took over Cuba".

 

Readers who adore Columbo won't be disappointed, Falk devotes almost ten chapters to the character of the serial. You can read about 'How did the Columbo character evolve? and What is the toughest thing about creating Columbo?' The American Storyteller Daniel Ogan told me, "I think that the model for Columbo must have come from the detective in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment called Porfiry Petrovich." In deed, there is a resemblance to Porfiry 's interrogation techniques of disarming a suspect by using small talk and silly comments as a digression. For instance, Porfiry rambles on about his smoking habit, battles from military history and his office furniture. Columbo tells endless stories about his wife and hobbies. Like Porfiry, Columbo conceals his genius by pretending to be stupid. An 18-year-old student of Art, Natasha, told me, "I think Porfiry is a genius and he is so good natured. He wants to actually help the suspect rather than simply arrest him." Although Porfiry has something in common with Columbo, Falk makes no mention of him. 

Falk acknowledges that he is like Columbo is some ways. He is absent-minded, forever loses his car keys and does not care too much for his appearance. But Falk insisted that it was wrong to compare Columbo with other characters like Sherlock Homes because he is unique. He was invented and had to have an interesting character. This is because in the first five minutes of the show you already know who commits the murder. It is a 'Why dunnit?' rather than a 'Who dunnit?' 

Falk was astonished about how popular the serial was. When he was visiting the Andes he was pleasantly shocked to come across some Inca children running up to him and shouting "Columbo, Columbo,-Tenante Columbo " and asking for his autograph. Peter Falk finds that one of his greatest achievements was to have presented the most famous raincoats in the world. Falk is always wearing the same raincoat and in one scene from the serial while he is visiting a soup kitchen for the homeless a volunteer directs him to a table where he can be fed. Columbo is often mistaken for being a homeless person. The studios who made this serial did not like this raincoat, but finally agreed rather than get into a fruitless argument with Falk. Even the detective's car is a broken down Peugot. Such a character would have great problems in Moscow where to wear unkempt or shabby clothes is often regarded as short of a crime. 

It is interesting to note that in one scene from a film called 'Roommates' Falk tried to add a scene where a 90-year-old man bakes a great cake and takes it to a restaurant to try and get a job. Hoping to get work as a chef, he asks a potential employer to taste it. The cake is delicious. The boss who goes down stairs finds that the man, Rocky, is fast asleep. He has one look at him and says, "He is too old, forget it." A rejected Rocky goes outside and lays the cake next to a homeless man who is asleep and leaves. The scene was not allowed by the Studios and Falk was told to stick to the original script. Falk philosophically states, 'You can't win them all". But it says a lot about his compassion for the underdog that he would fight for such a scene to be added.

 

Roaming Charges

The Media and all its Craziness

By Jim Vail 

The media is in a pickle these days. We have a president who was elected by attacking the media and calling it fake news.

I have worked in the newspaper business for many years and know that the end is just around the corner. The Internet and all the social media have replaced good reporting and investigative reporting. 

But I can't say that the newspaper is perfect. I have struggled myself reporting for a community newspaper called Inside Publications that is run by a very right-wing publisher. He promotes pro-police war on crime reports, supports pro-empire statues like Columbus, is very disdainful of the poor and is against taxing the rich (libertarian), etc. 

His newspaper is in danger of dying the death of the hundreds that have perished due to the lack of advertising that was usurped by the googles and facebooks and craigslists. I can't say I feel sorry for him.

The media is owned by big money interests and supports big business. The New York Times is biased in support of the U.S. State Department and promoted the war in Iraq. The Washington Post was bought by Jeff Bezos and thus promotes his warped pro billionaire anti-worker reality. The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times are similarly owned by big business interests that are anti-union/anti-workers. They are capitalists.

These mainstream papers are not even covering the trial of the century - the U.S. government's persecution of Julian Assange and Wikileaks and the attack on our freedom of the press. They do not write about this trial and its attack on our Constitutional right because they are owned by big business, not the people.

One fantastic website I read is Counterpunch edited by Jeffrey St. Claire, who started it with the late/great Alexander Cockburn, a former reporter and columnist for The Village Voice. Together they wrote an amazing book about the CIA and its crimes against people around the world called Whiteout.

As my friend John stated so clearly and matter of factly - the horrible situation we find ourselves in today as a country is because this government is run by the capitalists for the ruling class, not a government run by socialists for the people.

And voting for either ruling class candidate A or ruling class candidate B will not change that.

Roaming Charges, Counterpunch.org, Jeffrey St. Clair ...

The air in Oregon has been almost unbreathable for the last 10 days.

+ So who’s the key architect of Biden’s climate policy? Not AOC. Not Jay Inslee. Not Tom Steyer. Not Bill McKibben. Not Michael Mann. But pro-nuke, pro-natural gas, pro-fracking, pro-industrial solar…Ernest Moniz. 

+ Sean Worsley, a disabled Iraq War vet, was arrested for marijuana possession while driving through Alabama from his home state of Arizona, where he has been legally prescribed the herb. If convicted, he could face five years in the notorious Alabama prison system.

+ As searing new study from RAND economists Carter Price and Katheryn Edwards describes in stark detail the state of economic inequality in America and how the top 1% of the country seized more than $50 trillion–that’s TRILLION–from the bottom 90% over the last 45 years.

+ Even domesticated sheep would be embarrassed by this kind of herd imbecility: 82% of Democrats and 16% of Republicans support single-payer healthcare when told that Obama supports it. When instead told that Trump supports it, Dem support drop to 46% and Rep support increase to 44%.

+ Daniel Ellsberg on the extradition trial of Julian Assange: “The American press is staring right down the barrel at the use of the Espionage Act against American journalists and publishers for doing journalism.”

+ According to the new release from the Social Progress Index, the USA, with the highest GDP in the world, ranks #91 in access to quality basic education, and #97 in access to quality health care—worse than many “developing” countries.

+ Whether you believe the science or not, this is happening: Two massive Antarctic glaciers are tearing loose from the ice sheet. The loss of either glacier could trigger the broader collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet itself, “which contains enough ice to eventually raise seas by about 10 feet.”

+ A new study estimates that two-thirds of the world’s wildlife populations have been eliminated by “human activity” in the last 50 years, with the sharpest declines occurring in Latin American and the Caribbean.

City College Cuts

Adult Educators to Protest City Colleges Wednesday

The educators in the Chicago City Colleges who teach GED and ESL classes to learn English will protest in front of City Hall Wednesday, September 16 from 2:30 - 3:30 pm because of massive cuts.

The protest is organized by AFSCME 3506 union members and their protest is intended for Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the City Council members.

"We must raise our voice collectively," they stated.

The protest will take place in front of City Hall at 121 North LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago.

People can contact union vice president Carlos Aulet if they have any questions about the protest - djaulet1@gmail.com

Safety precautions will be followed, including wearing a mask at all times, with the union providing hand sanitizer, as well as gloves and water.

The protest will take place because City Colleges Chancellor Juan Salgado has made multiple cuts to the Adult Education program during his tenure and now during the pandemic. His decisions have caused major financial instability for the ESL and GED students and Adult Ed instructors.

"The Chancellor’s orchestrated incompetence includes: refusal to pay for hours worked, arbitrary allocation of remote learning courses, systematic discrimination against instructors with seniority, approximately one thousand students who applied for fall 2020 registration were not assigned classes," the union stated.

This protest comes during a nurses strike at UIC Hospital where they complain the nurses have too many patients and not enough protective equipment against the Covid-19 virus. Many nurses have gotten sick with the virus.

Covid Misconceptions

DISORIENTATION

Confusion and Covid 19 in Moscow

By Stephen Wilson

 

            "One week ago I dropped into my local stationary to buy things for my children returning to school. When I arrived in the shop I witnessed an argument between a well dressed middle-aged Russian woman and two shop assistants wearing masks.I don't like such conflict between women. It was an ugly scene. The two shop assistants were telling the customer, "You can't buy anything unless you wear a mask. We can't serve you." The woman retorted angrily, "Why should I wear a mask? I'm going to buy those things anyway. I'm not leaving." The two shop assistants who had asked politely pointed to me saying, "Look, that woman is wearing a mask! Why can't you be like her?" "No I am not going to wear a mask and I'm not leaving until you serve me."  

The two shop assistants then said, "We are going to call the police." The customer answered "Call the police". The shop assistants then locked the door, but unlocked it to let me out. I was relieved to get out. I don't know what the result of this argument was. But this customer just seemed so intent on some sort of conflict," stated the linguist Olga Stefanova, who has two young children and lives in Moscow. 

You might think that the rules when entering shops are straightforward. While walking around Moscow you can always notice a government notice on shop doors declaring that entering a shop without a mask and gloves is forbidden following order number 55 passed by the local administration. When I entered a shop two weeks ago a shop assistant in a newspaper store told me, "I won't serve you unless you wear a mask. If they learn that our customers are not observing this rule then we will have to pay a 40,000 ruble fine!"  

But when you enter some malls in Sokol you notice that many people are dining without masks. Go out of Moscow and you come across a different set of odd rules. A businessman called Alexander told me, "I asked my driver to buy some some food but he told me the cashier would not serve him unless he wore a mask. He had no mask. While customers were allowed to enter the supermarket without masks and gloves, they can't buy anything from the till without masks. So I asked him to follow me while I bought the goods wearing a mask and he would carry them out. It was a bit confusing."

 

As in other countries, there is a conflict over masks, but the term 'mask war' would be a gross exaggeration. But despite the fact that passengers have to wear masks and gloves while using the metro, you'll notice that almost 50% of passengers are not wearing masks. This represents a higher proportion than previously. It is not uncommon for other people to make fun of another person wearing a mask. They chant, "Why make a fuss?" It is as if people who are wearing masks might be perceived as overreacting or being dupes of some sort of state propaganda. An artist told me, "Why on earth are you wearing a mask on the street? It is not required. Why should I wear a mask or not to go for a walk just because the government tells me? I have my own rights!" 

The number of people who believe Covid-19 is no longer a threat or is invented has increased over the past few months. A survey by R.B.C. news found that the number of skeptics rose to 45.6% in September from 37.7%. A Higher School of Economics survey discovered that more Russians believe the pandemic is either exaggerated or invented. While at present 43.4% believe it is invented and exaggerated, in May the figure was only 32.8%.

 

But anxiety about a second wave is still significant among a large group of Russians. When I dropped into the local printer she told me how difficult things had been. She told me, "If there is a second wave we will starve". Olga Stefanova seems worried. Her daughter attends School No. 1223 in Moscow. She stated, "I have heard that 3 classes have been cancelled because some children fell ill. They were sent home and quarantined for two weeks. I'm afraid that when my daughters attend school their classes might also be closed down".

 

The business man Alexander told me, "I find the situation where I send my two children to school a bit confusing. When I ask my children what they are doing in school they say, "We are doing sport. Teachers also tell me that they are still waiting for a program to be ready for how to teach the students. They don't know if they will be teaching some students on-line, face to face or a bit of both. I thought they would have been ready by now".

 

Oksana Chebotareva, a teacher of English at the Institute of Power and Energy, stated, "I had four classes to teach in a row. In the first three classes nobody was wearing a mask. Then when I came to the fourth class, they were all wearing a mask. This was the class I had been asked to substitute for because the teacher had fallen ill. All the windows and doors were kept open to let in fresh air as a precautionary measure against infection. But the cold draft made me ill. I am certain this was also the reason why the other teacher I was substituting for fell ill".  She also stated that in a school she was teaching a headmistress entered her classroom and asked her, "Why are the school children not all wearing masks ?" Yet the government order leaves the decision over whether children want to wear masks to the parents of children and not school teachers. In strict legal terms, school teachers can't force pupils to wear masks.

 

The anxiety about a second wave is understandable. The number of people who are coming down with illness has been slowly rising. It is not nearly as bad as two months ago, but it is hardly reassuring news. The Mayor of Moscow seems confident that Moscow can cope with such a second wave. In a recent article in 'Northern Capital', September, 2020, he wrote that there were three reasons why Moscow had less deaths than in other cities such as New York. It had nothing to do with preparation or pure luck. Firstly, he claimed that the government responded in a quick and adequate way taking steps to block eastern routes of transmission from China. Secondly, Moscow had a huge infrastructure and medical care centers which could cope with the influx of patients, the metro was well ventilated and restrictions were imposed to limit overcrowding. He also argues that Moscow has become more spacious with wider roads, pavements and squares because wild markets and kiosks which were everywhere and potential sources of infection in Moscow were closed down. And thirdly, the trust and cooperation of the local people who observed many of the new restrictions imposed by the state. Many of those claims are questionable as you just have to observe how many people are blatantly violating the metro regulations. Although the Mayor can hardly be called complacent, you can be forgiven for believing he is opening up the champagne bottles too early. But he correctly stated that, 'We were not ready for this pandemic. And nobody in the World was ready for this.' Nevertheless, it is easy to anticipate a second wave based on present day trends. We are not out of the woods yet.

HOD Sept.

Chicago Teachers Union Exasperated with Teachers

By Jim Vail

CTU VP Gates & President Sharkey are a little perplexed why
some teachers want to go into the schools to teach.

And after all we have done for you ...

CTU officers expressed some exasperation with teachers after they had fought all summer for the teachers and students' safety to not have to go back to schools and instead be safe from the coronavirus by engaging in remote lessons at home.

"They don't value you so don't go in," CTU VP Stacy Davis Gates told teacher delegates at the first House of Delegates meeting Wednesday, Sept. 9, that was also held remotely. "I've gotten too many emails asking for flexibility to go back into the schools."

Gates said that the labor unions have been the ones to keep workers safe during this pandemic that has taken almost 200,000 lives in this country. She also said parents overwhelmingly did not want their children to return to the schools with the virus still raging.

Some suburban public schools are back in session, and a few have seen outbreaks of the virus. In the Glenview public school district parents were teacher bashing at a school board meeting saying that if regular workers have to go back to work, then so should teachers. The teachers there go to school to teach social emotional learning for about an hour each week and the rest of the time at home online. 

Gates noted that half a million children have been infected with the virus in this country. She also said the Chicago Public Schools and the mayor who runs them are still sore with the CTU after the teacher strike last year.

CTU President Jesse Sharkey said that teachers are lucky we negotiated a five year contract with raises during an economic crisis in which the city said it has a $1.2 billion deficit. He said the mayor would love to reopen the teachers contract and rescind raises, force furloughs and cut pay further. He said note that the mayor wants workers and unions to make concessions, but has not asked the wealthy Lincoln Yards TIF developers to give back the $1.5 billion they are taking from taxpayers, nor tax the billionaire traders.

Sharkey said the board will not negotiate over the length of the remote learning day, but they will negotiate with the union over other issues.

Political adviser Kurt Hilgendorf told delegates to make sure they order their ballots in the mail and vote for the Fair Tax amendment that will tax the rich and thus adequately fund the state's pensions, health care and schools. Illinois currently has a flat tax which taxes the rich at the same rate as the rest of the workers.

He polled the delegates about who would vote to remove President Trump from office, and with about 75% voting, 95% would vote against Trump and 5% would vote for him. About a third of delegates polled would volunteer to help make sure the Fair Tax is passed.

CTU ACTS chairman Chris Baehrend said they have been working to make sure teachers do not return to the buildings to teach and instead work remotely like their public school counterparts. He noted that his old Latino Youth Charter High School in Little Village wanted its teachers to go back to school and all 12 refused to go back into the building. 

Sharkey said the idea that there is synchronous vs. asynchronous time is a misnomer because teachers still have to be with the kids the whole time. 

Good Deeds

Good Deeds and Good Works

By Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.

 

       There are plenty of homeless people & pets to help!

We often hear about the bad things going on and all the difficulties and bad news out there, from high virus testing results to an increase in crime.  But there are many good things happening out there, also.  In Chicago, there are millions of people – about – and most of the time we get along with each other. 

I thought about unity and civility and cooperation just the other day when I saw something right across the street from me.  A young man in a wheelchair was pushing himself very quickly across the street, and when he reached the sidewalk, the wheelchair immediately fell back, throwing the guy backwards right into the path of traffic.  A gentleman in a delivery truck slammed on his breaks, and jumped out, running toward the man who was lying in the street.

At the same time, an older woman using a walker headed for the man in the street.  She held onto the wheelchair while the delivery man helped the young guy get up into a sitting position in the chair.  These three people appeared to be of three different races, but they worked together to get everybody moving again.  This was a great thing I got to see!

There are many, many services and good deeds out there in Chicago.  People in need can find food and clothing and services they need.  There are websites, blogs, newspapers, and of course the often-overlooked resource called “word of mouth.”

An important resource for people in need is the Great Chicago Food Depository (https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/).  This agency collects food to distribute, accepts donations, and makes sure food pantries and soup kitchens have supplies and meals.   The agency makes food available to the pantries who in turn distribute their goods to neighbors locally who need a little help with food.  Through hard-working employees and volunteers, a variety of meals and foodstuffs get into people’s homes.  

Homeless people in Cook County may visit any food pantry in the county.  Some require more documentation than others regarding homeless status, apparently.  Most pantries have a special bag of food called such things as “no cooking needed” or “ready-to-eat” foods.  This means they can get sandwiches, fruit, crackers, chips, and other items that do not have to be cooked or prepared.  Because they do not have kitchens—or kitchen tables—homeless people must have easier access to foods in forms like wraps, salads in a bowl, and sandwiches.  This is a concept hard for some people to grasp.  Homeless people may wish to ask about other services and goods available—these vary greatly from location to location.

People who are not homeless must prove residency within the service area of the pantry serving them.  An ID is usually required.  The website of the agency will often state what is needed to access food and other services.   Depending what is available, a person could leave the pantry with tomatoes, crackers, a frozen chicken, yogurt, bagels, cookies, eggs, milk, bread, and many other goodies.  Volunteers and employees work very hard to make good food and beverages available to people who need them.

Thursday nights, there is a group of people on the Northside delivering – on bicycle -- home-made sandwiches and burritos to the homeless who are hungry and who await them.  They are too busy for an interview and always off to class, to work, or to volunteer on a variety of projects!

Up and down Broadway, this growing team of volunteers has been known to bring also fresh fruit, plus bottles of water, cookies, vitamins, aspirin, clean socks, and granola bars.  Knowing that the homeless have no way to prepare meals, this group brings only foods that are ready to eat.  They estimate that they now serve about 24 people in their travels. 

Coming from different lines of work and various neighborhoods, the members of the “burrito buddies” number about a dozen now.  Several are university students, many are sociology or social work majors, and others got involved because of programs at their churches.  Some of the burrito gang are on the project all the time; others help out as needed.         

Speaking of good deeds, Gloria Lissner is an expert at performing them!  She works ten-hour days coordinating services, answering calls, approving adoptions, and managing the feeding and cleaning for the 100 plus dogs and cats at Famous Fido! (https://famousfidorescue.org/).  They not only have a great website, they have an awesome presence on Facebook and a big bunch of friends!

As the Executive Director of the center (the full name is Famous Fido Rescue No Kill Advocacy Wellness & Learning Center) she works tirelessly to rescue cats and dogs, care for them while at the center, find them forever homes, and even help some of the guardians with their needs and problems.  Project GUARD is meant specifically for pets and their people who are going through hard times (https://famousfidorescue.org/our_program/project-guard/). 

This is an unpaid position, and it requires a huge amount of energy as Gloria also works to advocate for a new way of thinking: discouraging people from euthanizing animals and giving the cats and dogs the respect they deserve.  Rather than just getting rid of pets, people need to help in the process of finding new “forever homes” because cats and dogs are not toys or knick-knacks just to keep around when it is convenient.  Instead, they are sentient beings deserving of love, care, and safety.

Gloria is backed up by her devoted husband, Ted, who runs the dog-grooming arm of Famous Fido and deals with keeping towels clean, dogs clean, and the machine running seven days a week.  Gloria and Ted both contribute their time to this huge endeavor, this oasis called Famous Fido, where dogs and cats are kept safe and sound.  They in turn are backed up by employees, volunteers, donors, visitors, and a devoted bunch of friends online who keep helping through both financial support and moral support.

An important resource for people with pets, by the way, are the petfood pantries some agencies run.  One example is Care 4 Real.  Located at N. Sheridan Road and Balmoral, Care 4 Real provides petfood and pet treats on an as-needed basis to neighbors who apply for it.  Available the first Thursday each month, this special resource is of great help to persons who cannot currently afford food (https://careforreal.org/about-us/contact-us/)

Whether it is an immediate need, a short-term need, or a longer-term need, there are resources and answers in Chicago.  There are both ad hoc and well-organized sources of goods, help, and hope for residents of the Windy City.  If we just see those good deeds and good works, each day, maybe we can all participate in a better Chicago. 

View of Work

HALF OF RUSSIANS SEE THEIR WORK AS MEANINGLESS

By Stephen Wilson

 

            A survey by the agency Superjob of 5,000 respondents found that approximately half felt their work was practically meaningless, useless and often wasted. They stated that they often wasted their time doing what they deemed as pointless chores. The survey indicates a huge level of dissatisfaction in the workplace in Russia. When asked, 'What do you think about your work during the day?' as many as 53% answered, 'I think the work is often senseless {stupid}," while 47% answered that, 'Every minute of their work was full of meaning'. As many as 31% believed with certainty that, 'We spend almost a third of the working day on useless work tasks.' Another controversial finding suggests that there may be a correlation between the level of pay and job satisfaction. For instance, the survey found that those who earned just up to 30,000 rubles a month thought that they wasted 34% of their time doing useless tasks, while those who earned 50,000 rubles or more felt they wasted only 29% on useless tasks. But the difference is so marginal it can hardly be considered that significant.

 

What are we to make of such a survey? Ask many local people here and it does not come across as a striking revelation. Svetlana Wilson told me, "I agree with the findings and the people who say their work is often useless. I am not surprised". So many Russian school teachers have told Second City Teachers that they waste their time having to fill in documents which nobody reads. Some Russian doctors state they spend more time doing paperwork that seeing their patients.

 

However, why so many Russians and people all over the world feel their work is often meaningless raises endless questions. Yekaterina Melnikova , a psychologist, attempted to explain why so many Russian workers don't attain job satisfaction. She stated, "You might offer several reasons. Firstly, a person is by nature not effective all day. Each person has a different biorhythm where some are owls, others are larks. Therefore it comes as no surprise that someone will arrive at the office exhausted, and just walk around the office meditating. A second reason is that employers don't give workers enough freedom for self-expression and they therefore lose motivation and don't see any sense in doing what they do. But there is also a third reason where the work does not suit some employees. They don't know what they want." In other words, they are doing unsuitable work.

 

What is clear is that many people don't feel they attain true self-realization. Work is often mainly a means to obtain an income. It is a necessity. As a Russian proverb goes, 'If you don't work, you don't eat'. Much of the work we do comes across as repetitive, monotonous, and pointless. It can seem so pointless and poorly paid that people make excuses to evade or avoid it. One popular Russian proverb states, 'Work is not like a wolf, it won't run away into the forest'. What it means is that work will always remain and there is no hurry to do it'. Of course, such proverbs and the folk tale of a lazy worker called Ivan the Fool acquiring wealth without effort has led to many people believing Russians are inherently lazy. Some Russians I meet even think this is the case. But we should be weary about rashly jumping to such conclusions. It is often the case that employers attempt to justify paying low wages and making workers redundant because they are either not working well or hard enough. Directing the blame elsewhere often conceals a level of mismanagement, corruption and failure to train the workforce. 

How can a worker perform well when he lacks not only the training, but nobody gives him the tools to do the job? In the 1980's the tabloid newspapers used to state that the British worker was the laziest worker in Europe. They even described the 'laziness' of the British worker as 'The English Disease'. But what was the actual truth? The facts were that such a notion was a blatant lie. All the research carried out suggested the opposite, the British workers worked the longest hours in Europe and often did the most overtime. The self employed were working 60- 70 hour week and rarely took days off. One of the reasons why British workers were working so hard was that they were scared of losing their jobs because the level of unemployment was so huge during those years.

 

But is it any great wonder that a reasonably intelligent person will find much of the work we do as pointless? How many adverts do you receive asking you to purchase goods you don't need? How many people require the latest mobile phone where one is good enough? If you drop into a shop which sells a computer one salesperson might talk about all the new functions of a computer which you don't require to do your job. It is difficult to explain to some people you don't need a computer to play some special games or use exotic graphics. The system of capitalism is based on inventing all kinds of false and absurd needs. Marketing research consists of mainly selling useless products nobody really needs or wants. Capitalism is a form of 'institutionalized escapism'. People must be persuaded to play addictive computer games and consume addictive fast food. Small wonder that people find their work so meaningless when they are being asked to produce useless and often unhealthy goods.

 

The word for work in Russian 'rabotat' is linked to the word robot. Few people are aware that following the Russian revolution the Russian Government admired Henry Ford and tried to introduce 'time management ' to the factory where every worker had to work 'just like a robot'. The Central Institute of Labor set up in 1920 under Aleksei Gastev, performed experiments to train workers to work like machines or robots. As the historian Orlando Figes states, 'Gastev's aim was to turn the the worker into a sort of 'human robot' - a word, not coincidentally, derived from the Russian {and Czech} verb 'to work',: rabotat'. Since Gastev saw machines as superior to human beings, he thought bio-mechanization would represent an improvement in humanity'. When I asked a student of English, Maria, what she thought of 'Time management' she retorted, "I am not a robot. I find it difficult to get up in the morning and need about three or four alarm clocks to waken me up". Thankfully, such experiments by Gastev were abandoned. Marx, in his early economic and philosophical works, stated that much work stunts and arrests the full flowering of a worker. At worst, it can lead to a person becoming a  'crippled monstrosity'. Marx argued that much labor 'makes people stupid and one sided'. Much work is not genuine human activity and creativity. At most, people reach self realization in their free time by pursuing all kinds of hobbies, interests or social activities. At least performing labor might help some people not only to support a family, but at least afford them free time to be more creative. The main point is that a person is much more than his job. His work should not define or reduce the scope of his creativity. It is worth noting how different cultures can perceive work in radically distinct ways. In English, you might state "John is a plumber'. But if you translate this into Scottish Gaelic it comes across as 'There is a joiner in John'. This suggests that there is more to John than his job as a plumber. For there is also a father, a husband, a dancer or perhaps a warm sense of generosity in John. So people are much richer than their perceived roles in the work place. They are endowed with spacious souls!