Many of you know that this past year, I had to deal with some parents behaving badly in my son's class due to the presence of "Mom Cliques" and the children that they are raising to think that being mean spirited to others is acceptable. One particular parent's son has been especially cruel to my son and to other children not only in class but also during organized sports. It's been difficult to avoid it since all of the kids participate in these activities together within our community. This past baseball season, my son and this boy ended up on the same baseball team much to my chagrin. You see, this Momma Bear has had to go up against this mom and son duo before. His mean antics continued right from the classroom to the baseball field and dugout. He even went as far as to call some of the boys on the team "fagg&%ts" when they ran out of gum and did not have a piece to give him. This was no surprise to me because this is the same boy who had called my son a … [Read more...]
Judge My Character, Not My Tattoos!
Today I had an interesting conversation on social media about the correlation between tattoos and piercings and a lack of professionalism in the workplace, specifically in the education field. Let me begin by saying that I have both tattoos and piercings and have been an educator for the past thirteen years. Of those years, I have always been regarded as an exemplary teacher by my supervisors as well as my colleagues. The way that I choose to express myself has never been an issue nor has it impeded me from being a true professional. Frankly, I take offense to statements that suggest that people with tattoos or piercings are inappropriate or unprofessional. My excellence as a teacher should not depend on how I look or what I'm wearing. As a matter of fact, some of the least qualified or unprepared educators that I have encountered throughout my career had neither tattoos or piercings so what does that say? The way that I choose to express myself or my individuality does … [Read more...]
I Decide My Cultural Identity!
This past week, I had a very interesting conversation on Pinterest with a complete stranger that was very confusing to me. In essence, I was told that I have no right to refer to myself as a Latina because I am of Spanish heritage and Spaniards are Europeans and, therefore, not allowed to use this title. Huh? That is exactly what I was asking myself. Never in my life has another person presumed to tell me how I should label myself culturally. I really felt offended because I have always identified myself with my Latin roots and I resented the fact that she was trying to separate me from everything that I have ever felt connected to or have identified with. I have always been raised to be proud of my heritage and to appreciate the ties that all Spanish-speaking people have to one another, regardless of what country they originated from. Plus, if we want to get into semantics, the definition of a Latino is anyone who speaks a language that is derived from Latin. This … [Read more...]
Let’s Talk About Race
A few days ago, I was speaking to someone on Twitter who shared with me that a close friend of hers had referred to her daughter using a racial epitaph. Her daughter is biracial and her friend made the comment in jest and thought it was really funny and witty. I would rather not repeat the comment that she made, however, I think that it is important that you see exactly what she said so you can understand why it is so shocking. This "friend" actually referred to her daughter as a "nigglet." I'm sure you are as appalled as I was when I first read that she had the nerve to say this. I can connect to this, unfortunately. My husband has brown skin as he is of Cuban and Jamaican descent. My children are light skinned and have light eyes like me. We are raising our boys not to see skin color but it is really hard when people in society are so ignorant and biased. There have been many times when strangers have made comments about how surprised they were that my … [Read more...]
