The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions. 
James A. Baldwin 


...hence the challenge inherent in urban education. 

In Lak Ech

In Lak Ech
by Luis Valdez

Tú Eres mi otro yo
Si te hago daño a ti
Me hago daño a mí mismo
Si te amo y respeto
Me amo y respeto yo

You are my other me.
If I do harm to you,
I do harm to myself;
If I love and respect you,
I love and respect myself.

The Topography of Urban Education

I asked my seniors to post a life motto - something that spoke to them - for our wall of fame. (Let's be real - making it to senior year is the ill triumph for all of my students.)

He wrote: "Live life fast."

Later in the day my skinny shiny-eyed junior was irritated with me. I wouldn't let him leave the room and enter a questionable situation. He replied, "Why? I'm not gonna live to 18."


Period.

As in: 'fact'.


I'm back in public school. This is the topography of urban education, third worlds within.