Comment by Ciuin Ferrin on September 17, 2011 at 0:43

I believe it is the duty of any film maker, author, or screenplay writer to do their own homework, though as we have seen, most have gotten 'F's' on their homework.

In the two volume set of the Memorial Book of the Gypsies at Auschwitz, it is noted that "it is left to the minority" to document the history of the crimes commited against them and to "remind the majority" of what they have done. I found this statement to be profound.

The world wants to make of us what it will. We play the role of the villian, the fool, the entertainer, the seer, the magician, or whatever other role the world wants us to play, whether we wish to or not. I've had to explain this time and time again in classrooms of students of all ages. The Rromani are a flesh and blood people who suffer greatly at the hands of the uneducated. Not only are we harmed in reputation by such portrayals, but also in other aspects of life that gadji take for granted, such as education, religion, and social status.

 

If the writers of such shows were to portray any other race with the same liberties they take with us, the uproar would be deafening. Since we are a minority among minorities, no one but us gives a damn. So since the gadji writers fail at their responsibilities, it is up to us, the minority, to tend to the shortcomings of the majority and do their job for them, for our own sakes.

 

baxt,

C

Comment by Stoimen on September 17, 2011 at 11:03

 

Fully agree! As a (non-Roma) writer I published both fiction and non-fiction. I wrote novels situated in Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Bulgaria. I had to identify myself with all the peoples, which was far from easy. The fact that my books were translated, proves that I did not do a bad job. I also portrayed two Roma families, I think this was even one of my best books, but I agree that it is also a tricky business. Even for a writer who is sincere and responsible, doing her homework well. Too many books and too many films on Roma have been made by non-Roma and the result of this harvest is poor, if not scary. The majority does hardly know or doestn't know at all Romani culture. Better leave it to Roma to present themselves!

Els

Comment by Glenda Bailey-Mershon on September 17, 2011 at 13:41

Oh, my, Ciuin, that is a powerful quote. And you have written so eloquently.

I remember toward the end of the 1960s civil rights movement in the U.S., a Black woman said to a mostly-white audience, "I am so tired of explaining black folks to white folks. Why is it my business to tell you what you should know? It's not like we can't live without YOU." I think of her often. Isn't it often the case that the majority does need the minority, if only as a whipping post? But, also, often, as workers, and sometimes as conscience. And yet the luxury of class and cultural privilege is never having to know about the minority the way they have to know about you, in order to survive. So those who do learn about us--the real us--on their own are very special.

Comment by Zuzana Brejcha on September 19, 2011 at 11:00

I have  written a  protest to the European Social Fund for discriminatory measures the Czech Ministry for Social Affairs  is  planning which they will fund with the help of the ESF. It is aimed at the "inadaptable" as  they call the Roma  in an attempt not to be  labeled discriminatory. The way the  Czech government treats the Roma now in the  middle  of the  marches of Neonazis and ordinary citizens against the Roma  in Nort Bohemia  is  outragious.

Comment by Zuzana Brejcha on September 19, 2011 at 11:03

I would  like to draw your attention to the following article  on Romea.cz

 

http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2825

Comment by Kristina Burbank on September 21, 2011 at 6:21

Thank you so much, Group. I knew you all would keep bringing essential elements to the table. I wanted to be sure I heard you all out and now I do need just a little more time to properly address what you emphasized...
 
In the meantime, for our adult learning fun -  as I was awaiting your responses this weekend, I took special note of music that floated into my ears and other relevant popular culture around LA. A few different items came up that perhaps we can chew on them as an appetizer until I or you whip up more next morsels.  

1. Homeless by Paul Simon came up on random I-pod shuffle during Friday gardening. Beautiful harmonizing of many voices reminded me of hard good work of collaboration. Also, it made me think of the basic need of a home that so many do not have, and how it impacts learning... How it takes a village to remedy lack of any basic needs in any individual...How easy it is to see when a home is missing, but not as easy to see how the missing emotional elements that impact learning...

2. Southern California columnist, Gustavo Arellano, responds weekly to letters penned to  “Ask A Mexican”, syndicated across U.S. Eerily relevant affectionate and humorous rant this past week...In the first question of 9/15/11 column, a self declared Irish New Yorker asks why his Puerto Rican friends make fun of each other with the term “lazy Mexican” sometimes. Provocative

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2011/09/15/askamexican.html

3. I have so many teens in my life, and one of my thirteen year olds is currently reading recommended Arizona 8th grade literature book, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1958). This beautiful soul, coincidentally an intellectual artist of mixed race, called Saturday to check up on how our Artists Initiative work is coming along and also to share his goings on. I had a feeling he would tell me something wonderfully apropos, and sure enough, unsolicited and unprompted, he read me a quote from the Flowers for Algernon book that stood out to him...Synchronicity blows my mind ...

The line he copied out of the book and then shared with me was something to the effect of, “Isn’t it interesting how cultured educated people can be so courteous, understanding, and tolerant of a man born with no arms and legs, but these same people think nothing of abusing a man born with low intelligence.”

5. Monday morning, KPFK, Pacifica Radio Progressive and Independent News, Talk and Music, the 11am Global Village Show played Eastern European “Gypsi Doodle” from Analogik. The composition I heard was pleasaning to me, leaving harmonious imprint on my mind and body, but that was without the words. I am sure one of the group can translation, adding layers to my quick interpretation. Self-declared Muslim DJ signed off soon after that spin, with his own words about just getting along and understanding each other...

More from me soon, responding to you ...

Comment by Kristina Burbank on September 21, 2011 at 6:25

Oops, cat's out of the bag...I make mistakes AND counting to 5 is difficult for me sometimes!

 

Comment by Kristina Burbank on September 21, 2011 at 22:13

Please bare with me! If it’s not too much to ask, can you listen to Stevie Wonder Higher Ground before you read?
 
Always the advocate of the learner, I rave on, even though I have tried to walk away from teaching. The subjugated learner lurks everywhere, compelling me to jump in like a life guard.

Inherently, we are all teachers and all learners. As such, the work that we do is monumental and complex because we, people have different cultures, languages, contents and levels of human development.

Knowledge is power and education can be elitist, especially if any person is refused education because they said they didn’t want it or acted like a douche bag once or twice, even three times.

Growth and development, in human beings and on planet earth, is as pressured, raucous, painful, and volatile, from a sunny day to a tsunami...as much as is calm, happy, meditative and thoughtful.

If IRADL is education centered, then it is our job to figure out how to open the doors so MBFGW, Criminal Minds, NCIS:LA can colloborate for truth.

YES, students/producers/writers have a responsibility to do their research, but then part of our job is to remain true those students, true to the multiple truths of each student. We can always adjust our lesson for relativity by listening carefully to what each individual in front of us needs before we begin to teach; really, it’s more like an ongoing contumacious conversation and divine discussion. It happens one student at a time. A T.V. show is not a student. A producer is. A writer is. An actor is.

If we turn on our students and say they don’t want to learn, it mirrors actions and language of the entities we are trying to stand up to. Like Czech government mentions in their educational documents that the Rroma are not really being interested in education. Again, it’s not that people are not interested in learning, it’s just that their “individual” needs must be respected first.

When people/students are embraced with encompassing approach, they rise to the challenge respectfully. When people/students are not recognized as mutli-intelligenced learners, they tend to shut down and tell you to fuck off.



These people that we are trying to collaborate with in learning, like MBFGW, are not so different than us. We often all have basic needs that trump learning needs until we die. The reality is that those needs transform us momentarily into ornery churls before we can get to the other side of learning on occassion.

Maintaining perseverance to find the higher common ground while continuing to teaching the downtrodden (and we are all downtrodden, some more than others) is a magnificent emotional balancing act....Education is cannot be “civilized” like it has been because we now realize how emotions tie in and emotions rarely civilized or logical.

Ciuin, I am in firm agreement that the students of the U.S.A. need exposure to Rromani history. In Los Angeles K - 12, mutli cultural U.S. students have access to Latin American History, African American History, Asian American History on top of the required U.S. and World History. A feasible goal would be collaborate with the makers of those texts to create one for Rromani.

I propose that we work with Rroma youth and family to gather the narratives that would comprise part of the text book. Perhaps this grant would help us get there...

http://groups.google.com/group/romano_liloro/browse_thread/thread/9cf23b92320abc12/4f60e9e0d764d360?show_docid=4f60e9e0d764d360&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

We all experience the problem as a teacher:

How do you teach a BODY that does not want to learn?

Part of the answer is curiously simple yet practically complex:

Identify the lacking basic needs (physiological, safety, belongingness & love, esteem) and then PROVIDE them in order to prime a BODY for learning (the need to know and understand).

21st century teachers acknowledge and anticipate that all learners at some point will be “uncooperative” (not want to learn, lazy, etc) as an inherent necessary part of the learning process.

Teachers are constantly learning how to translate these “uncooperative” manifestations as a cue to slow down, listen carefully to needs. Teachers many times in one lesson, regroup with the inevitable new “uncooperative” student data; then teachers switch gears according before forging ahead with a slightly adjusted, and even more relevant lesson to help their learners be successful.

In other words, teachers can interpret nasty, rude remarks as data on how to better teach the lesson, rather than seeing an “uncooperative” or “unwanting” student as an indicator to stop the lesson. These kind of 21st century teachers are expressing living art, otherwise known as the individual....

Can our Group benefit from this reframe?

We can flip the conversations that offend personal sensibilities with the happy teacher realization that a righteous person has extended a very challenging and interesting invitation for learning and now, thankfully, we are really in our element and get to work our craft.

Glenda hit on those points with the comment that people put up their own barriers to learning because they have selfish needs, and its something that Ciuin alluded to, as well. I’ll reiterate, “selfish” adult, adolescent, child needs look different in the context of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. What appears as selfish behavior, upon closer kind examination, fleshes out to be about a basic need that had been neglected and is now getting in the way of growth.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Maslows+hierarchy+of+needs&um=1&...

It is each person’s responsibility to share their story as honestly as they are capable. This is part of what it means when I mentioned before that I am the lesson and so are you..and we grow til we die, so our story is constantly changing. At times, we need kind mentors to help us get the details right.

Mentors and teachers remediate; it’s part of why we signed up. Of course, students are going to “fail” and we need to let go of the anger associated with it (it is really sadness that we cannot do it all ourselves for our students). It’s one of the hardest parts of being a mentors and teachers, but eventually we learn expect failure as an essential and fun part of learning, an opportunity to grow.

It’s easy as a teacher to get pissed at students, especially teens and adults, who turn in home work that is sub-par, because as a teacher, we are already working our one ass off, and now it feels like we have to do our students work, too.... But, again, this is actually why many of us signed up to be a teacher, to help people through these difficult life challenges, but we did not realize it would be like a battle every day. How can we protect ourselves and make it fun? Flexibly figuring out how to have fun with this student teacher collaboration instead of seeing it as a struggle???

I am far from perfect but I absolutely have seen that we can get our students to learn when a team of teachers comes together with the intent and commitment that all can learn. It ends ups looking like students and teachers in collaborative artistic performance, rather than a screaming match between students and teachers about who has more respect and rights. And I’ve been the screamer...I’ve been the performer...I have my whole lifelong to keep listening to what my students need...I’m sure I’ll scream again, and some mentor will step up and hold my hand through that part of the process....

Zuzana, thank you for sharing that article, very enlightening - this is something that could be highlighted in a piece of Rromani history text of how it was in 2011. Also, not to minimize the horrors in CZ, I have to say that the article still brings my attention that CZ sentiment about Gypsy does not hold true in my current LA or AZ neighborhood. While people since the 90s have been ashamed to use Gypsy in CZ, the majority of people in my multicultural U.S. circle use Gypsy and do so positively. IT is O.K. We have different stories. As an essential part of lesson, it is important to note that we have our own stories and I will definitely respect you, and the culture when I go to CZ.

I feel hopeful, because just one person at a time, kindly, honestly, sharing stories, changes lives, builds tolerance. Every human has a story...Part of democracy is listening carefully...

To say that there is only one story is a from of elitism and as such mirrors the intolerance that what we are trying to step away from.

It’s tricky here at IRADL but with the shifting paradigms in education, can we regroup and think of ourselves more as artistic vigilant student centered educationalist, as opposed to a vigilante watch dog group so vicious that we inadverntently mirror the intolerant beliefs and behavior...

It is more serious than our students failing. If we don’t figure out how to reach out with all our hands and hearts, they will drown.

Thank you again for trusting, hanging in and hearing that daily in the U.S. all Gypsy & Rromani exposure give me an opportunity to raise up Rromani...Rarely is Rromani given by a U.S. citizen as an organic entry point. Gypsy is used more, so I capitalize on the educational opportunity, explaining kindly with smile the ins & outs of Gypsy, Rromani. It is received well and passed on.

P.S. Death House Blues by Son House has lyrics, “It’s hard to hold someone who don’t love you”. It reminds me of teaching in that, like humans want to love, teachers want to teach, and it is hard to teach when students are acting like douche bags, just as it is hard to love hold someone who don’t love you. I was told I was hard to hold as a baby and on into adulthood; thank God my mom and dad kept loving me and did not take it personally too much!!! They could have given up and let a third team of parents raise me...The good news for 21st century teachers that it’s much easier to teach ANY child or student with a team of teachers, easier to redirect the frustrated learner because there are more appropriate human resources...

P.P.S. BTW, 60 something U.S. retired nurse & humanist is watching MBFGW. Not only is she enthralled and proud of the Rromani, she has not expressed word one about “Wow, how negative!” Again, not to minimize the European /  Rroma experience of being viewed as scabby, but just to express a voice from AZ, where Gypsy and Rromani are viewed as amazing,  and fascinating just as much as the next group of different peoples. And if we are talking about raising up an individual, amazing and fantastic is good. If your story is different, fabulous, please share that as PART of the story, not THE story.

 

Comment by Ciuin Ferrin on September 22, 2011 at 7:10

While I would LOVE to educate the producers, actors, writers, and sponsors of MBFGW, they've made it clear they are not interested in working with us, apparently questioning Prof. Hancock's heritage, after claiming to have 'done her homework.' They are not interested in educating, they are interested in ratings which requires sensationalism, which gets them cash.

 

MBFGW has not opened any doors. They presented their side and it does not benefit them in any way to puthe truth out there as it means they have to admit to sensationalism and misuse of the word "Gypsy". While I am working on a letter to submit to the site and the board asking the network to create a special on the real life of the Rromani with Rromani artists, and writers, I am not expecting it to go anywhere.

 

Yes, we need to create a program to help students learn. Professor Hancock has written a wonderful textbook called "We Are the Romani People" and it is being used at the University of Iowa at my recommendation. One of my goals through O Porrajmos Education Society is to create a workshop for teachers on how to teach the full Holocaust, including the Rromani as racial victims. I am currently working on this curriculum along with tools for teachers.

 

I agree that forcing education on someone only results in resentment and nothing is gained. MBFGW, from what I've experienced in the lecture field, has not caused anyone to become more curious about us, but only reaffirmed the stereotypes they've already heard. As I speak, I am asked if I've ever seen the show and I am quick to explain the differences between what they see on TV and real life. But for every one person who asks, there are dozens and dozens more who are not at my lectures who never hear the truth.

 

Yes, we need to teach and not just students but teachers. But in order to teach those who crave money over human rights and social justice, you have to hit them where it hurts first, and that is in the checkbook. The problem is, we are such a minority that even if every one of us were to boycott the network, it wouldn't hurt them enough to make any difference.

 

I need to get to bed, but I will have some more work done hopefully tomorrow.

 

Baxt,

C

Comment by Kristina Burbank on September 26, 2011 at 20:45

I am an upstart, jumping in at a seemingly offsides junctures. I do apologize. One of my close friends tells me it sounds like I am searching for acceptance within this group and that thought had come across my mind, as well. My ego is definitely here pushing me to share. But now as a middle age learner and leader, as much as I am selfish about taking care of my needs so I can live a happy, healthy life, I am even more vicious for “tolerance of the life long learner” that resides in all.

 

Alas, our relationship is virtual, and when face to face protocols slither away, what replaces the structure?

 

How do we trust that we are all assessing, communicating, and flexing our ability to steward tolerance?

 

So you can trust my communication, what I convey through this social media are digital love letters to you, much in the way that classroom lessons were my love letters to my students.

It is not simply that I feel familiar with you. Or that just being a part of the group invigorates my emotions,  mind, and spirit. Or that having the liberty to jump in an international artistic democratic collaboration is an honor and thrill. I just wish that we were hashing this out face to face at the local coffee shop every Tuesday, from now until we pass the baton to the next generation!

While I am exposing myself, I feel horrible that I have not been there for you since the get go, and that I can only be there for you all in limited ways now. What’s more, I am sorry I was not there for the Group from the start of the conversation/lesson with MBFGW.

How can I help now by continuing the conversation with a body on the MBFGW team? People in the media are similar to teens in that they try to pick up on the trends, capitalize, be hip and belong. Maybe I can find a back door in now that some time has passed since our last efforts...Or maybe IRADL sticks with boycotting as the next part of the lesson...

I hope that you can forgive my shortcomings. Furthermore, I know members of IRADL recognize the value in the data submitted humbly and respectfully, as a field soldier, servant, teacher, and wing-woman, some educational best practices to support IRADLs reflective planning conversations in quest for tolerance.

But seriously, if I am forcing the equity in education issues, like a dog with a bone, and now you all are resentful, please call “MERCY!”. I will respectfully oblige, but might ask of you “What next, Kimosabe?”

We are living testament to the belief that the authentic life of Rromani and Rromani artists will be expressed. Already, thanks to people like you all and all our members & friends. Keep believing,

Tina

Random, relevant, rough bits of an educationalist approach to anti-defamation and tolerance:

BIG PICTURE of end Result = tolerant people living in a peaceful happy, healthful world

How does one model tolerance? How does one embrace all learners, regardless of their stage of development? How does one teach people how to truly honor, respect and raise up (step above tolerance) any human being, from a Caucasian Ph.D. to a Rroma youth to a “failing, lazy, ungrateful, sub-par” student?

One can only do so much - it is not a criticism, simply a reality of resource. Our Artists’ Initiative, bounds over that hurdle, modeling tolerance with our team of social artists exemplifying the ultimate lesson, hitting upon each human intelligence over a period of time so that all students can get it, one at a time. We can lean on some of the following to support our efforts.

• Children, adolescents and adults are similar in that grow and development continues until death.

• According to charts of human growth and development used by doctors and nurses today, the phase of adolescence begins around 14 and continues up through the age of 25, even later for the developmentally delayed or mentally impaired.

• Adolescents and young adults are some of the most subjugated people on the planet because they are systematically denied education in schools that leave space for a teacher to only reach those humans that have had the opportunity to develop a strong linguist and logic intellect. That means that all those humans that have not had that opportunity to flex those two intellects as much fall behind in the academic dust, now labeled incorrectly by systems and teachers for the world to see as lazy, stupid, and mean.

• The reality is that the student did not miss the lesson because of laziness, stupidity and a negative attitude, but rather the student missed the lesson because the lesson failed to teach to all 7 intellects of the student.

• Educational systems historically tend to be authoritative and elite, intolerant of the individual, so 21st century teachers must be prepared to avoid these remnant mine fields, sticking instead to the unique developmental course of each and every individual.

• Daily in cities across the United States, adolescents of all races and creeds and intellects claim they have done their homework when standardized results show they are "failing". Daily, teens are fighting back, telling teachers that they are not interested in what they have to SAY, irate really not at the teacher but at traditional education of their own society forcing them into a two sided linguistic-logical vice. What these teens and young adults are really fighting for is to be honored, learned and respected for all 7 human intelligences within.

• Example of litany from the multi-intelligenced learner in all of us, “When I am struggling with my learning and lashing out at you, would you romp on the playground with my body intelligence? Would you take my visual intelligence to an art gallery? Would you sing to my musical intelligence and go on a hike with my naturalist intelligence? Would you please discuss and dialogue with my interpersonal intelligence? Would you please reflect with my intrapersonal intelligence? While you are at it, would you please philosophize with my existential intelligence?

• In public schools across the U.S.A., K-12 teachers are expected to teach each student how achieve the standards, usually over a period of one year, regardless of student intent and intellectual development, even the cheeky ones.

• In the U.S.A., gone are the days when a misbehaving student is just sent out in the hall until he pulls himself together... A 21st century misbehaving student is now respected as an equal team memebr in the learning process, providing a valuable, albeit clumsy, clue about how to proceed with the lesson for the individual within the group of democratic learners. 

• Teams of teachers provide a safe space away from the mean student noise where together they can reflect on gaps in student needs, as well as research and develop approaches to address gaps, opening up alternative learning pathways over a period of time.

• To model tolerance, teachers release the perspective that a student is a failure and selfish.

• Tolerant teachers replace the perspective of student actions as lazy, selfish in favor of the view of student actions as a cry for help in an unorthodox manner.

• Individual teachers find the extra resources within teams of teachers, in order to keep on teaching - having the relationship and conversation, exploring the basic needs to be met (gaps in learning),

• Student resistance fades with this mentoring; students EVENTUALLY pick up the pieces to put their "tolerant" puzzle together with the rest of the peaceful world. (just maybe not this semester)

  
  

 

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