Fred Klonsky’s PREA Prez Blog

Atfaluna is a school for the deaf in Gaza City. Watch the video here.

Earlier in the week the alarm went off at 5:30 AM, the usual time, and I just wanted to roll over and stay in my nice warm bed.

Anne said, “Let’s set the alarm for 5:30 on Saturday just so we can turn if off and go back to sleep.”

This morning the alarm went off at 5:30 AM. Just as Anne promised she turned it off and with smiles on our faces we pulled the blanket up and fell back to sleep.

Traffic was light for coffee at Peets. It is foggy and drizzly with temperatures in the mid 40s. We just checked the temperature in Mexico (where we will be New Year’s eve) and it never gets above 85 or lower than 78. Perfect.

• Struggle in the fields.

My union brother and IEA blogger, Dan Chambers posts:

You might think modern employers are all caught up to speed on that whole ‘13th Amendment’ thing… But, apparently not.

• Merry Christmas! Bush “Scrooges” kids on Medicare and Medicaid funding.

The Washington Post reports:

The Bush administration yesterday eliminated about $700 million a year in Medicaid reimbursements to schools, sidestepping an attempt by Congress to block such a move.The new rule, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is expected to save the federal government $3.6 billion over five years, transferring those costs to school districts.

• OK. I know this is weird.

I know the idea of an 80 minute documentary about Helvetica type (this is the 50th anniversary of Helvetica) may not be your idea of a great Christmas movie, but Anne and I are both type-face junkies. Helvetica is the best film on design (not a huge category) I have ever seen. And when designer Paula Scher explained the relationship between Helvetica type and the Vietnam and Iraq wars, it was brilliant.

Today was the Holiday Sing. Two shifts. Half in the morning and half in the afternoon. The kids were dressed spiffier than any of us could remember. I was taking no chances with paints or crayons or markers. Even if they were wearing their paint smocks, I wasn’t about to take responsibility.

So I showed a collection of Pixar cartoons. I talked a little about the old days when each cel had to be drawn individually. OK. Done with the education part. On with the cartoons. I thought it was funny that the kids who laughed the hardest were the first graders and the fifth graders.

It’s a great collection by the way. It begins pre-Pixar with a 1984 Lucas Film cartoon called The Adventures of Andre and Wally B. and ends with a 2007 digitally animated short called Lifted. The DVD was twenty bucks at Target and you can bet I’ll use it again.

Anne and I are heading for Brooklyn on Sunday, whether permitting. And then a couple of days South of the border. This is the point where I say I’ll do limited posting. But then I post anyway. We’ll just see how it goes.

We’ll be seeing the family and celebrating the holidays in Brooklyn. I have a grandson due at the end of January. What I wish for my grandchildren, I wish for all kids. It’s a long list, but it begins with an end to our terrible wars.

Of all the songs that get sung this time of year, my favorite is Jackson Browne’s The Rebel Jesus:

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants’ windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
While the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for God’s graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by ‘the Prince of Peace’
And they call him by ‘the Savior’
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill his churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in him increases
But they’ve turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber’s den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

Well we guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

Now pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgment
For I’ve no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In a life of hardship and of earthly toil
There’s a need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus