Maurel Merette

onto local news... - Maurel Merette

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:53:11 -0600

Today's paper had articles on two issues that interested me, so here's some feedback.

The first one has to deal with my former neighborhood where I lived for 3 years, East Wichita Falls. Apparently, interest in economic development in this area has peaked the interest of our City leaders (not saying that it may not have been a thought or part of the conversations before, but now signatures and goals have been inked)

From today's article: "The reinvestment district's boundaries lie in the eastern part of the city, and the zone is geared toward projects related to flood control, streets, utility work and assistance with business development.

"Our work is just beginning to get businesses in District 2," Roberts-Burns said. "I think we will get them if we work hard at it."Tax money generated by development from one year to the next within a TIF zone goes into a fund and is reinvested in future development projects in the area."

Someone in the comments in this story (and the previous one) made use of their constitutional and human right to express their opinion. (The Eastside is crime-ridden, blah, blah) However negative, outdated, incorrect and so on an so forth, it is their opinion.

My opinion is that this move is years overdue. Simple and plain.

While the population in East Wichita Falls has decreased in comparison to other areas of town, residential developments such as Washington Village Apartments, Lions Court and the various Habitat for Humanity homes built in the area show that there is an interest to live in East Wichita Falls. Be it the affordable nature of the land there or how relatively close it is to SAFB or perhaps the newly-paved MLK Jr. Blvd. (which makes for a pretty smooth and fast drive to work) all this part of town needs now is a resurgence of service-oriented businesses.

I remember having to drive up to the United Supermarket to get gasoline, food during the day and at night Wal-Mart on Central Freeway was the only place to meet your needs, unless you needed alcohol, . (and there's plenty of places to purchase that on MLK Jr. But that's another convo for another day) Having a place (or places) where folks only have to drive down the road (or walk) to get their needs and services taken care off is beneficial for all, so big UP! to our City leaders, hopefully this doesn't hit the bottom of the pile of their things to do.

Now onto needed social change. Lindsey Walker is grabbing the collective chins of the WFISD school board in an attempt to turn their heads and senses onto something he (and I agree) sees as social injustice, the lack of a representative number of minority teachers and leaders in the district.

From today's article:

"Walker said 5 percent to 6 percent of the district's professional staff is black and that six schools have no black teachers. Six schools have one, he said.

"Principals fail to seek diversity as a priority," Walker said."

Folks, the reality is that according to the latest available WFISD enrollment numbers, most of the over 14 thousand students in the district are not Caucasians. And hold on to your chairs, your school district is now a minority-majority district. Non-whites may outnumber whites by a few percentage points, but apparently that's where the minority-majority stops since the composition of the school district staff does not mirror their enrollment.

What does this mean? A few things actually.

From today's article:

In the most recent Academic Excellence Indicator System report dated 2007-08, data provided by WFISD to the state shows that of the district's 2,000 employees, 350 are minorities, or 17.5 percent. Statewide, minority staff totals 43.1 percent.

Of the district's 1,073 teachers, 48 are African American, 53 are Hispanic, 958 are white, 7 are Native American and 6 are Asian.
Percentage-wise, WFISD's minority work force lags behind the state's: African-American teachers here are 4.5 percent of the district's educators, compared with 9.6 percent statewide; Hispanic teachers here represent 5 percent, compared to 21.4 percent statewide; the white teachers here represent 89 percent of the teaching force, compared to 67 percent statewide.

Contrary to the beliefs of some of our strong-minded commenters, there are laws in place to encourage diversity in our schools, workplaces, etc. If you don't see the point in this, then I can only assume that you either skipped history in high school or have never picked up a work of non-fiction. Thus, if the WFISD is falling short on this due to something they or their employees are doing, this is a huge problem.

Thumbs up to Mr. Walker for exposing this in a public forum and staying with the cause. But there is an unfortunate and glaring absence in this movement in my opinion, so I'll ask, where are the Latinos at?

Having Mr. Walker (a black man) as the main name associated along with acronyms such as the NAACP, makes this to the uninformed masses a "black issue" instead of a social justice issue. I'm quite sure that Mr. Walker has the support (explicit or not) of more than just african-americans, but given that the largest non-white ethnic group of our city and our school district is Latino, why aren't we visible in this? Where's LULAC? Zavala? The Club Capri? All of our Latino-based organizations who have a commitment to our youth and our community seem to be terribly absent from this important discourse.

Nevertheless, my hat is off to our new superintendent. Conducting a study is the best way to approach this issue.

But I hope that their goal is not to simply match or come close to the numbers of teachers throughout the State of Texas. Their goal should be to encourage and foment an environment where there are little to no questions raised at who was hired and why. Schools and education should be the most progressive segment of our society, where our next generation is trained and set straight.

After all, real, tangible change comes about in generations not in years.

the future of paper - Maurel Merette

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:34:39 -0600

I've discussed my take on the future of newspapers on this blog. But check out this cool video made by Mo Rocca of Daily Show fame about the future of paper...yes, that material that gets thrown away faster than any other material on earth. Check it out.

http://cnettv.cnet.com/future-paper/9742-1_53-50075720.html

plug of the week-The Roots - Maurel Merette

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:14:04 -0600

Ok, so maybe they don't need me to plug them, after all, they are the house band on one of the main late-night TV shows (the one with the other Jimmy)

So, if you are done jonesing over the ONE Jackson, here's some happy music for ya. I think the tittle of the song (How I got Over) is pretty fitting.

I can't embed it due to blockery from youtube, but here's a link.

http://nahright.com/news/2009/06/25/video-the-roots-how-i-got-over-live-on-jimmy-fallon/

thank your for listening

Remembering the late Robert McNamara - Maurel Merette

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:12:06 -0600

I have respect for Robert McNamara.

In life he oversaw one of the most demoralizing war conflicts in the history of our nation, the vietnam war.

5 years ago, however, that same man spent some time with filmmaker Errol Morris and his crew and gave us Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara.

The Fog of War was and still is one of the best examples of a man attempting to make sense of a controversial life, filled with controversial decisions. I say controversial because there are those who think that with the information that he had available and in the political climate of the time, Bob McNamara made the best decisions he could. I beg to differ and history has also proven him wrong.

But my respect for the man surfaced after watching this documentary. His poignant "we were wrong" when referring to the widely accepted opinion that vietnam was another domino piece to fall on the side of the communists during the cold war still is perhaps the closest thing we will ever get to an official "I messed up, and we messed" from a former public servant. (It was after all, a civil war in the minds of the vietnamese)

I can only wonder if in 20 years or so, a similarly downtrodden Dubya might do the same when speaking of his misadministration.

Here's a few of my favorite quotes from that documentary:

"I think the human race needs to think more about killing...how much evil must we do in order to do good."

"The conventional wisdom is don't make the same mistake twice, learn from your mistakes. There will be no learning period with nuclear weapons. You make one mistake, you're going to destroy nations."

And from the additional ten lessons from R.S. McNamara:

The human race will not eliminate war in this century, but we can reduce the brutality of war--the level of killing--by adhering to the principles of a "Just War," in particular to the principle of "proportionality."

The indefinite combinations of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations.

Moral principles are often ambiguous guides to foreign policy and defense policy, but surely we can agree that we should establish as a major goal of U.S. foreign policy and, indeed, of foreign policy across the globe: the avoidance, in this century of the carnage--160 million dead--caused by conflict in the 20th century.

We, the richest nation in the world, have failed in our responsibility to our own poor and to the disadvantaged across the world to help them advance their welfare in the most fundamental terms of nutrition, literacy, health and employment.

RIP Mr. McNamara, owning up to your mistakes and sharing what you have learned from them is perhaps one of the most human things you did in your lifetime.

substitute me - Maurel Merette

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:15:06 -0600

I recently read the article that my colleague Ann Work wrote on the shortage of substitute teachers in the WFISD.

I don't claim or intend to say that I know the reason why there's a shortage, but I felt like sharing my experience with the WFISD back in 2004 when I applied to be a substitute.

I was a recent graduate of the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in History when I arrived in Wichita Falls (Why WF? that's another story). My plan when I was in college was to obtain my History degree, rather than an education degree with the social studies endorsement, and later seek alternative certification. So when I arrived I sought out all school districts in Wichita County for substitute teacher applications.

Shoutout to City View ISD, Iowa Park ISD and Burk ISD for being so polite and helpful when I applied. I know that there is some talk around the county that the aforementioned districts have a "bias" against folk with high levels of melanin such as myself, but in my experience with them it wasn't the case.

Anyhow, within a week I was signed up as a Sub with all the aforementioned districts. They all said that due to their size, I may not get any assignments for a few months, which I understood completely. So I sought out the big boys in education 'round hea, the big bad WFISD.

First of all, whoever took care of me at the education center that day must have had a few bad weeks, a chip on her shoulder, or something because she was not personable at all. I know some folk see 24 year-olds as young, but her prodding questions felt like I had gone to the assistant principal's office for a reprimand. Nevertheless, I filled out the paperwork required, pulled out my official transcript, and handed it over to her.

Now, at this point is where she lost me.

This lady told me that it is unlikely that I would get calls for assignments because folks didn't "know me" in the district. *Enter scooby doo sound here* what? in a district of 14k students and god knows how many teachers I have to be "known" to get an assignment? Ok...let's carry on.

She then made a few comments about my educational background, something along the lines of "oh, you did history" "Penn State, huh?" As I understood the requirements to sub in the royal WFISD only required 60 credits of college credits...no mention of a specific field of study..I had almost 3 times that with my Bachelor's degree and a plethora of courses in Sociology and Spanish. Was there anything else that I needed and didn't have?-y'all see where this is going here.

Then I proceeded to tell this lady that I was bilingual (fluent in english and spanish) and I had roughly 30 credits of spanish courses, enough for a minor but that PSU had changed their requirements and I didn't get it on my diploma. Her response, "Ok, but that's still not a minor"

In retrospect I wonder why she didn't try to snatch me up for a full-time job. Or at least point me to sources of alternative certification or something. Considering the company line that there's always a need for more bilingual teachers. Here I was, a college graduate, bilingual and with enough credits for a minor and I'm getting an incredible amount of static just to get on the substitute list (which in her words, seemed of gargantuan proportions)

By now I'm getting the feeling that the substitutes in this district are not appreciated or at least valued. The lady finished with the schpiel of "go to this website, sign up there, click here, put your info there and make sure you leave your days open"

"No problem," I said.

That is the last contact I ever had with the WFISD as a prospective employee. Never did I receive a call for an assignment and working at Denny's at night was not cutting it to support a wife and 2 kids, so I got a job at the only place that was locally hiring in a hurry, Cingular (now AT&T mobility) (the rest of my job history you can see on my profile on this website by the way, I makes it happen folk)

Once again, shoutout to City View, IP and Burk for looking me up for assignments. Unfortunately I was not able to take any by then since I had gained full-time employment with Cingular.

I have a few friends that are teachers and others who work in the WFISD who have expressed their desire to see me teach in a classroom. After my experience as an aspiring sub at the royal WFISD, I tell them kindly "heck no! If they didn't want me as a sub, you think they want me as a teacher?"

On and Mr. Waitman, if you don't know why your numbers have dwindled from 150 to 19, y'all got a bigger problem.

S.O.S. (Save Our Scribes) pt. 2 - Maurel Merette

Thu, 07 May 2009 09:24:30 -0600

We write things down. We do it consistently and mostly coherently.

We have existed since before the times when little kids with faces tarnished by soot screamed "extra! extra!" and hawked the newsprint in busy corners, on bus stops and other places.

We are a species on the danger of extinction. We are print journalists.

But we are not going without a fight, and Amazon threw us a lifeline of sorts.

Enter the Kindle DX, pricey, large and capable of delivering full newspaper pages to your hands (via sprint's 3G network). Hooray for Amazon! they invested their R & D bucks and launched a product that might help turn the tide on the side of newspapers.

Hold on, pump your brakes. Apparently, we are celebrating a short term fix, a bandaid, if you will.

I can't even list all of the different bloggers, industry analysts, etc, who have chimed in calling our bluff. After reading a few of their posts, I can only surmise that the consensus is that this move is too little and perhaps too late.

So what to do then? Michael Hickins from Information Week brought up a few good ideas on this post.

He writes about a possibility for publishers to band together and work on a content delivery service built around a device, sort of a soda machine but with printable content a-la-carte.

Picture this, you are at Starbucks getting your $6 coffee on (if you still can afford it of course) and you want to read the latest on your Rider Raiders beating the snot out of some other team (abusando) you could walk up to this machine and insert your TRN bucks card and print out Nick Gholson's treatment on the game. Just for you and no one else. Wouldn't that be nice?

Of course, the page - and the machine - will possibly carry a few ads by -insert local business here- gotta pay the bills right? But you wouldn't mind as long as you got your .10 cent story in full color or .5 cents for b/w?

The interesting point in Hickins posting is that we have the technology, but somehow we are scared to jump into it. It is no secret that our business model is outdated and that changes are needed to survive, but are we truly innovating when a company like Amazon takes the lead on something we should have a few patents on?

As journalists, we are proactive in our investigations, but largely do a lot of reactionary work. When something happens, we like to get reactions, from official sources all the way to Tamiko who just happened to be near the site of the event. Because we are not precognitive, news has to happen for us to report them, we can't make them. And when we do, it's not so good. There's a few Stephen Glass references that fit here.

Unfortunately, being reactionary only benefits journalists in seeing the big picture, but in the business world, a combination of both is the key to success.

This is my plea to our kind overlords in corporate newspaper land, take the lead. Get over the outdated newspaper culture and lets get these news out more efficiently. You all stand to make more money this way, instead of less money in our current incarnation. Who knows? perhaps this might help us remain relevant.

I don't know about you, but it will be a sad day on earth indeed when some of the most gutsy questions are asked by bloggers (see Perez Hilton and the folks at the Huffington Post)

Vaya con Dios amigo - Maurel Merette

Fri, 01 May 2009 10:36:33 -0600

This posting is not in Spanish. Nor was it meant to be.

Today we at the TRN we say goodbye to one of our own, photojournalist Jason Palmer. Yes, he's that guy that you saw at errrrrthing around town since he had the long-standing position of weekend photog at our humble paper.

I must say, the man made lots of story assignments easier due to his easygoing attitude. And Latinos, don't let him fool you, the man knows some spanish asi que ojo!

Asi que, vaya con Dios señor Palmer y much congratulations on your recent nuptials. We will sure miss ya at the house that Rhea Howard built.

Check out Jason's work through the years.

Viva la vida... - Maurel Merette

Fri, 01 May 2009 09:41:01 -0600

..or life and all of PS22's 60 choir members. Here's their rendition of the Coldplay hit.

Real-life crime crusaders? - Maurel Merette

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:38:17 -0600

My favorite comic superheroes are Batman and Iron Man.

Fans of Iron Man might tell you that for Tony Stark, the suit is just an extension of his large ego. Batmaniacs will tell you that for the dark knight, Bruce Wayne is the caped crusader's mask.

Ever wonder if there are folks like our favorite pulp superheroes? Are there real masked crusaders around us? Apparently yes.

I am a little late to this party, considering that magazine articles and local news stations have already done reports on them, but it is interesting nevertheless.

These caped crusaders (mask and all) make their do gooding in Cincinnati, OH, mostly in broad daylight! And they even have their own sort of Justice Guild, which extends to other states in the nation.

Don't believe me? Watch this.

Now, I remember wanting to be superhero as a kid. And while I don't have the stats to prove it, you all know that almost every kid puts on a cape at least once in their lifetime. But I must say, these guys are at the least impressive in their resolve to do this as grownups and to actually carry out these acts in a dedicated fashion. Who knows? Perhaps more of us should don on masks and set out to do more good deeds. Or are the masks even necessary?

paying for facebook? - Maurel Merette

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:08:59 -0600

In the summer of 2004, right before I moved to Texas, I got a funny email from my good friend and Fraternal Brother W. Albert Martinez with the words "Facebook Me!" on the subject line.

It was one of those red pill/blue pill moments, should I take the blue pill/trash the email and make nothing of it or take the red pill/read it and subsequently join one of the most addicting social networks ever created? Well, red-pill-me folks, I joined.

I've had my name and face available on facebook for little under 5 years. During that time I've de-activated my profile and reactivated it a few times. Personal reasons.

I've connected with high school friends, college friends, co-workers, relatives overseas and even my younger brother whom I have yet to meet in person through this website. Thus, the benefit of a free service (*cough, cough* classmates.com) to re-connect with folks from the past is evident.

But would I be willing to pay for it if the free went away?

CNET Blogger David Carnoy asked the same question today. He posted some info on financial issues that might make this move necessary for the social network. I in turn asked some of my co-workers who gave me a flat "NO"

I personally see the benefit of facebook, but quite honestly, I can do without it. I once deactivated my facebook account for 4 months...yes folks, and I wasn't for lent either.

Can you do without facebook? Or you would you be up for paying $1 per month to get your impersonal social network fix?

musical healing - Maurel Merette

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:55:56 -0600

I love Jazz.

Thanks to papi I had plenty of brass around the house to tinker with as a little tike. Legend goes that mi padre has a recording of me singing along to him playing the Tenor Sax...

So when life gets a little hectic and sometimes it seems I can't get myself going, I put on some Jazz, heavy on the trumpets please.

It's no secret that I dig the Menahan Street Band, their last effort plays more than once or twice a week on my Treo. But I found something more uplifting.

There's a video on the ol' youtube of a performance by a school band in Clinton Hill (I think) in NYC performing MSB's "Make the road by walking." It is awesome. Little kids doing music of this quality is always inspiring. Definitely makes me feel like something much better than what we have accomplished so far is coming and that's pretty inspiring.

Here's their performance. Oh, and you have to give them madd props, the actual Menahan Street Band was in the audience when they performed this..talk about bravery.

And here's the original for your comparison...they did awesome in my humble opinion.

jumping on Susan Boyle's fanwagon - Maurel Merette

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:35:22 -0600

Ok. By now you have seen the video, heard the commentators, saw the Today Show, whatever.

If you don't know who Susan Boyle is, well, the rock you were under was under another rock.

I'm not going to re-state what has been said by all who encounter this. All I want to say to Ms. Boyle is thank you for reminding all of us that beauty and talent is more than skin deep. All of us ugly duckling's out here are cheering you on.

Warning! Watching this will certainly massage your tear ducts, I certainly got something in my eye somewhere during her performance.

*For some reason they decided not to allow embedding for this video, but here's the link

Chevy, energize! - Maurel Merette

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:27:10 -0600

This is a video of a reporter driving the long-touted and GM hail mary pass Chevy Volt....sort of.

He actually didn't get to drive the finished product, but the insides on it are the Chevy Volt's electric engine and other revolutionary parts.

So, it will still take another year for the vehicle to enter production and quite honestly, I don't see these making any showrooms for your purchasing pleasure until 2011.

Enjoy

537 Cuba - Maurel Merette

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:20:39 -0600

Almost two decades after we made nice with the our former Soviet foes, we finally show the beginnings of making nice with the Cuban government.

I've always had an admiration for Cuba and its people. Yes, Fidel is a little touched (not that my father would appreciate me saying that) and la revolucion sort of stalled when it's major cheerleader and supporter folded and caved into peer pressure and what some consider its own manufactured demise. But Cubanos are some resilient folk.

Where I'm from we have a say, "Dios te aprieta, pero no te ahorca" loosely translated this means "God squeezes but doesn't choke" Kinda crude for PG audiences, right? But if you grew up in a developing nation like mine, the sheer reality of everyday life can truly feel like it is somewhat cutting off your air supply. Well, imagine this magnified by a hundred, that's a typical day for many Cubans our the current day and age.

I recently watched a documentary that centered around group of raperos in La Habana as they crafted their music and prepared for a concert which would later be cancelled by the Ministry of Culture. It also showed the day-to-day slings and arrows that these group of folks have to dodge to survive. Needless to say, it paints a grim picture and a deep disconnect between the younger generation, who has grown up in the crumbles that make up Cuba and the older generation who remember the days of Fulgencio Batista and the early years of la revolución.

I, like many Latin-americans believe that its high time for Cuba to rejoin the world. But under who's terms will this family reunion come to fruit? I am sure that all the resort magnates are currently licking their chops and setting up contingency plans for when open resort building season is open in the Cuban mainland. But can Cuba ever really join up with the world on their terms? Or are they being set up to be pillaged by opportunists?

One thing is certain, President Obama's recent move would definitely allow for some families to reconnect. For some, lifetimes have passed since they saw each other. I hope that one day, the rest of us non-Cubans are allowed to go there as well.

Here's a trailer for the Documentary, "East of Havana", a must-see for anyone who wishes to see native informants speak on the nation's troubled history and current state.

escaping the matrix - Maurel Merette

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:52:34 -0600

I've been made fun off or rather, folks have poked fun at me for my references to the blockbuster and my fave flick of all time "The Matrix" when it comes to real-world applications.

But here's a guy that uses the Matrix metaphor and makes it work for him.

Jonathan Haidt studies stuff, like many folk out there with degrees and stuff. But he's no regular watcher of people, he takes great notes and makes up good surveys. He also gets to talk at TED (which I wish I could go to, but upon strict search of cost, found out that awesome thinkers talking and pontificating cost muchos pesos).

Anywho, here's a talk I found by him at TED, he urges folks to step out of the moral matrix and quite honestly makes some good points about the ways in which our moral compasses move. He also talks on the division of our society of conservatives and liberals (and all of us around or in between) and how this deeply influences our stances on issues of morality and many other things.

The talk is not too long, under 20 minutes, and I recommend watching it instead of plugging your headphones and minimizing the window.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/