Talking about CLASS in CLASS

Although we touched upon some concepts of class and we challenged our perceptions of what we thought we knew about each other..there is still so much more that I would like to understand from dialoguing with others...How would you answer some of these questions?

1. What does it mean to be "more middle class"?
2. Who are the rich and how did they "get rich"?
3. Who are the poor and how did they "get poor"?
4. What does "a working class background" mean?
5. What is the difference between a blue collar worker and a white collar worker?
6. How do we use these concepts or constructs to interpret what we see as the "values" that others have?
7. Have these concepts changed overtime?
8. Are these concepts still valid?
9. Are the constraints of economic stratification just a bunch of "higgly piggly?" (Mulcahy, 2007)

Video clip? Hopefully this works now...

OK so this is not the clip that I had been intending to post. I spent the last two days trying to edit and trim another clip, but it did not work. At least you can hear Obama's final comments instead.

Inspired by Others with Snipers in the Mix

Last month I had a chance to hear Senator Obama speak at Wesleyan. At the last minute he was asked to fill in for T. Kennedy as guest speaker at graduation. I had never heard him speak before so I made sure to get child care coverage and get up early to get into the limited seating. Somehow I justified my adventure by bringing my book bag along with me.

I was supposed to be reading the First Idea and the Schein book while I sat there for three hours before his speech, but somehow watching the secret service set up and the snipers appear atop Olin library, was enough of a distraction that I didn't quite get through the chapters. It was surreal to be sitting out on a sunny morning procrastinating as I did so many times as an undergraduate. Some things never change.

Here is a clip that I recorded that I thought people would like to hear. I couldn't edit the clip so just forward it to about the mid point for a bit more of the interesting comments he makes about his own experiences as a student and then a community organizer.

His speech to the graduating class of 08 made me think back to all the grand thoughts I had back in '91 as a graduating senior about to start my two year committment to Teach for America. I felt so old yet somehow tried to hold on to the thought of starting anew, especially with this EdD program.

So here is to feeling like a college senior again (without the hang over!)

first ideas about my first blog

Although I am never short on words, I am still a virgin blogger.

Is there a certain protocol that stipulates the do's and don't of blogging?