BOE Elections: Thoughts

I have been thinking about this year’s school board election all weekend. Some of you already know that I have resigned from my officer role on the League of Women Voters of Plainfield, as well as from my service in helping to prepare forums. I will remain a member, but I can no longer constrain myself from openly supporting the individuals whom I think will best work on the issues facing our district. My choices may not win, but they are my choices. 

I have shared my thoughts on this election with all the candidates collectively as well as individually, and I have told them that I look forward to working with everyone on the goal of making the schools and the city better. I figured, though, that I would pull everything together and do a little blog post for my tiny subscription base (I think there are 35 of you—lol). I will also make a personal phone call on behalf of those whom I support, as is the right of every citizen. Here are my thoughts, edited and modified from the correspondence and commentary from this weekend:

During this election, I served as a volunteer to fill in for the vacant "Voter Service" seat by taking the lead role in organizing and putting together the forum. I remained impartial throughout, in observance of league protocol. I am a private citizen again, and am happy to have my life back. I had hoped that the league forum would allow all interested voters to focus on the issues, not on the personalities.

The climate of this year's school board campaign is unprecedented--actually, I do remember that when one candidate was running a few years ago, a really nasty anonymous flyer appeared attacking him and another candidate—it was really ugly stuff. I thought I had seen it all.

This year, too, my character has been attacked--hate mail is ugly and frightening, and if any of you have ever received it, you know what I am talking about. One candidate did share with me that she had been verbally attacked and has also received hate mail. Another candidate said that this has been quite a learning process, but that she is committed to running again.

I don't know completely where all this anger is coming from, but we need to bring it all down a level. I know that candidates cannot control everything that their partisans do on their behalf and perhaps without their knowledge, but they all bear some responsibility for the overall tone of a campaign. Plainfield resident Alan Goldstein likened the invective to the "tea party" attacks on our president and his supporters.

In all my years on the league, I have only been publicly (verbally) attacked once, by someone for whom the words "New Democrat" are anathema. Aside from that, I have been able to just delete the vicious and anonymous commentary I have received for taking my positions.

I was not originally planning to publicly advocate on behalf of any candidates, but when I see people whom I respect (and with whom I have worked for years on other issues of dire importance to our city) smeared and dragged through the mud in a local school board election, I simply have to set the record straight. I refuse to be intimidated by vicious, anonymous individuals.

Some of the candidates who are running this year have never run for local office before, and I have a feeling that if they knew that they would be the subject of anonymous attacks on their character, they would not have filed petitions--and that is a sad commentary. It will be harder for folks to want to get involved next year.

I requested that the candidates let their supporters (some of whom may have been responsible for the comments directed at me) know that, as a private citizen, I can support and advocate for whomever I'd like. For those who win, I hope that civility and collaboration will reign. For those who don't prevail this year, I hope you will run again next time. I have met some candidates who should certainly consider running next year for one of the 3-year seats.

In the end, though, please know that my choices should not serve as an impetus to demonize me, nor should any of the choices of any of the voters in our city serve to demonize them. We all simply have our own ideas and opinions about which candidates we feel will best serve our children at this very critical juncture. That said, I fully expect to receive more commentary. I will simply delete it, as I have done before.

Many of the BOE candidates whom I have observed over the years don't agree on every issue, nor should they, in my opinion. However, on the core issues that make up their platform, they are able to find common ground and work together to bring their shared vision to the BOE table. 

Whatever happens, however, on Wednesday, I am willing to lend support in whatever way I can to the new board configuration. I will be focusing on my city council run after tomorrow, and if I am elected, I would like an opportunity to serve as the BOE liaison--as an educator, I think I can bring some perspective to the schools (even though I teach at the college level).

All that said, the only incumbent I am supporting for another three-year term this year is Christian Estevez, who has served on the school board for one term. He and I have worked together on a number of local community, labor, immigration, and political initiatives over the past number of years here in Plainfield and in Newark (with the Latino Action Network and the Urban Issues Institute, which operates out of Essex County College, where I teach). Having worked with Chris, I know that he is a good collaborator and that he can be effective. Therefore, I think he deserves an opportunity to serve again. I am also supporting BOE newcomers Mary Burgwinkle and Carmencita Pile—I have worked with them as well. My final vote goes to one of the newcomers to the process. There are other candidates running this year who certainly deserve consideration, and I hope that you will review their respective records and make your choice. Again, I feel that all candidates should be applauded for stepping forward to serve our city.

All best,

Rebecca

P.S. As far as my other affiliations, I am also a member of the New Democrats for Plainfield Democratic Club, the Plainfield Democratic City Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Council of Teachers of English, the New Jersey Education Association, the League of Women Voters of Plainfield, the Newark-based Urban Issues Institute Steering Committee, the Modern Language Association, and the American Studies, Africana Studies, and English Students Association at the Graduate Center of the City of New York. And now I am off to Elizabeth!

Holocaust Days of Remembrance: Honoring the Victims and Survivors

This week marks the Days of Remembrance, commemorating the Holocaust. Today, April 12th, is Yom HaShoah—Holocaust Remembrance Day. I observe this day in a very personal way—I remember Mrs. Pearl and Miss Rosencrantz.

When I was in seventh grade, my English teacher, Mrs. Pearl, introduced us to the story of Anne Frank, whose World War II memoir, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, was part of our curriculum. Since many of the girls in our class kept diaries, we identified with young Anne’s adolescent struggles. Mrs. Pearl provided us with the broader historical frame of the Holocaust to contextualize Anne’s story. 

As we read the diary, Mrs. Pearl would have us imagine what it was like to live in a space for over two years, having to live in utter silence all day, always fearful of being discovered. I remember clearly the images from the camps that accompanied our reading, the awful devastation and unspeakable suffering.

I identified deeply with Anne, especially as she grew older, and the entries began reflecting challenges that I knew I soon would be facing as an adolescent. Anne also wanted to be a writer, which was my future goal as well. I still remember reading the final entry of the diary, dated August 1, 1944:

Believe me, I’d like to listen, but it doesn’t work, because if I’m quiet and serious, everyone thinks I’m putting on a new act and I have to save myself with a joke, and then I’m not even talking about my own family, who assume I must be ill, stuff me with aspirin and sedatives, feel my neck and forehead to see if I have a temperature, ask about my bowel movements and berate me for being in a bad mood, until I just can’t keep it up anymore, because when everybody starts hovering over me, I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I’d like to be and what I could be if…if only there were no other people in the world.

Yours, Anne M. Frank

Of course, we now know that this final entry was written three days before the Frank family (along with the Van Pels family and Fritzs Pfeffer) was betrayed by someone who knew they were hiding in the attic space at 263 Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. They were arrested by the German police, and all perished in the Nazi death camps except for Otto Frank, Anne’s father.

The summer after I read the diary, my mother took my brother and me to Europe. We arrived in Amsterdam late in the evening, and I remember my mother asking the hotel clerk where Anne Frank House, meaning 263 Prinsengracht, was located. It was within walking distance. The next day, we began our journey. We headed through the streets, which I believe were cobblestoned. I recall feeling a sense of apprehension when we turned onto Prinsengracht. 

When we arrived at the house, I was struck by how nondescript it was. When I got inside, however, I saw everything preserved/restored as it would have looked when Anne was there. I looked out the window and saw the tree she wrote about; I scrutinized the wall where Anne had plastered the photos of famous movie stars—it was just as I had read in the book. 

Many other people in the room, men as well as women, were in tears—as a 12 year-old, I was unused to seeing adults cry—it was disconcerting. And I remember staring hard at everything so that I would not cry. When I returned home later that summer, I read the diary again—this time, every line seemed to take on a profound significance. I had been to the house—I could see Anne’s life in the annex unfold in high relief.

Two years later, when I was in high school, I had another English teacher, Miss Rosencrantz, a somewhat intense and serious woman in her forties who always wore dark-colored clothing with long sleeves. I viewed myself as a wit back then (Read: occasionally amusing, but more likely just obnoxious), and I liked to verbally spar with my teachers. 

One day, when we were studying The Iliad, she asked us a question about modern day products we could associate with Greek mythology. Ever the smart aleck, I called out “Trojan condoms.”  As my classmates snickered, Miss Rosencrantz looked at me as if she were giving serious consideration to my answer. She then said, deadpan, “Hmmm…I wonder about that. The Trojans failed.”

The class laughed hard—Miss Rosencrantz had, for the first time, made them laugh—they were laughing at me and, although I was red-faced, I had to laugh, too. She smiled at all of us, and even at me, a warm, wise smile. She then raised her arm to write down my answer on the blackboard, and that is when I noticed the numbers inked into her forearm. 

I was stunned and deeply unsettled, because I knew what those numbers meant. She had been in the Auschwitz death camp. I stared at Miss Rosenkrantz for a long time, trying to imagine how she could be standing before us, teaching us, given what she had been through as a young girl. I became quiet in her classroom after that day. I never made another joke. Today, when I reflect on that day, I still cannot articulate that feeling, that emotion—it remains beyond my ability to process.

So, during this week, part of my observance will be to remember Mrs. Pearl and Miss Rosenkrantz, two teachers who helped to shape my understanding of the world around
me.

For more information on Anne Frank House, click here: Anne Frank House

For more on the Days of Remembrance, as well as on how you can assist in preventing genocide, click here: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

All best, 

Rebecca

New Democrats for Plainfield: Reflections from a Founding Member

-->

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Dan Damon ran a story on his Plainfield Today blog (see that story here) that focused on the New Democrats for Plainfield. The context there was that Councilwoman Linda Carter was being elevated to run in this year’s Democratic primary for a freeholder seat. With that story, Dan ran a photograph (reproduced above) of some of the founding New Democrats from our 2003 campaign to elect Linda Carter and Councilman Cory Storch. Seeing that photo truly resonated with me, and I made a comment on Dan’s blog about what being a New Democrat for Plainfield has meant to me. I had said that I would expound further on my own blog, and after receiving a number of email queries—even a couple from subscribers (like my mother!) who don’t live here, but who are interested in my political activities—I finally have time (after finishing the grading of dozens of student research papers!) to post my comment here—with a few edits and additional words.

This photo remains one of my favorites—it has all of our first candidates together—Adrian, Al, Linda, Cory, and Rayland—a great team. I still miss Al deeply, and to see this photo brought it all back. I have been thinking a lot about the New Democrats over the past few days. As others have pointed out, the New Democrats for Plainfield are life-long Democrats, and our club continues to work for the betterment of Plainfield.

As a founding member of the New Democrats for Plainfield, I have served as GOTV Operations Manager for several years, including during Annie McWilliams and Adrian Mapp’s successful races for 2008 citywide and 3^rd ward council, respectively, and I managed Linda Carter’s 2003 primary campaign, Cory’s 2003 general election campaign, the late Ray Blanco’s 2004 citywide campaign, and Al McWilliams’s 2005 election campaign. I also volunteered on Rayland Van Blake’s 2002 campaign, where he unseated a long-time incumbent. Aside from Ray’s campaign, these were all “off the line” races—some we won, and some we lost. Nonetheless, I remain proud of the work New Democrats have done.

I have heard comments on occasion to the effect that Plainfield has two Democratic parties—well, those who say that err. We are one party. When Barack Obama (a self-proclaimed New Democrat!), Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden, Christopher Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, and all the other Democratic presidential contenders participated in the primary process in 2008, they weren’t considered “non” Democrats, nor did anyone suggest that there were eight or more Democratic parties.

During the 2008 primary season, even Democrats of the Regular Democratic Organization supported either Frank Lautenberg or Rob Andrews without being accused of being members of two different parties. The RDO supported Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama without being accused of creating two different parties!

Plainfield's New Democrats have focused on ethical, responsible leadership and community activism. We campaigned for Obama in 2008, for Kerry in 2004, for our senators, for our congressmen, for former Governor Corzine, and for our other state officials. We have supported various candidates during the primary season for freeholder and city council as well.

Our Democratic club has had many successes, given that we are such a young organization (founded in 2001), and we have sustained losses, as I mentioned earlier. However, those losses have not kept us from being politically engaged, and we remain a force in this city.

Being a part of the New Democrat political club does not mean that one is not a true Democrat--take a look at other cities--many have different political clubs focused in different ways (LGBT, senior citizen, African American, Jewish, progressive, youth-based, ecologically-based, etc.). These clubs bring their own agendas and political philosophy to bear on the party at large--ideally to help build better communities.

The fact that our club elects to run candidates during primary season does not mean that we are not Democrats. I would submit that the presence of New Democrat candidates in the process has resulted in a rejuvenated local party. Even Chairman Green has stated this, and he recently publicly acknowledged our work ethic and dedication. We work very hard and are committed to ethical leadership and putting forth strong candidates. Once elected, however, the council people are expected to bring the New Democrats for Plainfield ethos of ethical, responsible leadership to their work on behalf of the city’s residents, as opposed to political expediency or personal ambition.

Although I am an elected member of the Plainfield Democratic City Committee in the Second Ward (2-9) and currently serve as Second Ward Democratic Committee Leader, I have campaigned in all wards of the city (especially in the 2009 and 2005 mayoral races, the 2008 and 2004 citywide council races, and 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th ward and at-large races from 2002 to the present), walking day after day and knocking on doors with our candidates and recruiting and organizing a New Democrats army of volunteers to work on behalf of the city. I have been registering voters all along and have developed lasting friendships with voters and residents all over Plainfield.

Last year, as well as in 2008, I worked especially hard in both the Second and Third Wards, helping to recruit and elect several new members of the Plainfield Democratic City Committee, which had become rather moribund over the years.

The New Democrats now comprise a majority of the county committee seats in the 2^nd and 3^rd wards—we are duly elected members, and our role is to bring our commitment to ethical leadership and community activism to bear on the RDO to make a stronger party.

I am happy to discuss any aspect of our club's founding/organization/perspective/political philosophy with anyone who would like to know more about us. I am committed to continuing to do as much as I can to help Plainfield move forward—the struggle continues.

Whether or not I continue my political engagement in Democratic politics on or off the line, I will never lose my focus on what the "New Dems" stands for, and I will not run and hide from the label. We need effective leadership in the city at this critical juncture, and I know there are good candidates out there can serve and not feel that they have to sacrifice their principles in order to help our city.

All best,

Rebecca

P.S. For my next post, it's back to literature and pop culture!

The persistence of "Frankenstein" in Popular Culture

This month, the students in my Honors English classes are reading Mary Shelley's Romantic novel, Frankenstein--reading it from several critical perspectives, including psychoanalytic, feminist, gender, Marxist, and cultural criticism. In our class, we also will be reading "race" in Frankenstein, as part of our semester's thematic focus on the alien/outcast/outsider in literature and popular culture. 

To that end, I couldn't resist the urge to include a fascinating artifact from the 1970s--clips from an ultra-low-budget film titled Blackenstein, the Black Frankenstein,which was made in 1973, at the height of the so-called "blaxploitation" era in American cinema. In this film, the creature (complete with an Afro!) is formed from the body of a wounded black Vietnam veteran--a fascinating subtext to explore, given the reality that many black soldiers in particular faced upon their return home from that conflict. This clip is the very last one.

We are also examining the story through the lens of other popular film adaptations. In addition to the blaxploitation piece, below are clips from several of the most popular film adaptations of Frankenstein--including the very first full-length version, which was a silent film made in 1910 at Edison Studios, the 1931 classic, 1935's "sequel," the 1994 remake with Robert DeNiro, and Mel Brooks's hilarious comedic take, made in 1974. I have tried to group them together so that you can see the "birth/creation" scenes together.

All best,

Rebecca

Frankenstein, 1931. "It's alive!" (RT 4:05)

Frankenstein, 1931. The creature's awareness. (RT 3:10)

Frankenstein, 1994. Frankenstein gives "birth." (RT 7:37)

Young Frankenstein, 1974. (RT 10:00)

Bride of Frankenstein, 1935. "She's alive!" (RT 6:14)

Frankenstein, 1994. The Creature expresses his loneliness. (RT 3:56)

Frankenstein, 1994. The Creature confronts Victor. (RT 9:58)

Frankenstein, 1910. Watch the "special effect" at the end! (Full-length 12:41)

Blackenstein, 1973. The "ultimate" in low-budget cinema! (RT 3:40)

Honoring Zora Neale Hurston, American Literary Genius, 1891-1960

Thursday, January 28, 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of writer Zora Neale Hurston. 

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It is beyond me." --Zora Neale Hurston, "How It Feels to be Colored Me," 1928.

Click below to be taken to the following sites:

Zora Neale Hurston Official Site

The Zora Neale Hurston Plays at the Library of Congress

Click on the YouTube Links for bits of the feature-length documentary, Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun, directed by Sam Pollard, which premiered on PBS's American Experience. The film is distributed by California Newsreel, and is available on Amazon.com.

This is a clip of the official film trailer.

This clip has Zora's actual voice, singing the folk song, "Uncle Bud." Amazing!

Haiti Relief--What Haiti Needs Most...Money

Continuing sad news from Haiti...money is what is most needed--especially for water, food, and medical supplies.

Time to give as much as we can.

As much as possible.

Less coffee...more money for Haiti.

Less designer bottled water...more money for relief.

Fewer McDonald's burgers and fries...more money for Haiti relief.

Forget buying a new Ipod or crackberry...more money for Haiti relief.

Black Like "Bewitched": Sitcoms and Race, Part 1

As many of you know, I am interested in “passing” narratives and in popular culture representations of race relations. Back in the civil rights era of the 1960s, even situation comedies did their part to help end persistent racism and color prejudice. One of the shows that has retained much of its charm since then is the 1960s-70s era television comedy, Bewitched, which starred Elizabeth Montgomery (In addition to playing Samantha Stevens, Montgomery was also a committed civil rights activist).

Bewitched has long been one of my favorite shows, as its metaphorical richness provides an ample field for analysis. While doing research (my best excuse for surfing YouTube!), I recently came across this “very special episode” of Bewitched, which originally aired back in 1971. It's called "Sisters at Heart," and in it, Tabitha and a friend of hers want to be “sisters,” as they have become so close. Her little friend is black, though, so Tabitha has to come up with a way to make them appear as sisters.

What I also find fascinating is that the sponsor, Oscar Mayer, had Montgomery introduce the episode with an explanation (or disclaimer? or apologia?) of why they felt it was important, although they don't provide ANY context for viewing it. The disclaimer is at the beginning of the episode. I have included the link to the first section--the other two are available as well--this is a charming episode.

All best,

Rebecca

BLACK LIKE TABITHA!