Being the Change I Wish to See

The Catherine Ferguson Academy is a public school for pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers in Detroit that is slated to be closed in June if something isn’t done to stop it.

It provides a unique program to help these very poor, disadvantaged teenage girls graduate from high school. The vast majority go on to 2-year or 4-year colleges. It’s their ticket out of poverty and to a far better, middle class life for themselves and their children.

But this story is far bigger than just CFA. If you don’t pay attention to anything else in American politics this year, please, please pay attention to this!

Watch this video (9 min.). You will be awed, seriously:

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It’s horribly shocking that anyone anywhere would want to close this school for any reason. Every community needs a similar school for pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers. This is a real, working solution to educating and pulling teenage mothers up out of poverty. It’s a phenomenal model, and the powers that be want to get rid of it.

The new emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb, who took over Detroit under Gov. Snyder’s new law, is putting 1/3 of the public schools on the chopping block, including Catherine Ferguson Academy. They may be bought and turned into charter schools, but they won’t operate the same way. It’s another example of Republicans grabbing power and privatizing public services that cost more and provide less. (If you haven’t read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, now is the time. The entire book is a warning about what is coming true in the mid-west today).

In Michigan, an emergency financial manager, or EFM, can be installed in any town or city for almost any reason by the governor with no input from the people. Their elected city or town government is unilaterally emasculated, and the EFM has the authority to basically declare martial law. He can do anything the governor has on his agenda, which so far does not appear to be in the best interest of the people.

This new law makes Detroit and Michigan ground zero for the fight for real freedom and equality in America. This law is being used to disenfranchise the poor and powerless among us, and get around democracy. Our democracy itself hangs in the balance. If Snyder wins, the country loses.

Please read further and do whatever you can, from signing petitions to donating, to save this school from EFM Bobb and Michigan Gov. Snyder. It’s time to act NOW!

Change.org petition. We need a lot more signatures on this petition!

Independent Voice of Detroit–a very detailed and informative article about this story.

Defend Public Education–another petition to defend CFA and other Detroit public schools.

Grown in Detroit documentary film (sign the petition at change.org. The link on this site freezes. You can move it out of the way by clicking on it and dragging it). This site contains a lot of information about the school and its programs. You can donate and watch the movie online, or you can buy a copy on the “Store” page.

BAMN (by any means necessary), an activist group that provides legal services and organizing to help save public institutions the poor and people of color depend upon.

This is the school’s direct contact information:
Catherine Ferguson Academy For Young Women
main office: (313) 596-4771

The school address is:
2750 Selden St.
Detroit, MI 48208.

Source:
The MaddowBlog More information is on this post.

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I had to post this gem. This video is from the 1990 Castro Valley, CA, high school graduation ceremony. Rachel Maddow was 17 when she spoke.

Did you hear someone in the background at the end of the video say,

She’s going on to Stanford, and one day, she’s gonna do something wonderful

That person knew what she was talking about.

I particularly love the white socks, Birkenstocks and shorts under her gown; and the long hair and earrings. Even though she looks totally different today, her voice is unmistakable and her style is a rough version of the polished analyst and progressive pundit she has become.

Fighting closed-mindedness, changing the world, and making America progress are all things Rachel does today on MSNBC, which is seen all over the world.

While the adults and leaders of Castro Valley couldn’t say “condom” in 1990, today Rachel can’t say “masturbation” on her TV show out of total embarrassment. If she said it, they would likely have to go to commercial, and there would be a guest host when they returned. She would hit the floor red-faced and laughing hysterically to the point she could not go on.

I’m going to email her and ask her to discuss this contradiction with her 17-year-old self. By the time she gets back from Thanksgiving vacation, the above video will have gone viral, and I wonder how many other TRMS fans will also ask about this?

On a related tangent, a young lady who strikes me as just as impressive as young Rachel was, is Cadet-Sargent Katherine Miller, who recently resigned from West Point because of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. She felt continuing in the Army and staying in the closet compromised her integrity. Katie had been out in high school and had to go back into the closet to go to West Point. It was far harder than she imagined it would be, and she resigned publicly in protest to help end the policy. She is currently attending Yale on full scholarship until she graduates, or is able to return to West Point as an out lesbian and serve openly in the Army.

A Brief Rachel Maddow Biography

Rachel was a brilliant, serious child and taught herself to read by age 4. Her mom found her reading the newspaper one morning when she came into the kitchen to make breakfast. From a very young age, she asked difficult questions of all of her teachers.

In high school, Rachel was an impressive athlete in swimming, basketball, and volley ball while performing academically at the top of her class. She was looking at becoming a member of the U.S. Olympic Team, but injured her right shoulder severely and had to decide whether to have reconstructive surgery and take a year off for rehabilitation before trying out, or go on to college. She chose college.

After her athletic career-ending injury, Rachel joined Act-Up, an AIDS organization in San Francisco, before she graduated from high school. Since she could no longer play sports, she had lots of free time.

She attended college at Stanford University where she came out as a lesbian in her freshman year (after figuring out she is gay). She majored in public health policy and minored in ethics. She attended graduate school as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where she earned a PhD in political science. She was the first openly gay student to win a Rhodes Scholarship. There were other gay Rhodes Scholars, but they didn’t come out until after they were awarded the scholarship. In between college and grad school, she worked for the ACLU.

When she returned to the U.S. she decided to move to rural western Massachusetts because she didn’t like the cold, and thought she would be miserable enough to get her writing done quickly. Instead, she found love. She met her life partner, Susan Mikula, while doing odd jobs and trying to write her doctoral dissertation. Susan and Rachel still live in Northampton when they are not in New York. Rachel went into local radio in Massachusetts on a dare, and then she had to take time off to finish writing her dissertation because it wasn’t getting done.

From local radio, Rachel accepted a job at Air America Radio and moved to New York City. She began guesting on various cable TV shows as a progressive political pundit. She was a regular on “The Situation with Tucker Carlson” on MSNBC. She signed an exclusive contract with MSNBC to be a contributor on that network and continued her show on Air America. On 9/8/2008, her show debuted on MSNBC, and it’s still going strong. Unfortunately, Air America Radio went out of business in February 2010, and Rachel’s radio show ended.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and if Rachel addresses the condom v masturbation word usage problem, I will let you know.

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