A (Mostly) Visual Update

Past, Present, & Future

In lieu of elaborate writing and verbose parables, tonight I have opted for an update composed almost entirely of images. And so it commences:

I returned from Spain last week. It was an enlightening, eye-opening, and extremely fun experience.

I apologize for the lack of updates. Like I’ve said before, I’m swamped with other commitments but I’m doing my best. The meeting, which I was unable to fully summarize before I left, was a success.

It was a milestone for all of us, and now that the expectation has been raised astronomically, I know that progress is anticipated.

In the meantime, between my return and now, I managed to send “thank you” e-mails to both the state and federal officials from the initial meeting. I hope to remain in contact with either one or both of them.

However I want to reiterate that I can not reach our goals by myself; I need the help of every concerned student. Do anything you can.

As for what is happening in the immediate future, I have the following information to relay. I will meet with various officials on Wednesday, along with a few other students, in order to discuss the problems of and suggest improvements for the actual software of our current portfolio system.

The future is bright, and I hope that more and more people associate themselves into activism as time goes on. I feel that together we can make a change and this is evidenced by the fact that we are in the middle of progress right now. Think about it – the regional representative from the federal Department of Education was at your high school discussing your issues.

The worst course of action for us as students to take would be to stop and become dormant. We must continue to increase our volume and continue to be heard. Remember, I am not alone, and I cannot solve this problem by myself. In fact, a solution will not come about without collaboration and cooperation between students of every background. One person can only do so much. Masses of people are required to truly make a difference.

A Brief Hiatus

A Summary of Current Events

Much has been transpiring as of late in the busy life of mine. We all need rest, though, and tomorrow morning, I will be fulfilling my proficiency in relaxation. As much as I would like to be able to write up a detailed report about my meeting on Monday, time is lacking, and I will have to hold off on that until I come back from my 9-day trip to Spain which begins tomorrow.

However, I will touch on that important event briefly. I can fathom a number of various descriptions for what occurred on Monday afternoon. Among them: a rare opportunity, a personal landmark, and a collective victory. Needless to say, it went well. Alas, legislative mandates are not reversed over the course of two hours.

More than anything else, I would call the meeting a good start, and a significant beginning point for a process that, as I have stated previously, will be a long one. Certainly, it was a positive and worthwhile experience for me. I learned a great deal, as I hope the other men and women there with me did as well. I remain optimistic and moreover, I have gained a newfound outlook for this movement that will become prevalent with time.

The night of the 20th is when I will come home, but my life will be no less hectic when I return from Europe, believe me. As a side note, I'd like to address the problem of the school's filter software regarding the blog, as expressed in a previous blog post. Thanks to a helpful friend, you may now access the site from school at this address: itsoureducation.mihopa.net

For now, I will leave you with a quote, for you to examine and muse over this vacation week. The quote is from historian, Howard Zinn, and it reads:

"One of the things we can learn from history is that history is not only a history of things inflicted on us by the powers that be. History is also a history of resistance. It's a history of people who endure tyranny for decades, but who ultimately rise up and overthrow the dictator. We've seen this in country after country, surprise after surprise. Rulers who seem to have total control, they suddenly wake up one day, and there are a million people in the streets, and they pack up and leave. This has happened in the Philippines, in Yemen, all over, in Nepal. Million people in the streets, and then the ruler has to get out of the way. So, this is what we're aiming for in this country. Everything we do is important. Every little thing we do, every picket line we walk on, every letter we write, every act of civil disobedience we engage in, any recruiter that we talk to, any parent that we talk to, any GI that we talk to, any young person that we talk to, anything we do in class, outside of class, everything we do in the direction of a different world is important, even though at the moment they seem futile, because that's how change comes about. Change comes about when millions of people do little things, which at certain points in history come together, and then something good and something important happens." (2006)

Student, Westerly High School

All it took for Uncle Sam to find me

…or at least that and my name. Thursday, the twenty-ninth of March seemed innocuous, harmless, the same as any other typical day of the week. First period passed, uneventful and uninteresting. Second period subsided, a testament to normalcy. I proceeded to plod across the walkway, teased by a guise of New England spring.

Barely through the door into my third period class, I was greeted by a message that I had been called down to the office. (I would later discover that I was called down as "Theodore J. Capaldi," the name with which I signed the letter) So, after dropping my books and jacket, I traversed downstairs to the principal's office, anxiety increasingly disrupting my demeanor. Confusion, apprehension, and uncertainty crept in with every step I took toward the office.

As I sunk down into the seat, I immediately noticed the school resource officer seated over to the left. All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind, yet I remained composed. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble," were the first words from the principal's mouth, lifting what felt like thousands of pounds from my shoulders. Still, the purpose of the visit stood unclear.

Right away she mentioned a letter to Senator Reed. Surely, she was referring to the letter that I had posted on this blog on the previous Monday night - the entry directly below this one. However, this baffled me, because I had not even mailed the letter at this point, and the idea that my school principal had been browsing my anti-PBGR blog seemed a bit farfectch'd.

Through the discussion that followed, the three of us in the office concluded that my letter had been unearthed by some government agency. (Editor's Note: In fact, however, we were wrong - the representative from the USDOE actually discovered it himself) The principal informed me that the the United States Department of Education (USDOE) had contacted the Superintendent of Westerly Public Schools regarding my letter. Furthermore, they had expressed interest in sending a representative to meet with me to discuss the contents of the letter, citing feelings that the letter was "well-written," but also that I may be "misinformed."

We agreed that this was a positive development. I told her that I was hopeful and optimistic for the meeting. In reality though, every single imaginable emotion overwhelmed me as I made my way back to class with a grin on my face and a skip in my step. This is to be expected when one is tracked down by one's government in less than 36 hours. This is the fact of the matter, though. Big brother is watching.

Tomorrow is the day. It is the day I will meet with the USDOE. I remain hopeful and optimistic. I know that I will not only be speaking for myself, but for the entirety of the student body, and all of Rhode Island's frustrated and concerned students. This will be the prevailing thought in my mind tomorrow. Although I see this as progress, and am equally excited as I am surprised that I have gotten this far, I am not one to count my chickens before they hatch. I do not expect any success to be instant, but I feel that exercising our first amendment rights and voicing our collective grievances is the greatest success we can all have.

The unprecedented support from students of every class, teachers, administrators, and other adults encourages me to carry on, and I appreciate it wholeheartedly. I find this quote from Voltaire very grounding, however:

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."

By no means do I view the government as a grim and threatening force that will put down any subversive that plots against it. Nor do I see myself as any sort of radical subversive. Tomorrow represents the beginning of a culmination of all our efforts to make a change. Through compromise and a scrupulous consideration of the everyday realities, I hope that our tribulations will be realized tomorrow, and I will do my utmost to see that it happens.