Sportfest

Shot Put

Today was field day! (Sportfest)

You might think all the kids look forward to field day, but this was more like a track and field event. There were no egg races, tug-o-war, water games, etc. There was only sprints, relay races, long jump, shot put, and something similar to hamerthrow, but not as heavy. I had fun just watching the kids try the long jump. Some really went for it, while others did not want to get sand on themselves and tried to jump far while still staying standing. Every student had to complete every event

LINK: Sportfest Pictures



I only stayed for half of it, and then I went to a 13th grade class that was studying the civil rights movement. They were supposed to ask me questions about my experience in the south, and the first two questions were about that. BUT, of course, then they wanted to talk about the iraq war and Obama's politics. One kid even asked me how I felt about 9/11. I asked back, "What exactly do you mean? It was a national tragedy." He didn't respond.

Another student referred to slavery as the American holocaust and asked me how I was dealing with my tragic past. He said, "We have to deal with Nazis, you have to deal with slavery." When I tried to point out that these two topics/situations were just a little different from each other, they didn't seem to understand. I really want to look at the material they were given about slavery in America, because it seems like they think every American was the stereotypical wealthy southern plantation holder in Charleston. I told him that only between 1/4 and 1/3 of Americans owned slaves and that my ancestors were sharecroppers who had never owned slaves. It was just weird to hear it put that way - "American Holocaust." Personally, I would attribute this title to the treatment of Native Americans rather than blacks, but then again, I'm not a scholar on that subject and that's a discussion for another time.

The books they are requires to read for class on the subject are Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines