I love these kids and the teacher.

New York 8th-Graders Boycott Practice Exam But Teacher May Get Ax
by Juan Gonzalez

Students at a South Bronx middle school have pulled off a stunning boycott against standardized testing.

More than 160 students in six different classes at Intermediate School 318 in the South Bronx - virtually the entire eighth grade - refused to take last Wednesday's three-hour practice exam for next month's statewide social studies test.

Instead, the students handed in blank exams.

Then they submitted signed petitions with a list of grievances to school Principal Maria Lopez and the Department of Education.

"We've had a whole bunch of these diagnostic tests all year," Tatiana Nelson, 13, one of the protest leaders, said Tuesday outside the school. "They don't even count toward our grades. The school system's just treating us like test dummies for the companies that make the exams."

According to the petition, they are sick and tired of the "constant, excessive and stressful testing" that causes them to "lose valuable instructional time with our teachers."

School administrators blamed the boycott on a 30-year-old probationary social studies teacher, Douglas Avella.

The afternoon of the protest, the principal ordered Avella out of the classroom, reassigned him to an empty room in the school and ordered him to have no further contact with students.

A few days later, in a reprimand letter, Lopez accused Avella of initiating the boycott and taking "actions [that] caused a riot at the school."

The students say their protest was entirely peaceful. In only one class, they say, was there some loud clapping after one exam proctor reacted angrily to their boycott.

This week, Lopez notified Avella in writing that he was to attend a meeting today for "your end of the year rating and my possible recommendation for the discontinuance of your probationary service."

"They're saying Mr. Avella made us do this," said Johnny Cruz, 15, another boycott leader. "They don't think we have brains of our own, like we're robots. We students wanted to make this statement. The school is oppressing us too much with all these tests."

Two days after the boycott, the students say, the principal held a meeting with all the students to find out how their protest was organized.

Avella on Tuesday denied that he urged the students to boycott tests.

Yes, he holds liberal views and is critical of the school system's increased emphasis on standardized tests, Avella said, but the students decided to organize the protest after weeks of complaining about all the diagnostic tests the school was making them take.

"My students know they are welcome in my class to have open discussions," Avella said. "I teach them critical thinking."

"Some teachers implied our graduation ceremony would be in danger, that we didn't have the right to protest against the test," said Tia Rivera, 14. "Well, we did it."

Lopez did not return calls for comment.

"This guy was far over the line in a lot of the ways he was running his classroom," said Department of Education spokesman David Cantor. "He was pulled because he was inappropriate with the kids. He was giving them messages that were inappropriate."

Several students defended Avella. They say he had made social studies an exciting subject for them.

"Now they've taken away the teacher we love only a few weeks before our real state exam for social studies," Tatiana Nelson said. "How does that help us?"

jgonzalez@nydailynews.com

© 2008 The New York Daily News

I just started searching for short wave radio stations with my new radio and the second station I found is a Cuban station. I love it. I think I need an even better radio to pick up the stations more clearly.

Does anyone know of any shortwave stations I can pick up?

Right now they are talking about the centenarios. Those that who have lived to be a 100 in Cuba. La mayoria las mujeres. The majority women. The station keeps on fading in and out. Now I know why people become addicted to this.

Now I am very sad that I can't return back to Cuba. I do think I will be there again before I die. I truly feel sad that I can't go again and live there for another 4 months. It has been three years this August. The program I went with is no longer running through the University at Buffalo and now it is even harder to go.

This shortwave radio is totally freaky.

So actually I don't want either of those, but every time I go to Wegmans the cashiers do not understand this concept. When I give them my cloth bags they wrap things up in plastic bags that they don't think should touch the food. For example, my non-toxic cleaning supplies they insist on doing this with. Also, if I happen to need a bag because I have more stuff than cloth bags I sometimes ask for paper because it is a good thing to use in the recycling bin to separate everything. What they will do is put the paper bag in plastic. Do they think I am just trying to be trendy with my Lexington Co-Op bags or something, because I can assure you I am not enjoying walking around advertising anything. Why don't they seem to understand the point? Seriously, this last cashier seemed put off when I had to insist that I didn't want the plastic bags. I already feel so much pressure to put all my veggies and stuff in plastic bags because they can't handle it when there isn't a bar code on them.

So anyways, I have cut down my plastic use quite a bit, but still have a lot of room for improvement. IF anyone has seen a plate and silverware set that comes in a neat little carrying case let me know where I can find one. I would love to bring it in to work to use in place of Styrofoam.

This mop is hard for me to get because they are for businesses. I plan on making a trip to get one for myself since I will have hard wood floors. Does anyone want one? The last one I got was about $30. It could be the last mop you ever buy. The pad is machine washable. I have been using one every week and machine washing it and it is still is in very good condition. Best for wood floors or smooth tile. I never used it on linoleum. If you want one just let me know and I will give it to you at the price I pay.







These are electromagnetic dust rags. They are $2.50 each last I knew. They are the best I have seen elsewhere. They are great for smooth surfaces and can even be used with method window cleaner for mirrors. Leaves no lint behind. These are exceptionally durable and I use them all the time. They pick up so much dust, but are best when washed frequently.






Also, I if you wanted a scrub brush with wooden handle those are great too. It is in the second picture. Those are probably about $4.

On May 6th I went to Hoyt Lake and witnessed a fish frenzy. It kind of freaks me out a bit. Has anyone ever seen this before? it looks as if he water was boiling.












Look at how much algae there is. If these fish are here to say they are certainly going to die. When the algae bloom dies and all this extra bacteria are eating up all the oxygen everything will die.




I love all the different colors.



So this crane was trying to take advantage of the situation but didn't have much luck.








This frenzy occurred on both sides of the lake. I tried to find the goldfish I had seen previously, but was unable to find them. They were really kind of gross looking. I have never ever seen fish like them. They seemed like a disease or something.

Today I got a bonus and cost of living adjustment with retro pay! I didn't have any idea it was coming.

The economy is going to hell soon. Yet I am doing better than I ever thought I would be a year after graduating.

I was at three credit cards...two seriously delinquent and now a I have none. I have one loan with an individual who I now owe less than$300. Now I have no debt besides this and my student loans.

I have been able to purchase a few new clothing items.

My private student loan with a variable interest rate fell from 8% to 6%. The monthly payment fell by $30, yet I am still paying the full 8% rate. Now my question is, do I change my 4.8 and 6.8% fixed interest rate to something lower so I can pay the variable interest rate loan which is very likely to go back up? It really upsets me that my loan rates are so high for student loans that they give to the financially needy. It is all because I graduated in 2007 that my rate is locked at 4.8 and 6.8. If I were fortunate enough to benefit from the 9/11 terrorist attacks my rate would be at 1%. The difference between these rates is absolutely ridiculous when thousands of dollars is in play. These people that graduated right after 9/11 are still in the same economy that I am yet I have to pay 6.0, 6.8 and 4.8 while a friend of mine that graduated right after 9/11 has twice the loans I do but has the same monthly payment.

I finally found an apartment! It is a totally done deal and we are moving in no later than the 1st of June. For those of you who do not know, I live in a ridiculously small space with my ex who now happens to be one of my best friends. Our living arrangements have been almost unbearable at times (you could only imagine) and for a long time we just didn't have the money to do anything about it. So how ridiculously small is our apartment? It is a studio, not a one bedroom, but a single cramped studio with two people a rabbit and at one time a 20 gallon fish tank. Now that I have my finances under control we are able to afford to make the move we have been waiting for for years. At one time we thought that we needed to find separate living spaces because we did used to date and that does seem weird. If you think of it as we were always meant to be friends and not lovers though it isn't all that strange. It is nice finally having some money to live in a space that I feel I deserve. I have always been working so hard between work and school and always just barely getting by. I guess with my huge student loan payments I still am struggling, but I am actually handling those quite well and definitely have the extra money for the new apt.

For the last 4 months or so we were looking every single day at all the ads and seeing on average 2 apts a week. I wish I could tell you how many we have seen. There was always something that just wasn't quite right or it was just an absolute N.O. I think maybe we were looking for an apt at one of the worst times of the year, but still it took us forever. Sometimes I would feel just so down about not finding a new place. It really felt like it was consuming me. There was one apartment that we found that we really liked and we didn't end up taking because the people wanted us to put $1200 in security down and we said no because we found that excessive. At times I regretted that, but now with the place we found, I know that it was right to turn it down.

So what are the specifics of the apartment that make it so wonderful? The location is idea for us. Auburn and Gill Alley by Norwood. I am in the "heart" of the "Elmwood Village" (ha!) It is second floor with no other tenants above us. There is a porch facing Auburn. Half of the porch is covered by an awning and the other half is open. Hard wood floors in the living room and dining room with natural wood support beams in the ceiling. 3 Bedrooms!!! Yes we are going from a studio to 3 bedrooms! There is also a back sun room that we are going to use for the rabbit and for an office. Every room has a ton of sun light. There is a nice washer and drier in the basement and is not coin operated. We have a laundry shoot to drop our clothes in. The two bedrooms that Steve and I would stay in are identical so we don't have to fight over who has the best room. There is central air conditioning. This is definitely a luxury. Rabbits can over heat very easily and it is awesome that we can use it if needed on those really hot days. The landlords live below us and are super awesome. They are young professionals and get along great with the current tenant. Their lease requires that we carry renters insurance which I think is very compassionate of them because most landlords wouldn't care if all of your stuff was burned up because they wouldn't be liable for it. The stove is GAS which I freaking love. They are installing new stainless steel appliances and even offered to have somebody come in and build us this awesome island type counter top like they have in their home which is almost identical to ours. The color of the paint is not right for us so they are giving us money for paint. And oh my god it has a claw foot tub! We have had a freaking shower stall for years now and are desperate to take a nice bath. These old tubs are the best..you really can put a lot of water in them for a nice good soak! The third bedroom is so perfect. My mother can come and stay with me when she comes to visit and won't have to stay in some hotel room. She is going to love it. I'm so excited to be able to have guests stay over. The living room is large enough where we could have many people come and chant with us and we can have small meetings. We can grill on the porch and we are already looking to get a glider to put on it and my dad is going to give me a grill. This place is so awesome! (e:mike) and I are definitely going to be using it to the max!

So thats my story from rags to riches!

Last year at this time there was a lake of dead fish. Tons of them. I tried to find my journal about it but it took me way to long to find it and I gave up.







So last year was a massacre of fishes and this year we see an introduction of a foreign species. My questions are; when were these introduced and will this further upset the local ecosystem? Don't people realize that this isn't cute to release foreign species?