A report on Glee Sex. I have some questions, HLN.

I checked CNN.com this morning, as I usually do, and saw a link for a video entitled, “‘Glee’ sex scene ‘goes all the way’.”  I watch Glee only occasionally, usually on a long flight on my iPad.  I like the show, but I’m certainly not a Glee fanatic.  I’m particularly appreciative of the way the show has handled the character of Kurt, and I do tend to follow some of the news stories that have emerged around his story lines.

I had read that there was some controversy about the upcoming sex scenes on the show, as they would feature Kurt and his boyfriend Blaine handing in their “Guardian of the V” buttons.  Of course, this did not surprise me, as people love to whip up a storm about any affection displayed between gay people, and then if that affection is between gay teenagers, it means that we’re teaching everyone how to be gay at the age of 12.

Side note: I watched plenty of episodes of All My Children, Dallas, and Three’s Company as a kid, and none of the straight sex scenes on those shows taught me how to be straight.  I’m still the way that I am.  And very happy about it, thank you, Sally Moral Majority Pants.

So nothing surprised me about the views represented on the HLN report (embedded below), but what did surprise me was the footage that the report used to highlight the controversy.  First off, Kurt and Blaine are mentioned, but the footage of Rachel and Finn is played repeatedly throughout the report.  These two characters also had sex in the episode.  We don’t see any excerpts of the scene between Kurt and Blaine until 2:45 into a report clip that runs 3:16 on the internet.  And the excerpt runs for 15 seconds.  Additionally, the scene clips between Rachel and Finn are very gentle, feature some audible dialogue, and appear quite romanticized.  The scene clips between Kurt and Blaine show the two shoving each other and rolling around in the back seat of a car.  While the later scene might be a more accurate representation of a teenage first encounter, I can’t help but wonder about the juxtaposition of these two moments within this news report.

Granted, I have not watched this episode of Glee, so these representations may accurately represent what happened between these two couples on the show.  However, I do find it curious that HLN used these clips in this way, without providing more context.  Why is the straight couple represented by the romantic clips and the gay couple represented by clips that I would initially view as somewhat aggressive and lacking tenderness.  We are not given the chance to hear the dialogue between Kurt and Blaine, so we’re not sure what they’re saying.  It’s a subtle and subliminal way of commenting about a sexual encounter between two young men.  Maybe Glee‘s creative team needs to be taken to task here, but even so, HLN should do some thinking as well.

Making art at a rapid pace…and feeling great about it!

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of working with 11 young artists, alums of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts’ signature program, Young Arts, and a production team of amazing collaborators to create a performance project that was seen by audiences in Los Angeles at the Colburn School, the Steven J. Ross Theater at Warner Bros. Studios, and the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center.

We worked like crazy for three days doing 10 out of 12s (10 hours of rehearsal in a 12 hour period), and then we loaded the performance into a new venue three days in a row.  It was a wild and crazy seven days of work, but I had an amazing time with each of the artists.  I also learned a ton about LA and working in these different venues, particularly the Warner Bros space.   These young artists have incredible talent and skill, and yet they also maintained a level of commitment and professionalism that made me very proud to call them collaborators.  I will not forget their generosity or their patience.  I also worked with a team of six other professionals on the production and management end of the project, and they too reminded me how much a dedicated team can accomplish, even in the face of challenges, large and small.  I had a great week!

Below, you can see the marquee announcing the performance on Thursday evening at the Warner Bros. venue.  It was an exciting moment.  For all of us.

Take the PAY ATTENTION pledge

I’m working with three resident assistants in my building at NYU to promote this program to shift the dynamic around bullying and social combat.  We’re asking students living in the hall to take the PAY ATTENTION PLEDGE.  Once students take the pledge, they can post the electronic logo on their Facebook page and a hard copy of the logo will be displayed on a bulletin board in the hall.

If you would like to participate, please make the pledge and post the logo on your Facebook page.  Then spread the word!  Here’s the pledge and the logo:

The PAY ATTENTION Pledge

We are living at a moment in time when young people are choosing to stop living because the harassment that they receive is too much to bear.  Safe spaces are shrinking because technology keeps us all connected, all the time.  Harassment and bullying, or what sociologist Robert Faris calls “social combat,” oppresses the victim or target, but also negatively affects the perpetrator and the witness.  Sexual orientation, gender identity, race, class, size, ability, and religious beliefs should not be grounds for social combat.

Research shows that 77% of bullying incidents have no one who intervenes.  Yet the same research tells us that if you have a friend who intervenes, you are more likely to intervene yourself.

It’s time for us to PAY ATTENTION to our own actions and find ways to intervene when we witness examples of social combat.  By signing this form, I pledge to:

1. Stand up for others.  I will not allow another person to be harassed or bullied in my presence.  I will not be confrontational or use violence.  Rather, I will find a way to help the person being bullied to exit the situation.

2. Choose my words wisely.  I will not use words like “gay,” “ghetto,” “queer,” or “retarded” to indicate my negative feelings about another person, object, or situation.

3. Monitor my own online behavior.  I will be careful about my word choices when writing on my own social media site or on the sites and walls of others.  I recognize that even when I’m joking with my friends, others could misinterpret what I’ve written.

4. Inquire.  When I hear someone else using questionable language to describe a person, object, or situation, I will ask this person why s/he is using that particular language.  I will ask in an appropriate, non-aggressive way, simply to determine why the person is making the choice.

5. Challenge myself.  I will work to step out of my own comfort zone and seek new knowledge about racism, classism, ageism, ableism, sexism, heterosexism, genderism, and other forms of oppression.

6. Spread the word.  I will tell my friends about the pledge and post the electronic logo on my social media pages so that others will know that I PAY ATTENTION.

Once you commit to the pledge, download this logo and make it your profile picture on your Facebook page.  That way, people will know that you PAY ATTENTION and are actively working to stop bullying and social combat.

Joel Burns: 51 weeks later

On October 12, 2010, Joel Burns, a council person in Fort Worth, Texas, spoke for 13 minutes at a public council meeting about how his experience being bullied as a 13 year old boy nearly caused him to take his own life.  Burns was catapulted into the national spotlight when his speech went viral.  I’ve followed him throughout the year via his Twitter feed @JoelBurns, and he continues to provide a strong example of what it means to be an engaged and thoughtful advocate for basic human rights, as they pertain to bullying and targeting young people.

Thanks, Mr. Burns.  Your commitment means a lot to me and to countless others.  And your approach to all of this advocacy is what I most admire.  Your poise and grace have been such an example about how activism can thoughtfully and gently affect change and shift perceptions.  Thank you for your humanity.

Please take a look and listen to Joel Burns as he speaks about his experiences over the last year.  His comments begin about 3 minutes in.

Protesting in a world of “partial credit”

So I had some responses to my last blog post which I appreciated.  I welcome the dialogue on my blog, even if the dialogue disagrees with what I have to say.

I googled the demands coming from Occupy Wall Street, as I wanted to get more information than what I had.  NYDailyNews.com published a piece by Nomi Prins, with the headline “Occupy Wall Street protest demands outline complete and complex reforms to our financial system.”  Take a read.  It’s a helpful piece.

I understand a bit more about what the protest wants to accomplish, but I can’t help but take issue with one of the main points in the article.  Prins writes the following:”Protesters want jobs and the financial security that comes with them.  As in countries like Greece, Spain, Ireland and Egypt, more than 25% of the youth in this country are unemployed – and that number is growing. Add that to the 16% to 17% of underemployed individuals, and it’s no wonder that desperation has reached this visible point.”

OK.  So what does the writer mean by “youth”?  How are we defining this today?  For me, “youth” implies under the age of 18, but my gut tells me that Prins is talking about young adults in their 20s, the new “late adolescents.”  Interesting.

As someone who teaches these late adolescents as graduate students, I have lots of questions about these unemployment numbers.  Prospective students often ask me if they’re going to have a job once they leave with their degree.  My response is that I have no way of predicting that.  The institution that I teach for has a reputable brand name in a lot of disciplines, so much so that I’m told that recruiters are beating the door down to get to our graduating students, taking over staff offices in our career center.  (So what’s all this about unemployment???)  I also tell my students that while the brand name may get them an interview, they, and they alone, will need to land the job.  I can’t make any guarantees.

After ten years of teaching of both undergraduates and masters candidates, I can say one thing.  There is a general attitude that partial credit, which I read as partial accomplishment or partial preparation, is an entitlement that belongs to all people.  Let me explain:

In a recent graduate course that I taught, I assigned a final paper worth 40% of the overall grade.  Students received a rubric of assessment, well in advance of the paper’s deadline, outlining the criteria of assessment and the point values.  The paper was worth a total of 40 points, 16 points of which were pretty cut and dry.  Take a look at these:

The paper includes appropriate citations that are formatted correctly.   (yes or no)

The paper includes a “works cited” page that is formatted correctly.   (yes or no)

The paper is within the 1500-2000 word range.  (yes or no)

The paper is submitted by the announced deadline.  (yes or no)

As I read the papers, if I checked off “yes” that the criteria was met, the student earned four points for that area.  A “no” meant zero points in that area.  As you can see, these areas are pretty straight forward.  I had provided students with guides to assist with proper citations and a “works cited” page, and since this was a graduate level course, I believed that the students should have mastered these skills through their undergraduate work.  I also believed that these 16 point out of 40, 40% of the paper grade, were “easy” points.”  Hence, I would not offer partial credit in these areas.  My beliefs were incorrect.

A large number of students lost points in these areas.  For many of them, it was the difference in a final letter grade.  I did not relish giving those grades, but I did feel it was my responsibility as a teacher of masters students, to assign them a grade that they had earned.  A student’s final point total for a course is always a starting point for me, and I reserve the right to adjust grades up or down, depending on class participation, improvement over time, or exceptional performance.  In most of these cases, I did not feel like lost points in such straight forward areas indicated exceptional performance.  As a result, most grades stayed as they had been earned.

Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, these final course grades prompted one student to tell me that they should at least get points for trying.  The citations in this particular student’s paper were incorrect and incomplete, but because the student had “tried,” they wanted partial credit.  I responded that there isn’t partial credit in a professional situation, and I have that level of expectation in my classes, particularly for graduate students.  I received no response back from the student.

Partial credit for trying?  Seriously…

Maybe part of the reason the unemployment numbers are so high among “youth” populations is that we’re giving people partial credit all over the place and doing them a disservice when it comes to performing in an employment setting.  What are we gaining by telling students–PEOPLE–that it’s ok to perform well only part of the time?  Or that it’s ok to do work that’s only partly correct?  Should we really be surprised that we’re in the mess that we’re in when this is the dominant attitude?

Students tell me that I’m a hard ass.  Students are “afraid” to take my classes.  I find it all very confusing.  I’m just trying to train students who will be successful on their chosen career path.  I don’t want them to have to spend time down on Wall Street in sleeping bags, behind police barriers, worrying about survival, and screaming themselves hoarse to get someone to pay attention.  I might not be able to stop that from happening, even if I train them well, as I have no control over the job market.  However, I’m certainly going to prepare students as best I can.  I have a responsibility to demand excellence so that students leave my classes feeling like experts in that particular area that we’ve studied over the course of our time together.

People are losing jobs even when they’re performing well.  Employers don’t wait around for partial credit assignments to be completed.  Life does not wait around for partial credit to catch up.    Now more than ever, people need to have their citations in order and the works cited page ready.

Survival of the fittest, everyone.  It’s how the world works.  That’s not changing any time soon.