Tonight I witnessed adults acting like children.

Shocking, I know, to most of you out there in internet world, but tonight I witnessed adults who acted worse than the students I teach every day. In my newly elected role as a representative of my staff in our union, I went to my first union meeting tonight and was amazed at how immature and childish grownups can be. One man (and I use the term loosely) called another an "idiot" for disagreeing with him. Meanwhile, the president of our union did nothing to regain order and reprimand the man for saying this. These are both elected leaders of our union and they can't even take care of their own mouths. It's amazing that anyone even deals with us at all anymore.

Teaching Defiance Podcast #2

Finally, here's the second podcast from Teaching Defiance. Enjoy.

Teaching Defiance Podcast #2

Teaching Defiance Podcast #2 playlist

Okay folks, below is the playlist for this week's Teaching Defiance podcast. It took a bit longer to get prepared this week, so I may be moving the updates to every two weeks. We'll see.

Teaching Defiance playlist: August 27

1. Adolescents- Wrecking Crew

2. Black Flag- No Values

3. Bad Religion- I want to Conquer the World

4. TSOL- Peace Through Power

5. X- When It Rains

6. The Clash- Lost in the Supermarket

7. The Misfits- London Dungeon

8. Social Distortion- Story of My Life

9. Strung Out- In Harm’s Way

10. Samiam- Don’t Break Me

11. Nofx- Soul Doubt

12. No Use for a Name- Feeding the Fire

13. Lagwagon- Know It All

14. Jughead’s Revenge- Victims and Volunteers

15. Ignite- Distance

16. Husker Du- Too Far Down

17. Good Riddance- Letters Home

18. Gameface- Friday Matinee

19. Face to Face- Debt

20. Down By Law- The Truth

21. 7 Seconds- Clenched Fist, Black Eyes

22. Outspoken- My Heart Still Beats

23. Outspoken- Is Beauty a Crime?

24. Youth of Today- One Family

25. Undertow- At Both Ends

26. Unbroken- You Won’t Be Back

27. Adamantium- Self Inflicted Stagnation

28. Champion- Miles to Go

29. Backfire- Still Dedicated

30. Betrayed- Understand

31. Hands Tied- Turn Away

32. Mouthpiece- Abandon

33. Reach the Sky- Everybody’s Hero

Podcast delayed

Sorry, but the podcast has been delayed a little bit. I have the entire playlist ready and all the songs ready, I just have to record the segue ways and am having a hard time doing so. You see, I have to be in the room alone to do them because my wife interrupts me and laughs at me while I'm talking. I also have had to attend numerous family things with my wife's family all week, so that hasn't helped. Well, the last birthday party was today and I'm free of obligations with them, so the podcast will be finished and posted by tomorrow, I promise. Later.

Fahrenheit 451

Today I've been reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I read this book once back in high school, but don't remember much of it, so it's fun to read again. I often do this, read books again and again. As an English teacher, I find myself constantly telling my students that they need to read, re-read, and re-re-read a book to find more meaning in it. That's what I do. I quite often find new and interesting things in a book that I've read at least two or three other times.

Anyway, this book always makes me think about things in our world. Since I was a youngster, 9 or 10, I haven't been able to just blindly do something without question. I guess I sort of did when I was in the Marines, but I was thankfully never asked to do something that would require the kind of thought I'm talking about. The protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, is a fireman who has the thoroughly horrid job of burning banned books. He just does his job without ever questioning the right or wrong of it and without catching the irony of his job title and description. He doesn't believe the young girl next door who tells him that, at one time in history, firemen actually would put out fires. He just does his job without complaint and never questions why his wife tries to kill herself on multiple occasions. The society he lives in is so adept at technology that they can save her from an overdose of sleeping pills in 30 minutes and it only costs $50. I believe that there are too many Guy Montags in our society. People who just do their job without ever questioning the right or wrong of it. Too many young people are told to know their place and never question authority. How many times was I told this very thing? Too many to count. I just found it impossible to not utter that inevitable question of "why?". As a teacher, I tell my students to question authority, even mine. I like it when a student has the guts to question me about something he/she deems as being unfair. This is not to say that I encourage my students to argue with me, but to intelligently question. That is what I want from you, dear readers. Question, question, question. Don't just take the "because I said so" approach. Figure out why it is that way and see if you agree. If you don't, take steps to change it. You never know what could come of it. Laters.

Teaching Defiance August 16 playlist

Okay, here is the playlist for this week's Teaching Defiance podcast. Everyone enjoy. I'm hoping to post a new set each week on Thursday. We'll see how that pans out. Later.

Teaching Defiance August 16

1. Alone in a Crowd- "Who You Know" (s/t 7") Contrast Records
2. 108- "Three Hundred Liars" (A New Beat from a Dead Heart) Deathwish Inc.
3. A Step Apart- "Rite of Passage" (Structure e.p.) Not Just Words
4. Chain of Strength- "Let Down" (True Till Death) Foundation Records
5. Left Alone- "Broke my Heart" (Lonely Starts and Broken Hearts) Hellcat Records
6. The Crucified- "Getting a Grip on Things" (s/t album) Narrowpath Records
7. Figure Four- "In the Face of Death" (No Weapon Formed Against Us) Facedown Records
8. Focused- "Blinded" (Bow) Tooth&Nail Records
9. Count the Cost- "When Honor is Lost" (Tried & True)
10. Crashdog- "Kirsten" (The Pursuit of Happiness) Grr Records
11. No Innocent Victim- "My Beliefs" (Flesh and Blood) Victory Records
12. xLooking Forwardx- You're Worth It" (The Path We Tread) Facedown Records
13. Point of Recognition- "Chasing the Wind" (Day of Defeat) Facedown Records
14. The Miles Between- "Voice for the Voiceless" (Who We Are and What We Were) Seventh Dagger Records
15. Go It Alone- "Nothing Gold" (The Only Blood Between Us) Rivalry Records
16. Have Heart- "Armed with a Mind" (The Things We Carry) Bridge Nine Records
17. Against the Wall- "Identify Me" (Identify Me 7")
18. Shades Apart- "On the Inside" (s/t)
19. Face the Enemy- "Make a Statement" (These Two Words)
20. Dead Hearts- Innocence" (Bitter Verses) Round Two Records

August 16 Teaching Defiance podcast

The new Teaching Defiance podcast is up and ready to go! This is my first attempt at podcasting and I'm pretty stoked about it. I'll post the setlist by tomorrow (Thursday) so you'll know what you're listening to. This podcast is dedicated to the music that I'm listening to right now and the to the music that has inspired me through the years. This week, I've put together a mix of mostly hardcore with a little punk thrown in. I hope people enjoy it and come back to check out future episodes.

Teaching Defiance 8/16

The new blog is here!

Hello, and welcome to Teaching Defiance. This is a blog that I set up as a place for me to post podcasts of my favorite music, reviews of records, books, and movies, and to just sound off about topics I'm feeling passionate about at the moment. Please be sure to come back and visit for new info, reviews, and verbal spew. My thought is to attempt to update here on a daily basis, but we'll see how often I can find the time to do so. Enjoy! Later.