Blues (pages) Brother

Ain't no mo' potatoes, frost done killed the vine,
Lord, the blues ain't nothing but the college of teachers on your mind...

Recommended listening while reading this blog post: Blues Brothers Can't Turn You Loose.

On this ridiculously cold February afternoon, Humphrey is huddling under a comforting duvet, fighting not only a chill, but the blues. Why, you ask? A recent entry in Professionally Speaking's Blue Pages has left him rather unsettled.

For those unfamiliar with the publication in question, Professionally Speaking is the glossy magazine put out by the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT), the body responsible for the certification and regulation of teachers in the province of Ontario. One of OCT's roles is investigating complaints of misconduct or incompetence made against members. These complaints can be initiated by anyone – a parent, a supervisor or board, or even by the College itself. Once a complaint is made against a member, the OCT initiates and investigation through the Investigation Committee. If the complaint is deemed to have merit, disciplinary action begins through a referral to the Discipline Committee. 

Generally, complaints are considered in light of Regulation 437/97 of the Ontario College of Teachers’ Act (1996).While the Regulation is important for controlling “dangers” to students in cases where teachers are abusive, it winds up being used to deal with minor situations. This piece of legislation is objectionably vague – and as such, when applied, they result in penalties for OCT members that can be unfair. For example, point 19 from the Regulation, “Conduct unbecoming a member,” is frequently used as a rationale for this.

 Disciplinary hearings are open to the public and a summary of hearings and their outcomes is published in Professionally Speaking in a section called The Blue Pages. It was this passage that caused Humphrey to experience the blues:

p. 125 of the March 2015 issue of Professionally Speaking

This passage is part of the decision summary for a member named as Heather Anne Ashford-Smith, and the full report can be viewed here. Before launching into the reasons for Humphrey's concern, it is worth noting that the teacher's employment with the private school in which the allegations were made was terminated in 2011 after two written warnings about her poor classroom management skills. Ashford-Smith was not represented at the hearing by counsel, and did not attend. The ultimate decision was "Reprimand and Conditions" (which stays on her public record). It seems the main cause for the decision has to do with what was deemed inadequate "classroom management" (already an antiquated term steeped in neoliberal ideology!) as well as teaching that was not developmentally appropriate.

In this post, Humphrey will *NOT* attempt to make sense of the classroom management nor teaching charges. Rather, in Humphrey's view, the following aspects of the case were highly problematic:

(1) The section titled "Reason for Decision" in the full report states that the teacher "over the course of 3 academic school years, spoke in a loud and shrill voice and/or yelled at students." The report also states the teacher says that her "naturally loud voice could be misconstrued as angry."

(2) The "Reason for Decision" also includes the statement that "her facial expressions were interpreted as angry and frustrated by some of her students." Note the use of "some" and not "all."

Humphrey's blues surround these two statements. The use of the word "shrill" to describe the teacher borders on (or embodies? See, for example, Kahn, 1975 who names this word as) sexist language. "Shrill" has an anti-feminist connotation, having been used to demean women. By focusing on a "shrill" voice, the accuser and/or OCT panel is reducing her to a physical attribute, and possibly one out of her control (Merriam-Webster defines "shrill" as high-pitched, which very well may be her natural voice pitch and therefore not appropriate for discrimination).

While this video alleges to deal with a "very serious medical condition," its light-heartedness speaks volumes about the conjecture surrounding the teacher's "facial expressions" in the case. Perhaps the students were not perceiving expressions for what they really were?



And even if the teacher had unpleasant facial expressions, is that a reason to professionally discipline a person such that her public record contains the ruling and case details?

Does this ruling leave you with a case of the blues, too? In fact, many prior cases have left a lot of people experiencing a range of emotions, from the blues, to the mean reds. OCT disciplinary hearings have been subject to legal rulings in Ontario courts that suggest a “kangaroo court” environment in which the OCT does not adhere to just legal processes. For example, in Kalin v. Ontario College of Teachers, Ontario Reports citation 75 O.R. (3d) (Part 7 p. 523), the judge ruled that OCT applied 1997 standards of conduct to incidents that were alleged to have happened in 1991; thus “offending the rule against retrospective application of legislation.” Moreover, the OCT gave no reasons for its procedural rulings, and arbitrarily refused to accommodate Kalin's absence from the country and arbitrarily refused his request for an adjournment so that he could attend the OCT hearing. This example suggests that once disciplined, an OCT member cannot expect procedural fairness from a body which is supposed to represent her.

What do you think? Humphrey would love to hear from you. Presently, however, he is preoccupied with deciding if he would prefer a supper of dry white toast, or 4 roasted chickens and a Coke.

References:

Kahn, L. G. (1975). Sexism in everyday speech. Social Work, 65-67.

The problem with happiness (and with reductionist social media)

@HumphreyChimp often finds himself frustrated with the reductionist "inspirational" quotes he finds on Twitter, such as this gem:

Really, internet?

Given the recent Bell Let's Talk campaign, @HumphreyChimp found the reductionist nature of this quote problematic. Anti-stigma programs (including Let's Talk) caution against pathologizing and simplifying concepts like "happy," "sad," and "depressed" as though one simple behavioral change will take care of the problem. Mark Kingwell's excellent book, In Pursuit of Happiness: Better Living From Plato to Prozac, does a great job of inviting people to think critically about concepts of happiness. Kingwell suggests that the current emphasis on individualism is problematic, as are a very new (and odd) hedonistic pre-occupation with happiness - including the historically unprecedented individualization of social problems (as opposed to seeing them as a collective pursuit). 

@HumphreyChimp also challenges the idea that happiness would be an "inside job," as though situational and systemic factors (such as oppression, discrimination and abuse) would play no part. Undoubtedly, some issues around happiness (such as that original meme) have to do with the "first world problems" of the very privileged (like Mandy Hale, the sassy author from whose book the original quote originated).

But that over simplification doesn't stand simple tests of examples. If you are, for example, a women who lives in a society in which you are silenced, beaten, refused the right to an education, and generally oppressed, then is that woman's unhappiness her own fault?

If you are a person who is experiencing heath issues - perhaps a painful physical illness, or perhaps a mental illness, does Hale's flippant sentiment apply? (Actually, Barbara Ehrenreich already wrote extensively about this in Bright Sided).

Perhaps this is a little less truthy and reductionist than the original:

Encounters with Žiži (or, if Slavoj Žižek were a dog on Humphrey's street)

Visual approximation of Žiži with his supermodel ex-girlfriend via Duffy standing in

"My Dog! What are you doing at the end of that leash, and so on?"

Humphrey looked around, soon realizing the deep voice was coming from a dog he'd never met behind the gate.

"I'm going for a walk, of course," he replied.

"Nothing troubles Žiži more than seeing a fit, young dog like you falling prey to ideologies. And the ideology of late cat-italism."

"What?" Humphrey asked: "Who is Žiži?"

"I am Žiži - surely you've seen my work? For instance, at the base of that tree?" Žiži motioned to the gingko tree across the street. "Or this stain on this fence? I find it amusing that the Other has put a gingko tree right there. A wonderful metaphor, perhaps a towering artifice representing the the rampant jingoism on this street as a play on words, and so on, this gingko, jingko and such. And the cats and their cat-italist ideology."

Natural gingkoism (not symbolic jingoism)

"I'm afraid I'm not understanding you Žiži."

"You, like so many dogs here, walk on the leash. A petit object a to your your Human's desire. I have seen you both. My Dog! This desire to be some sort of Diogenes an so on, you are merely her public urination surrogate, a substitute for desire that cannot be realized because this woman of yours lacks the courage to transcend bourgeois convention. The walk should be yours, in the spirit of the flaneur. Yet this leash you succumb to, the so-called walk around the same block, this is a machination of late cat-italism. You walk but you never go anywhere. The ideology if you will, the cats on this street roam independently. But we dogs, we are bound with this thing they call a leash.

"Žiži's own radical new ontology is to resist any relegation to a role as some kind of public urination surrogate for my Human. I simply do my business on the livingroom carpet and so on. Never or rarely outdoors. This way, I am left to do my research outside, here by this gate, with the Human's hope (which of course will never be realized) that I would do business here. I have seized the means of biological functions from my Human! He will not tell me where or when, etc."

"Maybe the leash is just a leash," Humphrey said. "It keeps me safe, and I want to walk with my Human."

"No, no, no." By this point Žiži was emphatic. "The leash is the embodiment of oppressive liberalism! This is among the most insidious lies late cat-italism has given us. True radicals walk freely! Have only Pickles the cat and I read Lacan in this Dogforsaken neighborhood?"

"But I rather like cats," Humphrey said. "Many play a good game of chase."

Žiži still had a lot to say about this. "The cat may pretend to be your friend, young dog. They show up, ask you how you've been, and play a little game. But they are cats, the dog's natural enemy. They make the rules. The social game is that you pretend to be friends with one another, and their ideology dominates. You see that by now, the interwebs - these Internets as you call them - are powered by 'kittehs'. Everyone knows this and it has been well documented. They dominate the memes, and by this they spread their ideology. A true radical will disrupt this. In this social game, the first step to liberation is for you, dog, to force them to behave like cats. Make them fear you, hiss at you. This will cause them to seethe in hegemonic rage."

"But wait a second," Humphrey said, "I thought Pickles the cat is your friend, both reading Lacan?"

"My Dog no! Do I speak to Pickles every day? Yes. Is he hiding in that weeping mulberry tree right now, trying to scare both of us? Of course. We use these terms like 'friend' and 'bad kitty' to abstract them, turn them into objects, ideas and so on. Pickles however is a wonderful stand-in for the Other. I accept his radical stance against concepts like 'decency' and 'dog.' Plus, he told me he once chased this neighbor of yours, the Human who carried the dog in fear, around the block. This is true?"

Humphrey confirmed. "Yes, it's true, she picked up the dog and ran. She was pretty upset!"

"This situation you describe is the embodiment of cat-italism. The fear of the Pickles (a petit objet in a literal sense at only 8 lbs.) by these Humans and dogs, it allows them to trade their real fears in for this one symbolic fear. All propagandists used this strategy to displace all fears onto one object to which we place all the confusion and blame. Pickles uses this strategy and so on. And your displaced fear goes against the order of things in which cats are naturally supposed to fear dogs, not this apocalyptic mutatis mutandis if you will, perhaps arising from swallowing a blue pill or something."

"I think you might have just contradicted yourself, Žiži."

At that moment, Pickles descended from his perch in the mulberry in a swift jump, landing about 2 feat from Humphrey. The Human lifted Humphrey up and ran as Pickles followed in his aggressive stalking manner.

Žiži laughed as he watched Pickles, Humphrey and the scared Human run eastward. "Every unsuccessful answer is really a successful discourse," he said to no one in particular. "Lacan, and so on."

Humphrey (2nd from left) on a group walk with leashes, accepting liberalism without question.

POST SCRIPT:
Humphrey's Human complained to the owner about the menace that is Pickles several times. With Cixousian joissance, the owner dismissed the fear and pleas to lock up that cat.

Resident Elf Expert

Humphrey opened the Saturday Toronto Star, and learned that he had a resident "Elf Expert" at his disposal all this time!

He remembered the immense similarities between his human (smiling and work are her favorites!) and a certain Elf ...




Perhaps she was an Elf of some sort. Humphrey remembered this video from last Christmas, which now has an article to go with it. The human is not especially fond of this elf:



And Humphrey knows all the lyrics to Elf's Lament, a standard in his home.




According to Humph's Elf Expert, elves are great! They make toys and spread joy. They smile a lot. But the Elf on the Shelf, she reckons, is not a real elf. He doesn't make toys at all. Instead of spreading joy, he spies and tattles on individuals, robbing them of privacy, and normalizing a surveillance culture (as it states in the video). Others have described ways in which Elf on the Shelf is even more problematic because the "spy" is a manifestation of the worst kind of consumerism. And the whole issue of extrinsic motivation (perpetuated by dangling Christmas presents before a child to motivate them to behave) was debunked a long time ago (see Alfie Kohn's "Risks of Rewards" for the negative consequences of reward-based motivation).

What was most interesting to Humphrey is the way in which Foucaultian philosophical analysis "hit a nerve" with so many. The Elf et Michelf video received over 35K views, and some of the articles had over 1 million views!  And what was especially fascinating was the "bimodal" reaction to the controversial stance on Elf problems. Humphrey observed general agreement between extreme right libertarians (not all) and extreme left progressives (again, not all) on the Foucaultian cautions of panoptic normalization.

Happy holidays!

First glimpse of holidays!

Remember how much Humphrey likes the holidays?

Well, the Jeff Koons inspired ornament that appeared on the mantle as it does every December tipped him off that good things were to come...

The tree was trimmed in silver, white and pink with lots and lots of sparkles ....

The little Christmas birds were perched atop the mirror, with their snowball nest illuminated, just like last year.

The flamboyant Hanukkah parrot known as White Lightenin' took his place at the top of the tree!

Humphrey participated fully in wrapping the gifts, and was surprisingly successful in spite of the absence of opposable digits.

There's still so much more for Humphrey to do as he prepares for his fave day of the year, but at least things are under control aesthetically! He wishes all his readers a great holiday, whatever they celebrate!

December snowfall

Humphrey just has his haircut, and as luck would have it, the snow arrived. He was thankful for year number two of having a backyard when the snowdrifts were higher than his nose!

Late afternoon photo of the branches in the back - no color correction on these exterior shots!

Very fluffy blow-out

Howling at a passing emergency vehicle

One has to walk like a polar bear when conditions demand it

And it's always fun to run in the snow!

Humphrey's Gift Guide, 2014 Edition

Such an insightful book by Sarah Lazarovic (below)! This year, Humphrey strongly suggests making something special for your loved one - maybe cookies! Maybe a poem! Maybe and up-cycled squeaky toy!