Once More Unto the Dunes, Dear Friends, Once More

Liwa is a small town on the edge of civilization. Just outside the town is the Moreeb Dune, the largest on the planet–a behemoth, more of a sand mountain than dune. Beyond the dune is hundreds of miles of desert, then the Saudi border, then hundreds more miles of desert. In many ways, it feels like the end of the Earth. The area beyond Liwa is called the Empty Quarter and is a favorite of Hollywood filmmakers. They like to capitalize on the other worldly nature of it. It has served as the planet Jakku in the (unfortunate) Star Wars: the Force Awakens and the planet Arrakis in the adaptation of Dune by Denis Villeneuve. 

We planned a November escape to Liwa back in September, while the school year was still new. It is a favorite retreat of hours. We can make the 200-ish kilometer drive in two hours, under two,  if we really mean it. It’s a drive that takes you through the heart of the city, through the villas in the burbs (where most Emirati families live), into a sprawling industrial area that goes on for miles, and eventually into the open desert. 

Our hotel was on the edge of the built landscape, when you looked out beyond the pool (see image), there was nothing but dunes, just like Arrakis. Near it is the Al Dhafra camel racing track and the surrounding stables filled with camels of every size, color, and type. I never feel further from home when I am looking at a camel.

Camel tracks are a bit of an enigma to us. Camel racing is a past-time here, one that we have tried but repeatedly failed to take in. We have driven alongside the exterior of the track watching practice. We have visited tracks in Al Wathba and Al Ain but we never seem to be able to find the rhythm and see an actual race. We have been foiled by the early start times; they start as early as six in the morning to avoid the heat (ain’t nobody got time for that, after a full week of teaching). We were also stopped by Covid, the races and the Camel Beauty Pageant were suspended in 2020 and closed to the public for much of 2021. We’ve also been foiled by information posted online that is outdated, or only posted in Arabic, or both. This isn’t something you can just Google. It’s literally tribal knowledge. And it just hasn’t been meant to be. 

On Saturday, I suggested a half-hearted effort to drive into the desert and find the set of Dune II. But we opted to get shawarma instead. It was on the way back from this failed (but also successful mission–the shawarma was delicious) that we came upon an ocean of camels on the roads near the track. Hundreds of camels, as far as the eye could see, crossing each way, but moving in orderly lines under the guidance of their handlers. I noted the handlers. Someone goofier than me might describe them as “rugged” or “worn by the sun.” But I couldn’t stop laughing that each of them–all in their 20s–had their eyes glued to their phones while they glided about on the backs of the camels. It was a mix of the timeless and the modern, so rich we had to pull over and take the whole thing in. We may have failed to catch a race (again) and to find Zendaya (we didn’t try that hard) but we made a memory for a lifetime.

I think we will make one more stab at catching a race, later this fall in Al Ain. Wish us luck.  

Our Departure and a New Chapter

I was twenty-seven when I started teaching. George W. Bush was the President, I had hair, and the Mariners playoff drought was only five years-long. I've been doing this long enough that when I started I had an overhead projector with a jar full of Vis-a-Vis markers in my classroom.

Teaching is my profession and I love its moments: first days, conferences, graduation, the staff meet-up after Homecoming. When I got into teaching, my goal was to have a positive impact on my community. To help create better, smarter students as well as neighbors. This is the origin the “Nerd Farmer” moniker.

I'm a grump, but I'm an idealist. When I co-founded Teachers United in 2011, one of the criticisms of the organization was that we were a gaggle of newbie, idealistic, pie-in-the sky teachers. I remember one commenter on an early Seattle Times op-ed I penned saying, “let’s see what you think when you’ve been in a classroom for a while.” The implication was that we would lose our idealism and passion for equity and justice. Well, here we are, bub.

This is my thirteenth year in the classroom. I’m proud of my work as a teacher. I think I've made an impact on my students and the city. For the last several years people have constantly (and annoyingly) asked me “what’s next for you?” The implication was that I should run for office (hard nah), become a principal (nope, nein, never), or do policy advocacy full-time (not for me). I pride myself on not having to please voters, foundations, or funders. If I don't need your vote or grant money, I don't have to soft-pedal my truth to you. I’ve always loved teaching. I’ve never wanted to lead a school or push paperwork. I just want to teach and feel like I'm being successful and fully supported in doing it.

By my reckoning, I have taught well over fifteen-hundred students in Tacoma. I’ve started my teacher tree: Alex, Ty-isha, Janelle, and Corey with AJ and several others on the way. That's the work.  The next generation is better than us. I see it everyday. I look forward to living in the world they and my students want to build. I think about this world often.

But it’s time for a change for me, a new chapter. I've shared my deep frustrations about the state of the teaching profession in the US elsewhere. I've worked at Lincoln for a decade. I love the school, the staff, and especially my students. But I realized at some point this year, that in order to stay in the classroom, I needed to do something different. One of the most consequential books I've ever read is called “Quitting America” by Randall Robinson. It's his story of leaving the US and relocating to Saint Kitts and Nevis. Frankly, given the state-of-affairs in the US, I'm not sure I want to break-up, but I do think I want to see other people for a while.

This summer Hope and I will move abroad. In August, we’ll be joining the staff of the American Community School, an international school in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. I'll continue teaching AP American Government and ninth grade social studies. For years, we've taught students to be global citizens, now I'm going to be one. That's kinda dope. We’ve already researched and adopted a new soccer team, Al Wahda FC.

My new colleagues at ACS

Don't worry though, you’ll still hear from me. My Twitter Fingers ain't going nowhere, Nerd Farmer will continue (once we get settled), and I'll likely be writing more. You may see me again when President-Elect Inslee is putting together his Cabinet in 2021 (mostly kidding) or if the Seattle Sounders open a residency academy (deadly serious).

But for now, for me, it's time for a new challenge.

Excelsior.

Stop Police from Killing People or Admit You Don't Care

On June 16, in St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted on all counts in the shooting of Philando Castile. The dashcam footage of the shooting was released to the public yesterday and it is horrifying to watch. The most astute analysis of the incident came from @ChrisCJackson, who noted, “If the first instinct to a black man informing you that he's legally armed is fearing for your life, maybe you shouldn't be a cop.”

In the video, the officer is a panicky mess--swearing and screaming at Castile’s partner to remain calm and not move. He’s doing this (not calmly himself) after shooting her husband and still pointing a gun into the car. Yanez was terminated by his department the day of his acquittal. The man is not fit to wear a badge or serve in any capacity in law enforcement.

On Sunday morning, while I was talking to local columnist Matt Driscoll about the Castile verdict, Charleena Lyles, a pregnant 30 year-old black woman, was shot and killed by Seattle Police in front of her children. She was the 558th person killed by American law enforcement this year. There have been eight more since then (as of 7:30am on 6/21).

In 2016, that total was 1161. In 2015, it was 1216. I refuse to accept this. You should as well.

Sadly, many folks are actually quite okay with it. In the days since the Castile verdict and the Lyles shooting, I’ve seen more than the usual logical gymnastics and rhetorical contortion to justify the taking of Castile’s, Lyles’ and hundreds of other lives. People on the internet, particularly certain white males (every one of the following is a quote or paraphrase of a response from a white male) seem to able to justify or explain away an incredible amount of violence to black bodies:

I say stop killing black people, y’all say stop making it about race.

I say stop killing black people, y’all say I’m playing the race card.

I say stop killing black people, y'all say the officer feared for his life.

I say stop killing black people, y'all say all lives matter.

I say stop killing black people, y'all wanna talk about black-on-black crime.

I say stop killing black people, y'all say he was smoking weed.

I say stop killing black people, y'all say she had a prior record.

I say stop killing black people, y'all say what about the violence in Baltimore & Chicago?

I say stop killing black people, y'all wanna talk about pulling our pants up.

I say stop killing black people, y'all wanna talk about hoodies and dreads.

I say stop killing black people, y’all wanna talk about black unemployment.

I say stop killing black people, y'all wanna talk about how there are too many single moms.

I say stop killing black people, y'all wanna talk about the music our kids listen to.

I say stop killing black people, y'all wanna talk about how the victim was no angel.

I say stop killing black people, y'all wanna talk about our kids having no discipline.

I say stop killing black people, y'all say we have to wait and hear both sides.

I say stop killing black people, y'all say we have to let the investigation play out.

I say stop killing black people, y’all call me a cop hating faggot.

I say stop killing black people, y'all excuse the officer’s panic, but expect perfection from their victim.

I say stop killing black people, y'all find every excuse you can to justify our deaths.

Fellas, next time I say "stop killing black people," just admit it, you really don't care.

We spend a fair amount of time in my classroom talking about encounters with law enforcement. I started after the Mike Brown shooting; it generates buy-in and is relevant for my students. I use the frame of police encounters to teach about the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 14th Amendments. As a part of that teaching we do a workshop on dealing with police officers with three takeaways:

• First, remain calm, always--even if the officer doesn’t.
• Second, seek to disengage and end the encounter. Ask, “Am I being detained? Or am I free to go?”
• Third, film the police.

None of this advice should be controversial, but it is--especially when coming from a black face. But, if getting called “divisive,” a “racebaiter”, an “idiot”, or a “cop hating faggot” are the price of doing business, I’m here for that work.  

Before this year is up, American police will kill another 500-600 people on our streets. We have the power to stop this: We can change use-of-force policies for local departments. We can end the capricious enforcement of petty traffic laws in order to generate municipal revenue. We can implement the common sense policy recommendations of Campaign Zero. We just have to care enough about the victims to do so.

And by we, I mean you.