My husband and I went to watch Freedom Writers the other night. I was interested in it because I majored in English and enjoy writing. I thought it looks like a nice feel-good movie.

I was wrong.

The movie takes place in Southern California in 1994 (the same year I was a freshman at Santa Teresa High School), and follows a group of troubled kids through their freshman and sophomore years in high school. It chronicles the events that take place as a young first time teacher tries to make a difference in their turbulent lives.

There were good things about the movie, such as the underlying cliché message of “you can do whatever you put your mind to.” It showed how these kids that society “didn’t care about” were able to “persevere” and do great things—such as graduate from high school.

Now don’t get me wrong. I think it’s great if these kids who are going through rough times can overcome difficulties and make good decisions to improve their lives. My whole problem with the movie was that it really didn’t represent reality as far as “desegregation” goes.

I grew up in South San Jose, a nice middle class part of town. Educators decided that they wanted to “desegregate” the local schools. The felt the schools were too “white” - even though the white population was around 50%. They decided that the best way to solve this “problem” was to bus kids in from East San Jose – a less than desirable area with lots of gang problems. The Utopian idea was to give these kids a chance at a better education. The schools on the East Side were terrible, so many “minority” kids were brought to South San Jose schools.

A big problem with this idea was that the kids that were bought over were ones that had been kicked out of their schools for gang violence and drug problems. Instead of giving these kids a better education, they ended up in remedial classes – and they didn’t care about learning. They brought their gang affiliations with them, and simply moved the problems from one campus to another. For the most part, these kids did not care about learning. They simply cared about their gangs.

The other problem that was caused was that the classes at Santa Teresa High School (my alma mater) were “dumbed down” so these kids could quickly graduate and be gone. Instead of helping all students achieve and prepare for college, they were simply helped to graduate. There were a few excellent Honors Courses, but most of the rest were a joke.

The other misnomer about the movie was that all of the white kids were in the honors classes, while the minorities were in the remedial classes. This simply was not the case. I was an honors student, but I did not excel in math, so I was in the normal (not honors) math class with kids of all races. Honors classes were not “all white” as the movie portrayed. It was a mix of mostly Indian, Asian, and White kids.

An example of problems desegregation caused:

My freshman year, I was sitting in class with kids that did not want to be there. They decided that it would be fun to light a physically disabled girl’s hair on fire. They tried making a torch out of hairspray and a lighter. This was while the teacher was in the room. I noticed what was going on, and motioned for the girl to sit by me so the others would leave her alone. She, while crying, moved to sit by me.

The next day in school, when sitting in my math class, my blonde ponytail got yanked so hard my head snapped back. Then I had a desk shoved into my back, and someone kicked me. Then, a girl sitting behind me told me that if I didn’t watch my back, I was going to be killed for being a snitch.

I was 14 when this happened. I had to contact the police, and I didn’t even know why I was being threated. I couldn’t walk alone to class for fear of being jumped. My older brother’s friends escorted me. Later, it turned out, the girl whose hair was nearly lit on fire told a teacher what had happened, and the perpetrators received detention. They had assumed that because I had stood up for someone smaller than them, I had been the snitch. I had to nearly take out a restraining order against several girls in my math class.

Another example: When I was in 8th grade, I was walking home from school alone when a boy walking behind me was jumped. His head was bashed in with a baseball bat, and he was nearly killed. I was the main witness to this, and had to work extensively with police to try and identify the perpetrators. This too was gang related.

Other problems I faced simply occurred when I was walking around campus. Groups of girls that were not white would push me or try and trip me from behind. My hair got pulled all the time. (I had very long blonde hair that I often wore in a ponytail.) I was threatened many times, and called a “white bitch” all the time. People call white people racists and bigots all the time, but the white kids were too afraid to stand up for themselves, let alone be racist. I was on the receiving end of racism for six years – all the way from middle school (7th and 8th grade) until I graduated from high school.

I tore my ACL (playing soccer) when I was 16, and spent 12 weeks on crutches. I was pushed so many times by people telling me I was in their way. I wanted to shrink and hide to make it stop. By the time my senior year came around, I was sick and tired of being pushed around, and I shoved a girl back, and told her to back off me. Suddenly, I was very alone, but surrounded by a group of 10 or so minority girls telling me they were going to kill me. Luckily a teacher happened along, and I was spared.

I have since decided that jealousy was a contributing factor in all of this, but I don’t think it’s quite that simple. That may have been one thing, but I think also racism was extremely rampant at my school. It just wasn’t quite what people expect. They expect white kids to “take it” because other races have been discriminated against in the past. They feel it’s just the white kids’ turn. Right. That is saying that racism is ok in some forms. The problem is – it is NEVER ok. Despite the ordeals I had to deal with, I am not in any way a racist. I’m quite the opposite. I suppose it made me go completely the other way, I guess because I had to deal with racism so much. I just think that no one should ever be treated how I was treated, whether they are Black or White, Asian or Indian, or anything else.

I have thought about reasons why “desegregation” or “integration” would be such a popular idea – it’s not like it solves any problems. It actually creates more. I think a big part was to make the “bad” schools look better by removing some of the most trouble prone kids and spreading them around to other schools. If every school has some serious problem kids, then it makes them all seem not so bad. (No one school is worse than another.)

I admit that I don’t know what the solution is. Every child deserves a chance at an education. No child should have to go through what I went through, simply because some administrators decided they wanted to “experiment.”

My younger siblings are going to private high schools because my parents didn’t want them dealing with the same traumas that I had to deal with. They will receive superior education, and will be extremely prepared for college.

My advice to those with children in the California public school system: enroll your kids in a private or charter school, or move. It isn’t worth it.

This brings me full circle, back to Freedom Writers. The movie tried really hard to appear to be caring and “modern” in teaching styles and beliefs. The problem is that the producers of the movie really didn’t do enough research to find out consequences of “integration” as they called it, to see if it is a good thing before preaching about how it is the way to go. It is not a good thing, and it doesn’t help schools, teachers, students, or anyone.

I think students should be able to choose what school they attend, and they shouldn’t be forced to attend the one they are closest to. If schools have to compete for good students, the education system will drastically improve. The current system isn’t working, which is one point Freedom Writers made that I have to agree with.

David Beckham has announced he is leaving Real Madrid at the end of his current season, and will move to LA to play for the Galaxy.

This is a huge boon for US soccer, and especially the MLS. Soccer has been a huge sport in California for many years, but unfortunately, the MLS has not always gotten the needed support. San Jose lost the Earthquakes because they would not build a stadium to support them. (They played all of their home games at the San Jose State Spartan’s field.) It wasn’t that there was a lack of fans - there just wasn’t the financial support that other Major League sports receive, such as football and baseball. (The 49ers are getting a huge beautiful new complex in Santa Clara because their own Candlestick was too old.)

Currently, there is a huge controversy over the building of Real Salt Lake’s soccer field - rumors have spread that money is being taken from schools to build the stadium. (This, of course, is not true.) People such as Larry H. Miller have done much to prevent the building of the stadium, simply because he doesn’t like competetion for money when it comes to his own sports complexes and teams. (He currently owns the woeful Utah Jazz.)

With David Beckham coming to the United States, this will hopefully stir up the interest in soccer, and generate more support for the teams. Beckham is the most famous athlete in the world, and it is wonderful that he is moving to LA to play for the Galaxy. My husband and I plan to purchase season tickets to support our own local MLS team, and perhaps catch a glimpse of Beckham when he comes to town to play.

My husband and I just spent a week in Las Vegas for CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and decided to see “O” for the first time. We had heard great things about it, but weren’t quite sure what to expect.

For those of you that have not heard of O, the “stage” is a tank of water holding over a million gallons of water that performers dive into, swim in, etc. The acrobatics were incredible - I have never seen anything like it. Divers would flip, twist and turn while flying through the air, sometimes landing in the water, sometimes caught by other performers by their feet.

One of the most amazing acts were four female contortonists. They could turn their bodies in any direction and at any angle. It was hard to believe that their bodies could do what they did. They could lie on their stomachs, and have their legs come over their heads and have their feet in front of them. It’s hard to describe, so I’m including a link here to show what I’m talking about: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/o/O-acts10.htm. The site I’ve linked to actually has pictures and descriptions of the different acts of the show.

The only part of the show that I did not enjoy were the clowns. There were a couple of clowns that seemed to be “time fillers” for the crew to prepare for the next acts. I don’t like clowns, and I don’t think they’re very funny, so that was one part of the show I didn’t particularly enjoy. Luckily, it was only a very small part of the show, so it wasn’t a big deal at all. The rest of the show certainly makes up for the clowns.

At any rate, the show is well worth the expensive tickets. We had third row center seats which cost about $160 each, but they were well worth it. The show was sold out, so my advice would be to purchase tickets well in advance. (We bought ours about 3 weeks ahead of time.) That way you can be assured of good seats.

I would highly recommend this show if you happen to be in Las Vegas. It is an amazing spectacle of choreography, imagination, and athleticism.

I live in a state where there are many, many trusting (read: gullible) people. They believe what their friends tell them…if they “buy” into a certain company, sell some “fabulous” shampoo or whatever, and get their friends to buy into the company as well, they’ll receive a monthy check for $20,000…or more!

The sad thing is, this isn’t much of an exaggeration. Everywhere I turn, someone is trying to get me to join into their “downline” so that I can become as “rich” as they are. Soon, I’ll be driving a *nice* car, and I can even advertise on it with stickers! (For example: Want to get rich like me? Call me at 1-800-555-5555 and I’ll tell you how!) Another common means of advertising is the posterboard sign placed at strategic locations, such as street corners. Most often, those say “Real Estate Investor Seeks Apprentice!” Oh, how I love those! I wonder, however, if these companies are making so much money, why would they have to resort to cardboard signs placed by hand on street corners?

Another aspect of these pseudo-companies is the fact that everyone involved pesters their friends to join, and become as rich as they are. The sad thing is, most of the people involved with the multi-level companies cannot afford to join, but they take out a loan or use their credit cards in the hopes that their friends will also join, and make them all sorts of money. Nothing can end a friendship more quickly than trying to make money off of your friends.

These schemes don’t work, except perhaps for the guys that started them. The ones on the very top become what all the suckers beneath them aspire to be: rich. I guess what all of the people are buying into is simply a dream. They believe that because one guy did it, they can too. Well, good for them. What most people don’t realize is that their time and resources are much better spent doing something worthwhile, such as working hard at a legitimate job, and socking money into a 401k or ROTH IRA. That’s how you become rich. Oh, and living within your means.

All I can say is good luck to those that still believe they can “get rich quickly.” If people don’t mind losing money, time (which is also money), resources, and friends, have at it. The best advice out there, however, is that if it sounds too good to be true, it is. I know, a bit cliche, but sometimes phrases are cliche because they are used often…because they’re true.