FM #802 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 802 in the series.
This session of the radio show is an editorial statement. Something I don’t do often, in fact rarely do but given the circumstances of this week, I feel compelled to share this.
The recording runs about 7 minutes, so let’s listen.
Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-802-for-crying-out-loud-05-25-22
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The text
“For crying out loud”
For, crying out loud
We’ll begin with a moment of reflection, take a deep breath, centering where we are in the present
The headlines yesterday were all over DESE going after Boston Public Schools for insufficient progress on a “myriad of problems”. In their 120+ page assessment, the litany of errors, shortfalls, discrepancies out outlined in detail with a particular focal point, rather myopic in that, DESE is the same organization that throughout the pandemic struggled to generate timely and accurate guidance. Those who live in glasshouses should not throw stones!
For crying out loud
The headlines were all about Boston and DESE until word came on yet another shooting, another elementary school, lives young and old cut short by someone misguided at best, armed unnecessarily, who likely had cried for help and the yet system did not respond. You can say it starts at home. He did. He shot his grandmother first.
For crying out loud
Perhaps lost among the other news headlines, was one that 12 students at FHS received the Commonwealth seal of biliteracy, achieving proficiency in two languages. It had been 11 when I created the headline Tuesday. It was raised by one more to 12 as another confirmation of a student award was received. Not unlike the initial reports or 14, then 18, 19… where will it end
I recall a poem by Robert Bly
“Let's count the bodies over again.
If we could only make the bodies smaller
The size of skulls
We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight!
If we could only make the bodies smaller
Maybe we could get
A whole year's kill in front of us on a desk!
If we could only make the bodies smaller
We could fit
A body into a finger-ring for a keepsake forever.”
Written during the Vietnam war, and the repetition of body counts the news broadcast daily.
For crying out loud
We’ll come back to FHS. There are more than 20 languages heard within the halls of FHS and these 12 students have mastered a couple. Maybe, there is hope. Maybe, among the halls of students, mastering language, they can lead us to a better place. Maybe they can bring a cracking (some would say breaking) system to its senses.
I hope so, I am tired of crying out loud
We’ll end with a moment of reflection, take a deep breath, centering where we are in the present. If we don’t use the past lessons to foster change, what will our future be?
For crying out loud
I’ll close with my own poem written in the pandemic
I wake fearful
take a breath
realize
it is a
new day, we
can do this!
For more about Robert Bly -> https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-bly
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The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
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