Monday, January 19, 2009

MLK Day of Service

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! (A Day on, Not a Day Off)

I am too excited about today and tomorrow. As I stated in prior postings, I have always been excited about the presidential elections and this year is no exception.

Despite my excitement, I never bring my political views into the classroom. I strive to state both sides of controversial issues and I gave updates from both the republican and democratic national conventions.

Today, I am happy about the event tomorrow, yet unhappy about lack of MLK Day of Service activities in my area. I would have to travel 50+ miles to the nearest service activity. I would create one, but I am not quite sure how my community would respond to a MLK Day of Service. We are one of the black families in the community.

However, today I plan to prepare for this week's classes. What did you do for MLK day?

Millennial Professor

2 comments:

  1. Dr. Edwards,

    It's unfortunate that you feel stifled by your environment. I taught in Texas for 10 years, and I have to admit that even the staunchest of advocates for equality and justice have been silenced by threats of "your colleagues may not like that" (words that make the tenure-track professor's blood run cold) or "the neighbors might complain" (words that make you fear the rock through the front window). Having been in New York now for almost two years, I can say that it's very, very different. The energy around this inauguration in particular and this president-elect in particular dances in the air. It's infectious in the best sense of the word.

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  2. I did the same as you, Dr. Edwards, prepared to teach two library instruction sessions today (and another tomorrow, plus a tour each on Thursday and Friday). It's a little too early in the semester to be taking a day off.

    I like the concept of a Day of Service for MLK Day. I understand it has been in existence since 1994, but this year is the first time I've heard of it. I think Obama has brought it a lot of publicity and we'll see more such events even locally in the future.

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