The U.S. is not the dystopian nightmare as described by the political right. It's not that bad ..read more

The State Should Not be Banning Books ..read more

Understanding Historical Materialism and Dialectical Materialism ..read more

It’s Been a Helluva Year! This year I ended my thirty year career as a teacher. I didn’t do so in the usual way where I retire and get my plaque and pat on the back for a job well done. Instead, I went out with a bang (sans plaque). I resigned in protest after over six-hundred books were removed from my classroom. You can read about this in other posts. In this Mad Sociologist in the News video I offer what I hope to be my final analysis on this topic. As it stands, I’m still under state investigation, but there has been no movement in this regard. My lawyer and I believe that the state would ..read more

WHAT I MEAN WHEN I TALK ABOUT THE LATEST GENERATION GenX I am a representative of what lay demographers refer to as GenerationX.1 That means I came of age in the eighties. I am now at an age where the cultural representations of my youth are framed in nostalgia. The streaming phenomenon Stranger Things, the extra-dimensional demons notwithstanding, epitomizes this starry-eyed nostalgia of a youth riding bikes all over creation, playing D&D, being the first generation to start playing with super-cool computer gizmos. We were the first generation influenced by home videogames with our awesom ..read more

Former educator advocates to restore parent-teacher partnerships On Sunday, the Fort Myers News-Press, my local newspaper, published a Guest Opinion by yours truly. After looking through the public records related to my case, I was struck by the fact that at any point this whole situation could have been avoided if someone–anyone–involved in the process had simply reached out and talked to me. The parent, a so-called “Parents Rights” activist who had the Deputy Superintendent’s cell phone number. The Deputy Superintendent whom I believe walked into my classroom while I was teaching, waved and ..read more

Here’s how it Invents One! Framing Legitimate Protest to Justify Illegitimate use of State Violence We take for granted the narrative that we live in a democratic society founded on the principles of free speech and the values of standing up for the oppressed. In such society it should be the expectation that our institutions of higher learning will be the proving grounds for these principles. Yet time and again it is demonstrated that elites disdain the core fabric of a free society and will not tolerate any trespass against their authority. Consequently, we have a tension of contradictio ..read more

I Could Use Some Kind Words Back in January a parent of one of my students wrote this to the Deputy Superintendent, Dr. Jennifer Cupid McCoy in a text message. So, this was someone who had her phone number.1 “Hey, I know you’re busy, and I hate to bother you , but … just got home from work, and we were talking about school. She has a new class, economics and I have a HUGE problem with her teacher, and I need you to talk me off a ledge because I’m level 10 mad. This “teacher” started the class today by offering to use whatever pronouns the students wanted , and he made point to tell them that h ..read more

ON KNOWING YOUR MARX…AND TAYLOR! My inspiration for this project was in the works for some time, but hit a creative inspiration in light of the most recent Superbowl and consequent discussions about the game. For the first time in my life, discussions around the singular moment in football every year was no longer centered around the quality of the quarterback, and one team’s defensive line versus the other’s passing game. This year, no matter how much we tried to avoid it, the discussion always lay under one all-encompassing shadow–the curvy silhouette of Taylor Swift. I’ve not conducted any ..read more

DEFENDING BOOKS AND TEACHERS IS DEFENDING DEMOCRACY Defense of Democracy Go to the Podcast I had a great conversation with Karen Svoboda on her podcast, Defense of Democracy. Defense of Democracy is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group dedicated to educating the public on the importance of public schools and public libraries to preserving our democratic way of life. Please check out their website and offer any support you can. This is a worthwhile endeavor. I’m glad I could be a small part of it. Here is the podcast featuring Karen Svoboda and me! You can subscribe to the Defense of ..read more