Tag: California

Some thoughts on the California recall election

Mitch WagnerLeave a comment
  • The official party line from the Democrats is vote NO on the recall, then stop. Sign the back and mail it in.
  • That’s the party line from the San Diego Democrats, at least. I suspect it came down from the state.
  • I may deviate from party line and vote for Angelyne in part two because mandatory bubble baths.
  • Because the recall election is a shitshow, we could end up with Newsom getting 49+% of the vote and Elder getting 18% and Elder getting sworn in as governor in October.
  • If you have any elective medical procedures on the to-do list for this year, get ’em done now. Because we could have a Republican governor in October, and a few weeks after that, hospitals will over capacity, canceling elective procedures, and lining up the refrigerated trucks on the street to hold the excess dead bodies.
  • You think that last bit is hyperbole? That’s what’s going on in Texas and Florida, where Republicans are anti-mask and vax mandates because ‘MURRICA.

The Learning Curve: Why Mission Dioramas Are (Mostly) History

Mitch WagnerLeave a comment

Building dioramas of Spanish missions used to be a rite of passage for California’s schoolkids, but growing awareness of colonial brutality is making the dioramas obsolete.

By Randy Doting at the Voice of San Diego:

Craft stores used to make a killing out of California’s fourth-grade state history curriculum. Every child, myself included, had to make a diorama of a state mission – and they needed supplies like hot glue, corrugated paper and Styrofoam, not to mention milk cartons and clay. Parents could even buy a whole pre-fab mission-making kit in case their kid happened to mention after dinner that the project is due tomorrow.

For many Californians, putting together a diorama is one of the most memorable parts of their education. Now, mission-making has nearly gone the way of venerable school traditions like smoking areas and spankings. Some students still make them (watch out for ants if you use sugar cubes!), but most fourth-graders no longer need to ask Mom for a ride to the nearest Michaels or Hobby Lobby.

The change is linked to a changing understanding about our state’s early history. The Spanish colonialization of California is no longer romanticized, and we now recognize the brutal treatment of Native Americans by European invaders.

Instead, educators advocate teaching the actual, complex history. Kids know that things live and die, they know what conflict is. Teachers can teach the history from the different perspectives of those who lived then and their competing goals.

Also: In 2017, a San Diego fourth-grader built a Mission diorama, burning as a result of the Kumeyaay Native American revolt. My kind of kid.

After all these years in the state, I consider myself a full-blooded Californian. But this part of the experience, and the veneration of California’s Mission history, is alien to me. In the New York schools where I was taught, Mission history barely got a mention. It’s a big country, and everybody’s local history is different.