So, I don't feel like actually doing a formal post so I am emailing this one lol so forgive me if the formatting is a little off. Today was my first day back to school for the semester and I feel a rant coming on so bear with me but until then I have some words to say about the God.
Today I noticed that it gets very cold all of a sudden when I happen to be inside for more than a few moments, whether the sun is out in all his glory or not. All my life I always put this up to weird weather. Well, today my mind decided to integrate the mythology of the Sun God and it all made since. The God is supposedly dead this time of year (that's why he appears less often than the moon - longer nights). Now, if I am getting my mythology wrong here I would love for someone to tell me since I have only learned this stuff be reading about it, but I can only conclude that it makes since that the temperature fluctuates in the winter because the God is not around to bring us his warmth. On the same key, I have to bring in the story of Persephone. The land becomes winter when she is taken away from her mother to join her husband, Hades. Persephone in this case is not around to bring the warmth to the land and it has nothing to do with the sun God which in this case would be Apollo. Now as if this wasn't enough of the circular thinking for one post, there is also the fact that I have heard floating around that the powers of the universe are not necessarily feminine and masculine it just happens to be how the world relates to it (thanks to Drake from the Get Out of the Broom Closet podcast for giving me something to think about). So if this is true, could that same symbolism of the Sun God not be applied to Persephone who also dwells in the land of the dead until spring? Seems like much the same story to me...except of course with the Sun God he is reunited with his love when he is born.
Well....this leads me to another question. If the land is in mourning without Persephone, then it would seem that Persephone herself is in mourning. This part doesn't make sense to me. She is with her husband during this time. I know he kidnapped her, but wouldn't she eventually come to love him as a husband rather than just spending her time alone with her mother as being the only joy she has? I can't help but see the romantic side of this and maybe its cause I am a writer, I don't know, but in any case, let me know what you think. I would love to see some discussion on this.
And now for my rant. This has nothing to do in any way with Paganism and is part of why I have a disclaimer on this page. If you don't care about reading about the more personal parts or don't wanna hear me bitch, then stop reading now.
So, last semester I set out to do a project in my Educational Psychology class about Giftedness or Gifted and Talented as being a type of disability. My teacher said that the idea had it's implications but couldn't help me in any way other than that. Well this semester I am taking a course in education called Survey of Exceptionalities and on the syllabus it plainly states that Gifted and Talented is part of a Special Education curriculum. It is a program dedicated on meeting the needs of a specific group of students that even has a pullout program. Now, my problem with all of this is not the fact that GT is considered a disability because in many ways I have considered it as such for a while now, but the fact that schools cover this up. There is no one that is going to tell you that GT is a bad thing, but if a student is not in it that should be, it is very possible that they will not learn on the level that they should and thus loose out on quite a bit of education that they could have had. On the same token, if someone is labeled as in Special Education, it is for some reason labeled as a bad thing. Point being: aren't they doing the exact same thing? We are taking students and giving them what they need to learn. SpEd kids have special needs. Guess what, so do GT kids. The only difference is the kind of service given. So why is it that people like my Ed.Pysch. professor just wave off the fact that GT is just another kind of disability? It gets even more recognition than any of the others in schooling and yet it is denied that it is a problem. Who the hell has the authority to say kids with one kind of learning problem are better than anyone else with a learning problem. I know in my school growing up, it was an honor to be in GT, while the kids that were in Sp.Ed. were quite often treated like shit, most prominatly by the students in GT who had their own issues. Why the hell can't everyone be seen as equally 'special' in their own way and get rid of these damn labels?! Yes, I grew up GT. Yes, I realize that what I am saying means I am not any better than anyone else just because I am smart. Well you know, knowledge isn't always the most important thing and all of my life I have been singled out for being a geek, even among my peers in GT. Not everyone was part of the pullout. I was. Does this mean I was a little more GT then some. Yes. That also means my disability was worse than that of my classmates that made up the popular click (which btw, the females in the popular crowd were almost always GT. Males weren't. Most certainly wasn't the pullout GT kids though that were supposed to be something special.) Long story short, I understand the differences in the needs of learning and no one way of treating a problem is better than any other. People are people. Teach our kids and respect them. Quit trying to tell me that 'genius' isn't a problem. You may not see it, but when's the last time you saw the smart kids not singled out by their peers? Smart is a social problem in a society where we are supposed to be intelligent....figure that one out....let me know if you can find a reasonable explanation cause I certainly can't.
Right. Rant over. I know this will probably be my longest post but I don't care it needed to be said. Happy New Year all and may it be blessed.
Blessed be. To all.
Monday, January 11
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Alrighty then (that alone should let you know it's me ^..^), I don't really see the Persephone link you made. I just don't agree with her eventually falling in love with Hades. If you want to see a romantic side, you could allow that maybe (creating my own mythology here, but these were all based on the movements of the cults of the time anyway) she loved Apollo or the sunlight and thus also mourns departing from the life-giving sun during winter.
ReplyDeleteOn GT, it is difficult for society to acknowledge an abundance of intelligence as a negative thing; therefore, it will be difficult to find one who would acknowledge it as a disability, which itself has the connotation of negativity. I don't understand what you mean by pullout. Is it where students are taken from class to study seperately? Also to note, try to tell a parent of a child in the Special Ed. class that your GT child is also special needs. It won't go over well. If you wish to make this argument, you'll have to take that into account or you will receive much refusal to be heard out.
I can understand the parallel you're creating and I also understand the stigma of intelligence in correlation to geeks, or people whose intelligence and unique method of thinking makes it difficult for them to easily interact with others. This is one of the reasons why I am so interested in Japanese culture. I haven't done extensive research, so forgive my inaccuracies, please, but I believe they have a much greater respect towards intelligence. Then again, there are specific reasons for this. I do not know if there are specific reasons for the stigma in the USA.
Regardless, I remember struggling in class, growing bored, learning to coast and adopting these habits. I learned to hide my good grades, to never express my opinion because my standards weren't the same and it would be thought I was insulting someone if I said a 70 was horrible, if 80 was barely decent. Is it a disability or simply a disadvantage to be unable to connect in certain ways? I may have wandered and what I express here is more disadvantages rather than disabilities.
But I can see a connection. I was held back in kindergarten because the teachers thought I was slow. I was put into GT at a different school not two years later.
I never knew that about the held back thing...that's interesting. I know this sounds weird but thanks for proving my point lol. As far as Persephone goes, I was kinda rambling at that point but I guess her love for Apollo might make sense. I guess we will see if anyone else comments. Yes, a pullout is where students go study separately. I am so happy to have interaction here lol I don't know what else to say because it seems we are in agreement.....right then.
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