Bronwyn Harris, Author

The witness family has been promised some, but not enough money from the DA's office. If anyone is reacting with "Why are my tax dollars paying for this?" or "Why does the DA's office have responsibility to do this?" (which I hope they are not,) keep in mind that the reason they are in danger is because of the brilliant brilliant police of this fair city, which are fully living up (or down) to their reputation. The reasons the kids are in danger are: 1. The police didn't do anything when the kids' mom called six months ago because one of the suspects in Joshua's killing was threatening her son with a gun. They came to the house and told her "If no one is dead, we can't do anything." Interesting. Now someone is dead. Really? We had to wait for that? 2. After the shooting, the police took the witnesses down the street and had them point out the house where the suspects lived. The whole family (of the suspects) saw exactly who...

I was going to write a very different post. I was going to write about a fun outing from last weekend. On Sunday, May 17, a friend and I took some kids to the Greek Festival in Oakland. These are the kids we spend time with; brothers from the school I used to work at. I'm calling them " Jorge " and "Luis." Jorge (the older who was doing so well in school recently - got his grades up from a 0.0 to a 2.25, which is no small feat in two months) came last year and ate everything in sight. The food is really really good at the Greek Festival. Sadly, Jorge couldn't come because his dad got arrested and he had to go see him. Have I mentioned that this kid has been trying to take care of his whole family as long as I've known him? But Luis could come and asked us to bring his friend Joshua. We brought Joshua, who ate everything in sight (Luis was being a picky eater) and chatted the whole time. I remembered Joshua (an 8th grader) from when he went to our school....

I've wondered this for a long time - do white children go missing more than other ethnicities, or do we just care more? First of all, don't misunderstand me - it is a tragedy when a white child goes missing. I'm not arguing that fact. But it is a tragedy when ANY child goes missing. And there are a lot of other kids that aren't being featured. I've been wondering this for some time and just found some articles on it. There are some examples of black kids who have gone missing and not gotten much attention here . More statistics here . And a blog post about it here . Thanks to one of my readers who pointed out the blog " Black and Missing ." I think there are two things going on here. First of all, minority children are assumed to be living in more dangerous areas, so it's less surprising when something happens to them. Second, all children are not valued in the same way. Sure, we would all say that every child is worthwhile and has the same ...

Finally, someone gets the difference between literally and figuratively. This is one of my biggest pet peeves ever. If I can explain it to third graders, how come adults can't get it?? When people say "Britney Spears literally cried a river..." NO! That is NOT what literally means! That's why we have the lovely word "figuratively." I hear newscasters use it all the time. Finally, someone is helping me out. Even if it is a comedian. Look at (By the way, I think they're right on about these protests too. That's another story though.) The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Tea Party Tyranny thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Update:   9/28/26: If you are reading this, the spoiler alert is that things got much harder for Jorge after this, and we kept in touch over the decades, even as he’s been incarcerated. He’s getting out of prison in early 2027 and I’m raising money to help him start his life fresh because everyone deserves second chances. Please take a look! Wow. I've talked before about the two kids that a friend and I mentor in a way. I'll call them Jorge (the older one) and Luis (the younger). I had Jorge in my class in third grade and he has had it rough. He's the oldest of six children and was born when his mother was 14. His mom is frequently in rehab or jail, although she seems to have been out for the last couple of years. If she's clean or not is anyone's guess. Jorge helped his grandmother raise Luis. He's always been super over-responsible, stressed out, and had way too many adult responsibilities. About a year ago, Jorge started to crack. He was 13, which isn't f...

I've heard a lot of people talk lately about how racism is dead. They haven't said that outright (maybe because I'd hit them) but they have mentioned "the bad old days" when schools were segregated (been to an inner-city school lately? The only white kids we ever had were a couple of Bosnian refugees). Or they've talked about now that we have a black president, people should stop whining about racism. Or how white people aren't any more likely to be promoted/hired than anyone else, and in fact "reverse racism" is usually the norm. Now, I'm white so I haven't personally experienced too much racism. But I've seen a lot of it firsthand, and I found these blogs interesting. Stuff White People Do has a list of things that white people can be grateful for in an average day. (By the way, I had never heard of " sundown towns " and wish that I still hadn't.) Same blog, another post about how white people teach their childre...

...from a sixth grader. One of my former students got to appear on a panel of middle schoolers talking to fifth graders about what to expect in middle school. His particular words of wisdom? "Don't let nobody take you down." I'm so proud. (?) He's the one in the picture who you can't see very well.

...than I can write about. So I'm not going to try - just going to let those who already did it show off their work. As with many, many districts around the state, my old district is handing out pink slips . (By the way, teachers, if any of you feel like sending me a copy (electronically or otherwise) of your pink slip/March 15 letter, I'd love to see them. My former district sent really mean ones and I'd like to see if that is the norm. The district hasn't really known how much money it has had for some time now. This started about 6 years ago maybe, when they switched financial software and all of a sudden couldn't find tens of millions of dollars. There are a few good schools in this district and everyone wants their kids enrolled. A very interesting blog post about NCLB and the Corridor of Shame. Adult illiteracy. Phasing out schools - often the same schools the district spent a ton of money on starting, when they were on their "new small schools...

So, I subbed for a fourth/fifth grade combination class in my little middle class island community here in the Bay Area and found a number of differences from my old school. 1. One of the kids had an iPhone . A fourth grader. Had an iPhone . Enough said. 2. The kids were all very concerned about the economy. Very concerned. Interestingly, I would imagine their parents are hit harder than those who are already living off unemployment/welfare/SSI. 3. It came up in discussion that a lot of the kids didn't know what "renting" a house was, or what a "landlord" was, but they did know the term "mortgage." 4. There was ethnic diversity, but it was very different. Instead of being black and Latino with a few Vietnamese kids, the kids were white, Middle Eastern, and Chinese. There was one black kid and he was totally the stereotype; single mom, behavior problem, can't sit still, etc. Needless to say, he was my favorite, because I am used to that. 5. ...