Letters from Tucson, AZ – Part 2

Here is another letter from Tuscon High School teacher, Curtis Acosta detailing the fallout of the Tuscon Unified School District’s declaration that their Ethnic Studies program is illegal.

Dearest colleagues and supporters,

Forgive the lack of communication as of late, but the new situation that we have been handed since the dismantling of our Mexican American Studies program has been overwhelming. In fact, I am fairly certain the reason why my family and I have been sick so much recently is in direct connection to the stress of this situation.I want to thank all of you who have pledged your support through the No History is Illegal campaign or the other petitions that have circulated. Your testimonials have been inspiring amidst the chaos in Tucson and our students were thrilled to see so many dots on the globe. It is another act that has helped them feel that people care since our district administration has shown little sensitivity to their pain. They did find the time to visit some of our classes to give a thinly veiled threat that students will be punished if they continued to actively protest during school time. One student leader, Nico Dominguez, was threatened with suspension after a respectful, yet critical, statement to the four members of the school board who voted to eliminate our classes. Fortunately, we were able to advocate for him and make sure that there was some accountability for the administration to follow due process and magically the threats disappeared.

As far as in the classroom, I have been exposed to a word that I have never heard before in any of our Mexican American Studies classes, and that word is “hate.” On three different occassions I have heard my students comment that they hate something that we were doing in class. First, it happened as I wheeled in the district adopted textbooks into our room over a month ago. I heard two girls say, “Ewww” and another student say, “I hate reading out of those books.” I have never taught out of textbooks in my 16 years of teaching so I was struck by the rawness and veracity of the comment. This happened again yesterday in class when a young woman refused to write an essay citing that she feels dumb when she reads out of the textbook and hates it. Finally, a young man in my senior class was taking a quiz at the end of the first Act of Macbeth and said he hated these types of tests. Of course, these are all district approved instructional materials that I was encouraged to adopt in my classes in order to avoid discipline and possible termination. The students know this, but they still yield visceral reactions that break my heart.

In a similar note, you’ll be happy to know that upon the first monitoring session of my class last week, I was found to be in compliance. Of course, when I asked for written criteria or an evaluation instrument that was used to make such an assessment, none was provided and no answer was given. For over a month we have tried to get written expectations and have been ignored. Thus, we now have monitors entering our rooms with an invisible checklist for compliance. This will only get more dangerous for us in the coming weeks since the State is now getting involved. Since my last message, the Arizona Department of Education has informed our district that we will be undergoing unannounced observations for our compliance by specialists. This is without the criteria for our safety being defined, and our district still isn’t sure who these specialists will be, nor their qualifications or experience in public education. We were also forced to box up more materials for the state including PowerPoints, texts, and even copies of a vocabulary list I use with my students.

We are in uncharted waters in terms of vagueness and our district remains consistent. Their meager defense of our program during the appeal process is closely related to the open door policy they have given to the state department of education. They have continually played Pontius Pilate in this struggle and we are convinced this will be why justice will prevail. As many of you may know, the Arizona legislature continues to target teachers with outlandish legislation about teacher language and partisan instruction. We have told our colleagues for years that our situation is precursor to the types of government intrusion that could happen to us all. During this spring, I fear we will see such a statement become prophecy.

In the meantime, thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and actions. Our students and community refuse to embrace this awful reality as permanent and are hopeful that our classes will return.

In Lak Ech,

Curtis Acosta

A Debate About Skyrim and Dark Souls

I’ve been dying to write about Elder Scrolls: Skyrim but the kid has been swamped with graduate school and other endeavors. I did have a cool email discussion with my boy Chuy. In lieu of a better more critical analysis I’ll include our exchange below. It started with text messages that I can’t recover so I apologize that you’re coming into the conversation midway through and for Chuy’s rather…colorful descriptions. 

DAMON: There are many, many on line discussions about whether a person has to beat a game or not before they can write a review. Most people agree that “no”, you don’t. There is a difference b/w reviewer and critic. The critic is the one who should beat the game depending on what they are critiquing.

I’m sure there are some great reviews from IGN, Gampro, 1Up, etc about Dark Souls which is a great game. But, don’t get it twisted. Most of them will give it to Skyrim for GOTY and/or best RPG. It has over 50 perfect scores!

As good as people say Dark Souls is, it says something that Skyrim is being considered a better game. It means that Skyrim executes what “it” is trying to do better than Dark Souls executes what “it” is trying to do. That brings me back to me original point that something doesn’t quite work w/ the Souls games. Great as they may be there is something they are trying to do that doesn’t quite work.

Really good discussion. I’m going to write about this.

CHUY: So, on this premise, all games then fail to do what they are trying to do since it isn’t as good as what Skyrim did with its “it”?

I see….Afterall, Skyrim will get GOTY, right? Shit, that can be its own website.

About the article, what pisses me off is the line, ” I can’t imagine Dark Souls even has an ending. Partly, this is because story-wise I wouldn’t have a clue what is actually going on or what my goal is. And, partly, because there is little hope of me ever actually finishing it.” As a reader, I would then ask, how far did you actually get. Are your bitch ass gaming skills in gaming limbo? At least have a preface or disclaimer: I have only played 15 hours and am in such and such. From this juncture, I’ve made an observation, an interpretation of what I think this game is about (since nobody knows, and I guess that’s the beauty).

Whatever you do though, beat the games (back to back) and then write the piece since you are critiquing it, right?

“That is the point of Dark Souls, I feel: to be in Limbo, to be just another lost, undead soul wandering a stagnant world.”

“Dark Souls is about the journey. One long, neverending journey.”

DAMON: [The] game aint about being no hero, son.

CHUY: [That] idiot didn’t [even] beat the game. He would have seen that these stagnant towns do get freed once you feed the last soul to the lord vessel. These stagnant people walk up to you and thank the fuck out of you. They can’t believe it. You can’t believe it. You did it.

You feel like the greatest hero ever in a game.

In solidarity, you see people who have beaten it and you rest at the last bonfire, admiring the other heroes who decided to not only take the journey, but actually have the nuts to finish it. What an idiot.

Just another bitch who ain’t got no gaming skills. Sad.

DAMON: I – kinda hear what you’re saying. It still doesn’t refute my point. Skyrim will be widely considered a better game. It won’t take anything away from Dark Souls but it does inspire questions about the Souls games and their ability to be as ground breaking and game changing as people boast they are. It say’s a lot that the same sites that jock it put it second best. Now, I could be wrong. They might turn around and give it to Dark but based on what is currently out there I don’t think they will.

But, to your point let us look at it this way… Demon Souls came out in 2009 and garnered nearly the same acclaim that Dark is getting yet it has failed to influence other games, let alone the RPG genre. That begs the question: how “good” is this game? To clarify, this is how I measure the “success” of a game.

• wide critical success
• commercial success
• awards presence in nominations and/or wins
• critical discussion after release and for how long (is it good? bad? fair?)
• clear influence(s) on other games
• (to a small degree) general player reactions

When you look at Demon Souls it hasn’t done a lot to surpass other games, let alone the leading RPG’s in these categories. Also, from what we know of the games that are coming out in the next year or two there is no discussion of that game design being used — in any way — in any other games. That say’s something about a game that has yet to score higher than its previous game. Metacritic is only a sliver of what I look at but it’s score vs. Demon Souls‘ score is indicative of that games’ reaction. It is really, really good but there is something about it that doesn’t quite work.

CHUY: Yeah…but Oblivion was clearly influenced by other rpg games, right? Does that make the others better games? What other RPGs have betesthda games influenced? Wouldn’t its influence be seen throughout games which play and feel similar like Oblivion? Bioware says light weight, “fuck it.” Shit…what other RPG developers are there to influence and or compare?

How do you measure influence?

In that case, one could argue that the best game ever is clearly Doom. Shit, that made gaming since it [made] the fps, no?

DAMON: Which RPG’s influenced Oblivion? Uh, perhaps Elder Scrolls 1 through 3… You tell me if there are any others and then we can have a discussion about them but until them you’re just speculating and arguing over one bullet point that I never professed to be more important than the others.

About those games influenced by EC: O…

How about the Two Worlds series? That isn’t influenced by Oblivion? Witcher? Fallout 1 and 2 looked nothing like Fallout 3. I remember reading a review of Hunted: The Demon Forge that described it as a game that would hold Oblivion fans over until Skyrim. I thought both Deus Ex and Dragon Age had a little Oblivion in it. You don’t think Obsidian Studios was hired to make New Vegas for their ability to use elements of that design in Alpha Protocol? And, one of those Lord of the Rings games had an Oblivion-like design.

The most famous RPG series before Oblivion on consoles were Biowares’ shit and Final Fantasy. When Oblivion came out in — what, 2007 — it was a wrap! Now, if you want to make a hit RPG you have to go with a Bioware or a Bethesda design (why do you think people aren’t feeling Fable anymore?). Hell, even hack & slash RPG’s (which is what the Souls series are) have not adopted that design since 2009. Torchlight? Diablo? Nope.

CHUY: Notice that Alpha Protocol ate cock. Two Worlds ate cock and a half. New Vegas compared to Fall Out: cock. In other words, all that “influence” didn’t achieve the “metacritic” score of Dark. That “influence” didn’t translate to what, according to you, makes a good game: sales, acclaim, etc. Influence, in all the examples you’ve given, matter to what degree? Well, you know. Money. Same shit. Cookie cutter. Wash and repeat. That’s what’s plaguing the industry. You said it best: if you don’t adapt, you lost. In other words, shit starts becoming predictable, feeling the same, and looking the same. Fuck, it’s the equivalent to top 40 music, all sounding the same/looking the same to make a hit.

Therein lies the beauty of Dark. It discards everything. That is what’s so refreshing. It treats the player as though he has the capacity to be independent and think for himself. It trusts that the player is smart enough to figure the puzzle out. It feels revolutionary, a breath of much needed fresh air. Like others have said, it’s the blue pill that really allows you to see where games can be and where games currently are.

It’s a fucking rush. Shit, call it a high. No other “crack” provides that. Once you try that other stuff….man….you wish there was more of it somehow.

I like this article since it talks about design and the pressures of Metacritic.

I can’t wait until you step into the dark, boaiii. Im going to invade your bitch-ass and make you run to that pop shit.

DAMON: Sigh… I’ll call this: “Dark Souls isn’t Broken, John. It Just Doesn’t Quite Work”

Plundering the internet for articles that agree with you do not make you or them right. And, it’s counter-productive. One: write your own articles and opinions. And, two: find someone that disagrees so you can understand what’s wrong with the design and your argument. The problem with this article is right below the title, fam: “Opinion: John Dean thinks…”

The fuck is John Dean!?

If you were really paying attention you would have noticed the comments below that terribly predictable article (“Dark Souls is great!” No shit. Now, tell me why it doesn’t quite work. I’ve been reading these type of articles since 2009). Peep. People read through an article PRAISING Dark Souls but actually bothered to leave comments expressing PROBLEMS with it. That should tell you something about the game design. Opinions are split almost right down the middle.

The Souls games moved you…

Here, I’ll put it this way.

In 2007 Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction came out. I loved that game! It came at just the right time for me. I was tired of violent, overly brown, end of the world games that took themselves too serious. Ratchet was fun, funny, colorful and deep in its gameplay. It was the best game of 2007 — for me. The ACTUAL best game that year was easily Bioshock, one of the best games not only this generations but arguably… EVER.

I knew that then. I know that now. I’m not so enamored w/ Ratchet that I don’t see which game achieves its goal better than another game. You can have your best game, but that doesn’t make it the best game, nes pa?

Last, whether the copycats were critical and commercial successes is irrelevant. For some companies they’re cash-ins. How do we make money? Lets copy a design that works. Demon Souls? No, Oblivion. You see where I’m going? There are some bad military shooters out there but nearly every studio has to have one. Why? Because Call of Duty 4 shit on everyone. It was a game changer. Demon Souls was not. Dark Souls? We’ll see.

Also, you neglected to mention anything about Fallout 3. Or, that New Vegas wasn’t [as] good clearly because Bethesda didn’t do it (Obsidian is known for making buggy games). Or, Deus Ex. Or, Dragon Age…

Marinate on [these comments], homie:

“Making a game stupidly difficult doesnt mean it deserves to get good marks . Just because you think that current games “hand hold” doesn’t mean you are correct. From what ive seen, it looks “ok” graphics arnt spetacular, the controls are clunky and you are left in the dark for most of the game. The voice acting looks poor, the facial animations looks poor. the narrative doesnt carry the game well.”

“….Can someone explain how a game like this is fun? I get that it’s uncompromising, challenging blah blah blah but where’s the fun in dying over and over again?”

“This pretty much sums up how i feel about competitive online multiplayer gaming.”

“Totaly agree with you, it’s a great game, just as Demon souls was, its 80s gaming updated for this generation…this will keep me going for weeks, I’m not a great games player but i find this game a great challenge and very rewarding, it’s all down to patience and learning. The only problem i have with this game is trying to find time to fit in Skyrim as well.”

Letters from Tuscon, AZ – Part 1

For those who haven’t had enough of Arizona after the recent incident with President Obama and the Governor of our 16th most populated state, here is letter from Tuscon High School teacher, Curtis Acosta detailing the fallout of the Tuscon Unified School District’s declaration that their Ethnic Studies program is illegal.

Another dark day in Tucson education history for my students and myself. Despite claims by our Deputy Superintendent that MAS teachers willl be given time and the resources needed to completely rewrite our curriculum, the reality is totally different. Here is the link to the Deputy Superintendent’s interview.

http://ondemand.azpm.org/videoshorts/watch/2012/1/24/1830-mexican-american-studies-books-in-storage/

As the weeks move forward the district and site administrators are becoming far more dismissive to our plight and the antagonism is clearly taking root toward our questions and concerns for our students. We are a mere inconvience to the business of running the district. But what is curious is the question of who are they running the district for if it’s not our students? Take my experiences today for example.

I asked my local site administrator for a reasonable amount of time to prepare for the semester, including time to read novels that I may have not read in fifteen years, or in some cases, ever. It takes time to develop an authentic unit with a novel, and it takes time to read a novel. Not to mention, we are being asked to create a brand new syllabus or curriculum map to prove our compliance to the new policy and law. My request for the days I needed to accomplish these tasks were rebuffed immediately. I even suggested that I spread the days throughout the semester, or be granted comp time during the weekends, so it would be a less disruptive to my students. However, I was told from my site administrator that I would get only three days to familiarize myself with the textbooks and create my new units. I reiterated that this meant that I would not be able to teach any novels this semester to my juniors and seniors, and the administrator shrugged as if this was not his problem, and told me that the time given was adequate.

What this will mean is that my students will go from a college preparatory curriculum to one that is remedial at best. My desire was to work within this horrible climate and shameful situation in way that did not damage the students any further and was confident that I could create this. It is painfully obvious that the district does not care about the quality of education that our students receive regardless of their press releases and interviews. Can you imagine such attitudes and low expectations being shared with the AP teacher at our school, the students, or their parents? Can you imagine them being satisfied with internet lesson plans and textbooks instead of novels? Can you imagine the AP teacher being rebuffed after begging for a few more days to prepare a new curriculum for his students, after ten years of lesson plans, units, and curriculum were scrapped? At the grassroots level, we know better. We know that the elitist, dismissive attitudes of these administrators are nothing new, and that communities of color have had to endure such indignities for generations. There is a serious lack of honor and respect being displayed by these actions.

Things are becoming toxic with administrators in our district and the working environment is becoming increasingly hostile. I would not be surprised if one of my colleagues is dismissed within the next few weeks. Already there are district supervisors monitoring our classrooms for violations, including a 45 minute visit to one of my colleagues today. What is even more frustrating is how many of our questions have been ignored or dismissed that would help specify how we can protect ourselves from termination while we continue to help our students prepare for college. I know that this will only increase as the days unfold and the normalcy sets in that Mexican American Studies and heritage are banned. That is why it is so important to have the support of our friends throughout the nation. We are humbled and honored to have so many people care enough about our students and our plight. Thank you to all who have been working on the February 1st MAS solidarity action, No History is Illegal. Without all of these efforts and attention then we would soon be a memory. Thank you for keeping us alive in your minds, hearts, and actions.

In Lak Ech (Tu eres mi otro yo / you are my other me),

Curtis