About RaymondArthur

(This is a work in progress)

My parents were poor Mexicans. Beans, rice, tortillas, and salsa is what they grew up on

That they had food everyday was a testament to my grandparents. When I was little, my parents weren’t poor anymore, but we ate like it. Supplementing the above diet was eggs every morning, chicken/pork/or beef with dinner, and powered milk

No bueno

I think the shift in diet to something more middle-class occurred when in 6 years my mother earned her GED, AA, BA, and MA (spanning 4th-10th grade for me)

Dad already had an MA long before I was born 😀

They raised me to say prayers every night and that God is always watching me 🙂 although we never really went to
Church 😀

They supported me through most of my endeavors growing up, and tolerated others 😀

I’ve enjoyed a handful of intimate relationships with women that all ended amicably. I’m a committed bachelor :)!

Who am I now? I see myself as just a guy. Really, I do. Ok, I understand I’m not your average normal guy, whatever average and normal means 🙂 Who am I right now? Someone who’s a vintage of 50 but has been marinating at a vintage of 13-16 for forever it seems 😀 What do I mean by that? I’m idealistic, I’m a dreamer, I’m a romantic. I often see the world through Rose-colored glasses, sometimes to my detriment 🙂 but I will never stop being shamelessly optimist about our ability to love and care for each other 😀

It’s not about me, it’s not about you. It’s about us

I also believe that all the world’s problems would be solved by me if I were King 🙂 Confidence is a characteristic I am never without

World Domination! 😀

Before my thoughts of ruling the world there was, is another me. Your average California public university educated teacher. A round peg trying to fit into a square hole 🙂 A hole I am quite familiar with as I had spent the previous 20 years in classrooms before standing in the front of one 🙂

I think that qualifies as a life sentence in legal circles 😀 Some of my friends used to call me a professional student. I would like to think that I still approach life as a student, looking for lessons to be learned and always having a student’s perspective, stepping outside myself as much as possible to critique, evaluate, and modify the things that I say and do to give myself the greatest opportunity to be an affective and effective educator

Many things have happened in those 50 years that have helped make me me

In no particular order of importance:

… well, there is so much to say, but really it can be summed up simply.
I’ve been few places, traveled to and through most of the USA. I’ve done a few things, mostly with others in area education and the performing arts; and have experienced my fair share of stuff, stuff everyone should experience and stuff no one should experience

I wake up everyday with the thought and plan to make things a little better for the people I’m with each day, and hope everybody else has the same idea. I don’t try to be inspiring but in the end I do hope to lift the spirits of others. Life can be rough. Whatever life brings you, know that life will go on. Enjoy it as best you can.

Deep thoughts are never far with me. Here is one of my latest favorites:
In seeking patience and trust, one has to listen to not only the words spoken to us, but in space between the words. Just like music, the space between the notes are just as important as the notes. Listen to the voice that speaks in silence; for it is in the silence that our soul sees what is true

Amen