Kindergarten teacher Marisa Martinez was tired of political promises, unfulfilled vows to restore California classrooms to their former glory. She despaired as she saw her beloved art and music disappear from the schools as money dried up, leaving teachers scrambling for pencils and paper. To Martinez, 41, paintbrushes and pianos weren’t luxuries; they were necessities.
A professional musician as well as an educator at San Francisco’s El Dorado Elementary School, she decided to take things into her own hands. With her own money, she created a CD of songs she sings to her predominantly low-income students, tunes with a bluegrass, folksy feel that address the basics of life and literacy with humor and joy. It’s called “Chicken & ABC’s.” The project was both a labor of love and an artistic uprising against broken political promises from a frustrated and funny teacher who signs her e-mails, “With Love, chickens, Chihuahuas, children and Peace.”