Circle 8: Malebolge

I don't know how it happens, but poof!  Time goes by and I forget to write.

I didn't watch the Oscars.  In fact, I am fairly sure I have not heard of 99% of the films up for awards.  I did, however, check in on some fashion this morning.  And, the greatest dressed award goes to Sir Elton John's son, Zachary.  He was entirely too cute.

I have been away because I am immersed in teaching Dante's Inferno to High School Seniors.  I have taught this text a batrillion times (well, give or take), but it is so different teaching it to teenagers.

Part of the appeal of the Inferno is where we see ourselves in it; Dante wrote it for that same reason.  For adults and graduate students, my previous audience, they had a great deal of life experience to help them sort out their ideas.  High School students get stuck in Circle 2 and can't manage to get past it.

As we approach Spring Break, projects and exams are coming due, and it is even more obvious to me that  the students struggle with not just the language but the idea that any action we take is unsavory.  Was I like that as a teenager?

Probably.  It is the beauty of youth.

Anyway, I saw that my favorite actor (Gerard Butler) has done a three week camp with the Betty Ford Clinic.  That is probably the place where famous people go where they can be left alone.  If I were famous, I would totally vacation there to get away from the media.  In any case, I hope he is well and has sorted out whatever issues he went there to sort.  I hope he read tons, as that is the best medicine for almost any ailment.

Off to teach the Malebolge!

The Corpse Walker

Reading about life during the Mao years of China is fascinating.  It truly wasn't that long ago.

I am always interested in learning about other cultures, and, for whatever reason, I am fascinated with certain cultures and time periods.

My MA thesis advisor was Chinese (and probably still is, actually), and his knowledge of American literature and English grammar/mechanics was far superior to anyone I had ever met.  I learned so much from him in the year I spent under his wing.

About two years ago, we hosted two Chinese boys for three weeks.  My sons idolized them, and it was truly a great cultural exchange.  The little I knew about China was derived from the all-you-can eat Chinese Buffet in my hometown of Bethlehem, PA.  But, these two boys lit an interest to learn more about the culture.  We learned about what they really eat (although, it must be said, all boys love cereal and LOTS and LOTS of it!).  We learned about what schools were like, and why they wanted to study in the US.

In exchange for their culture, we took them on their first hike (OMG, that was a disaster, but a totally funny story now), and we took them to their first St. Patrick's Day Parade and Wake (Chinese boys doing a jig is much to remember).

Their stay with us has prompted me to learn more about the history and culture of China.  I read Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China by Kang Zhengguo, and I am now reading Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up by Liao Yiwu.  Both texts are brutally honest and amazing.

What both texts share an incredible sense of resilience.  How can I possibly complain about Google Chrome's laggishness when people became cannibals during the 3 year famine?  Villagers ate little girls, for Pete's sake. People stole children from other villages to EAT THEM.  You can't even complain about eating leftovers when you learn that this happened less than 100 years ago!!!!

So, this is what I learned...complain less.  You could have it a LOT worse.

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The Truth About Community Colleges: A National Treasure

First, a confession.

I am a product of a community college.

Second, another confession...

I am proud to be a product of a community college.

Back in the day (more than 20 years ago), I was sitting in summer school because I failed 10th grade English by 1 point.  I was missing a swim meet.  I was filling out stupid worksheets.  I was bored off my rocker.

My 10th grade teacher, a woman I despised at the time, flunked me because I was "lazy, unmotivated, and refused to work to my potential" (I am reading the report card right as I type this).

As I sat in that classroom and looked around, I remember thinking that I didn't belong there.  I read all of the time; my vocabulary, thanks to my parents, was fairly robust.  I had read all the books I was supposed to read, but I was too stubborn, or thought I was too cool, to fill out the worksheets.

The summer school teacher, whose name has long since escaped me, asked if I really wanted to spend my life working at gas station because I was too lazy to do my homework.

That summer changed me.

You never admit this when you are a kid, but OMG...I didn't want to end up in some boring dead-end job.  I wanted to go to college.  I want to be noticed for how smart I was and not for how cool I thought I was (and, truly, I wasn't even very cool).

To make a long story very short: I got my act together.

In the summer between my junior and senior year, I went to summer school again - by choice.  I went to the local community college and took all the math courses I needed to catch up so I could take Calculus and Trig 1 and 2 during my senior year.

During that summer experience, a bunch of returning adult students were in my classes.  They were all going for nursing.  They pulled me along with them by the scruff of my neck and kept telling me that I had it good; my parents could help me.  They waited too long and it was harder because they had jobs and families.

We studied together in the learning center, the cafeteria, the lounges.  We held study groups at each other's houses on the weekends.  I don't remember any of their names or faces now, but I sure do owe them a lot.  They helped me be a better student and a better person.

My parents weren't prepared for me to go to college. I had never shown any interest, academically or otherwise, in going.  As a middle income family, there wasn't money to pay the big bucks of college.  As a student with a spotty academic (not to mention naughty behavior) past, my options were slim.  My mother wasn't convinced that I had converted to the good side, either, and she was a little hesitant to toss all kinds of money at a whim.  My father told me that I had one semester to prove myself if I wanted their continued help.

Much to everyone's relief, I made honor roll that first semester, the second semester, and all the way through graduate school. A community college changed my life and gave me a fresh start to become the person I am today.

As state governments choose to cut this program and that program, I hope they will consider the invaluable services provided by a community college.  Trade programs, transfer programs, and community programming are just a little bit of the amazing services these schools provide.

As costs rise, and students shoulder more of these costs, there needs to be a place where students can go that fits within their budgets and offers flexibility to work around work schedules.  These schools need the best equipment, and a commitment to continued support for technology and diversity.

Please do all you can to support your local community college and its efforts to retain state and local funding.  Even if you have never stepped foot in one, I promise that you will meet a community college graduate.  He will be taking your X-Ray after you slip on the golf course or taking notes during your meeting with your lawyer.  She might be preparing your taxes or fixing your computer.  He might be building your cabinets, or she might be helping you solve an insurance problem.  He might be teaching your child or saving your life in an ambulance.

Community colleges matter.

The Popularity of Hell: A Case for Video Games in Education

 I have no idea why Dante's Inferno is so appealing to students.  But, of all the great texts I teach, this is the one where kids will sit up and pay attention.

The EA video game, Dante's Inferno, is surprisingly good and has a lot of accuracy.  Only a few students have played it, but they were able to answer a lot of questions about the text because they had played the game.

The idea that games can add to education is not new, but there are still plenty of folk who nay say.  If Dante can be a small example, the kids that do the worst seemed to know the most because they had played the game.

I truly wish they would come out with a Facebook game called "The Canterbury Tales."  If they are slightly more daring, they might do a whole Shakespeare series.

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Preparing for Hell

The students in both English 12 and College Credit English started the Dante unit today.  By far, this is one the coolest texts to teach.  Students seem to get into it in a way they don't for Chaucer or Shakespeare.

Students love to talk about the nature of sin, and seem to have more questions about their own beliefs as the unit progresses.  As a teacher, it is always rewarding to watch students carefully consider their own belief systems.  Students have often written to me years after the course to tell me how much they valued and remembered the unit.  This is a true Kudo to Dante, himself, though, as this text is THAT engaging and timeless.

The first step on our journey through the unknown is to evaluate what we already believe about all issues concerning sin, heaven, hell, etc.  The students fill out a survey with the following 10 questions:

1. Do you believe in the concept of sin?  If so, define "sin."  If not, why not?

2.  Do you believe in God or a "higher power"?  Why or why not?

3.  If you believe in the concept of sin, are there some sins that are worse than others?

4.  If you believe in the concept of sin, are there some sins that can not be forgiven?

5.  Why do bad things happen to good people?

6.  Do you believe in ghosts/spirits?  Why or why not?

7.  What happens to the soul after the physical body dies?

8.  Do you believe in Heaven and/or Hell?  Why or why not?

9.  What happens to a soul of a person that has committed suicide?

10.  Do we judge people by their occupations (judge, lawyer, actress, etc.)?


The responses to these questions are always fascinating.  In the 17 years I have been teaching (mostly at the college level), the responses are never consistent.  On average, there are 2 students per class that are atheist or agnostic.  On average, there are about 2 students that are born-again Christians.  The rest fall somewhere in between.

What impressed me most today, though, was that one group of students actively sought out our campus chaplain to discuss the issues.  They wanted to know his take.  It was totally learning in motion.  They went and tracked him down, brought him in, and listened.  It was kind of cool.

So, what I learned today....students do care about these sorts of issues, but they don't have many places where they can actually talk about them.  Some of them are looking for answers; others are still forming questions.

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Celebrity Status: What Teens Think

Students are returning from mid-winter break, and dinner was very lively.  The students in the play (we are doing a HS rendition of the musical Grease) were sitting around chatting about the Grammys, and I told them about the recent activity on this blog concerning the actor Gerard Butler.  Some of them also have me for English, so they saw his performance of "Beowulf and Grendel."  The gaming students (who are mostly in theatre, too) saw him in 300 and in Law Abiding Citizen.

We talked about the nature of fame.  Our school has an elite basketball team, for example.  Currently, we are ranked #1 in the country for HS Boys' Basketball.  These players are awesome, and most of them are headed to big schools to play college ball and then, if history repeats itself, some of them will head off to the NBA.

So, the students said there is a difference between famous actors, famous musicians, and famous athletes.  Fame treats them differently, they report.

They felt that actors are held to a super human status because they are judged by the roles they portray.  One student reasoned that she would expect Butler, for example, to be a "just" man because he was just in all three movies she saw him act in (B&G, 300, and LAC).  So, because he picks roles that have good (but somewhat tortured) men in them, he must identify with that kind of man.  She said the proof is in his current three films.  In Machine Gun Preacher, he plays a man on the edge that is doing good; in Coriolanus, he plays a tortured man trying to do good; in Of Mavericks and Men he is a tortured man trying to be the best at his sport.  They felt that he plays extreme roles, and he has extreme relationships, because he is an extreme guy.  I asked what proof they had about his relationships, and they agreed that they had no proof of that aspect of him because the media is not reliable.  They did find it interesting that he had weights brought to him while he was working on movies.  Working with two trainers at 6 hours a day is intense, so they felt that was proof, too, of an extreme and dedicated personality.

I am not sure if he is an extreme person or not, and, sadly, I won't ever get a chance to ask him, but their ideas about him were very mature and considered.  As one kid said, "BRG, you are what you eat.  If you eat roles that are beyond human, people see you as beyond human."

For athletes, they aren't tied to portraying others; they are playing a game.  Their fame comes from how they do on the court or field.  People like to talk about their personal lives, but not as much as they do for actors and singers.  I guess that might be true.  I don't know anything personal about any of the Philadelphia Flyers.  None of the guys I have ever watched Hockey with in college knew a thing about who these guys were shacking up with at the end of the night.  No one cares what they wear to the store.

For musicians, there is a mixed bag.  They definitely felt that rappers have a higher visibility than other musical artists.  People care more about what Rihanna is doing than Taylor Swift, for example.  They see rappers as having more of a jet set life.  Some of them believed that rappers live like they are on a reality TV show and want the attention in ways that other actors, like Butler, avoid.

They sure had a lot to say about fame.  They felt that fame, and the dwindling of fame, was the true downfall of Whitney Houston.  Because she could no longer sing like she once could, and she couldn't be that glamour girl of the 80s and 90s, she felt she had nothing to live for anymore.  They believed that actors and musicians feel this pain more than athletes because athletes know their shelf life is short on the court and field.  They go into it knowing they will only have a few years to shine.

So, these are thoughts of modern teenagers sitting around a table at dinner in a small corner of the world.  I wonder if others agree?

No Takers: Do Teachers Really Collaborate?

As expected, my LiveBinder challenge went untouched.  Well, except for my good friend, Jean-Claude Bradley at Drexel.  He teaches orgo chem, though, so it isn't likely that we could find a connection between his work and Dante.

There is this idea that has been baking itself into the hollow points of my skull and, dare I say it, it is a little snarky.  Do educators really collaborate?  Is technology for the teacher or the student?

OK.  Those are two ideas, and they aren't inherently connected, but it strikes me that educators don't really collaborate that much and technology, like knowledge, is still stuck in the hands of the teachers while the students have the awesome opportunity to, um, watch.

My PLN is always a buzz with opportunities to collaborate.  Educators are often asking for us to comment on the blogs, VoiceThreads, Wikis, or whatevers of their students.  If I have time, I always try to drop in and read a bit and leave comments.  Students get sooooooo excited when other people read their stuff.

When I taught at the college level, I tried to find every opportunity possible to partner up with other teachers in other academic disciplines (especially science and technology).  Most community college students are not going to major in English; they are headed out to a working world where MLA means squat.  By the time I left to purse the whole Ghandi mission thing, my students had writing partnerships with Drexel & Dusquene,  work related partnerships with 3 area businesses, and service learning events with the local county home and hospital.  Students wrote a play using interviews they conducted and shaped into monologues; they put together Veteran's Day tributes; and they honored immigrants. They built Edgar Allan Poe's House of Usher and 14 other literature simulations in Second Life.  They were constantly challenged to work collaboratively.

Technology makes our classrooms limitless, and, yet, it seems we are more limited.  Teachers (obviously not all teachers...but too many) are so engaged in technology that students are left watching.  Nothing sucks more than having to watch someone else pay a video game.  Get me in there...pass the Wii controller...hook up the other joy stick.

So, why do teachers preach collaboration but side step actually doing it?

Well, for starters, collaboration takes a boat load of time.  There is no one on this planet that hates meetings more than I do; as a person of action, I would rather you just send me the memo with your expectations and let me get to work.  I am not all about caring and sharing and talking about feelings.  Eh.  It isn't that I don't care about them; it is just that I am a solutions driven person.  If your feelings are attached to a solution, yay!  If not, complain elsewhere; you are impeding progress.

Collaborators need to meet a lot, and they need to stay on track.  There can't be a parade of ego prancing around.  Set up a game plan, execute said game plan, assess said game plan, make adjustments to said game plan, make game plan better.  Win the game.  There is no room for ego.

The second problem is also ego driven.  Teachers are natural rock stars.  We love to talk, and show off, and be amazing with our gadgets and cool toys.  Well, that is all fine and dandy, but, um, the kids watching you are not as impressed as you think.  Community College students are great because they are often a little older and want to be there; they are in the midst of changing their lives to something better.  But, high school students are a captive audience, and you are not as cool as you think.  What impresses kids, in the few short years I have worked with them, is when THEY get to hold the controller. No one wants to watch me make a Prezi.  But, the students LOVE making Prezis.  No one wants to to watch me hand code a first person shooter game.  But, they LOVE programming their own games.  I don't need to be the star on the stage; they can be the stars.  This is their chance to learn something new, retain it, and carry on a love for literature, programming, or whatever I am teaching (Ecology?).

The final problem is one that we have had for years and years in education.  Teachers are competitive.  We need to feel better about ourselves by hoarding our good practices.  In some cases, we hide our stuff because we fear retribution from our peers.  I've been there.  Nothing is more daunting than being a trailblazer in a kingdom of dinosaurs...even if some of those dinosaurs are your age.  But, some people just hide their good stuff because they are afraid someone will copy it.

Education, and knowledge itself, should be free, open, and accessible to everyone.  We only want people to collaborative on OUR projects; we want to be the ones that get the glory.  Bah.  Who needs glory?  Teaching is an art form, and artists are inspired by other artists.  If there were no museums or galleries, those artists would be screwed.  The same is true of teachers.  We need to see good teaching to be better as a whole.

Am I surprised that no one from my PLN added to the Dante project?  Not really.  I picked a hard topic.  On purpose.  Will I add to someone's binder?  Sure; if I have time and resources that are helpful.  Will I continue to post comments on other teacher's student blogs and wikis?  Absolutely.

Teaching and learning is about students.  Education will improve when we can honestly check our egos at the door.  Technology will be meaningful when we allow students to take the reigns.  We need to give them opportunities to shine.

Change begins with shutting up and taking action; like the words of the band, Cracker, "Get off this; get on with it; if you want to change the world, shut your mouth and start to spin it."

Surviving the #Grammys

I don't think I have ever watched any award show for movies, TV, Music or anything like that.  I've watched performers on these shows, but only because someone called me to the room.

I broke with tradition because one of my favorite bands, Mumford and Sons, was up for an award or two against another band I like - the Foo Fighters. Plus, Foster the People were playing as was Adele.  So, I thought I could make it through.

Nope.

Before you start thinking I am an awful brand of hater, stop.  Hear me out.

How can anyone possibly compare the music of Mumford and Sons to the Foo Fighters???  They are both amazing.  The band members seem like real dudes.  I loved the speech from the Foo Fighters about where art and music come from (the heart and mind) and not a fancy studio.  They made their music in the garage - old school.  So, I am glad they were awarded, but I also wanted to give an award to Mumford and Sons, too, because they are also amazing, homespun, and awesome.

How can we compare Adele to anyone?  She is just amazing.

The new brand of musicians is not at all about glitz and glam.  They seem all down to earth and into the craft of music.  Now, that probably doesn't apply to folks like Rhianna, whom I also like to sing along to in the school van with the students, but my kind of music - rock, hard rock, metal...they don't seem to be about the show and tell of it all.

Really, all of them are amazing.  How can you give an award to one person when they are all simply divine?  So, that leads me to believe that the winners are somehow politically selected.  Even in grade schools, winners are always a political decision.  I hate that.  My kids have won awards, and I always feel sorry for the kids that don't win.  Of course, my boys are brilliant and should win every award, but every parent feels that way...so I feel bad for the other parents.

I do, however, like to see the dresses.  For as much as a non-frufru person as i am, I do think getting decked out for an event like the Grammys is OK.  Sorry, guys, but y'all look the same...a tux is a tux.  My vote for the boys goes to the Foo Fighters because they wore tee shirts.  But, I do like to see the girls all dressed up.  I would only ever want to go to the awards so I could get all sorts of gussied up, too.  But, seeing as there are no pending invitations on my dance card, I will have to live vicariously through the celebrities.

Rhianna, by far, was the most beautiful.  I loved her dress, and I loved that her hair wasn't all pasted into a geometric design.  Since I have big curly hair, I love all women with big curly hair, and so, I loved the look of Diana Ross.

Nicki Manaj looked like crap in that red dress.  Sorry, honey, only Lady Gaga can get away with something like that.  I expected more from Gaga, though.  Since she did meat, she should have done fish or chicken or maybe brussels sprouts.  I think she is a brilliant woman - a 21st century Madonna - and I do love to see what kind of outfit she has going on.  But, Nicki?  Nah.

Adele is simply gorgeous.  She wore exactly what I expected.  I love how she is all about the music.


Taylor Swift looked simply gorgeous, as well.  I loved the color of her gown, and her look was simply elegant.

I loved Cyndi Lauper's look.  It was totally a throw back to the 80s, and it was amazing for her.  She looks fantastic.  Well, ok, the big ole gold chain at her hip was little much, but I liked the hair and the bodice.

Robyn looked stupid.  I don't even know who she is, actually, but, hell, I could have put together something better than that, and I think flannel is the new satin.  You are at the GRAMMYS for pete's sake...wear something other than what you wore to bed last night.

Kelly Osborne looked stunning.  I even liked her hair colour.  I am not a fan of ink, and I always think people place ink in the dumbest places.  If anything was wrong with her look, it is that her tattoos are in dumb places.

So, I think that was everyone I saw in the pre-game line up.  There were a bunch of people I never heard of before, and most of them looked fantabulous.  One or two looked like they were trying too hard.

So my thoughts are that when they have the awards for "Best Classical Literature put into Screen Play Format" and I win for my Dante's Inferno rendition, I will probably wear something mauve.

A Live Binder Experiment: The Dante Binder Project

LiveBinder is one of the best research tools in the web 2.0 world.  I have created binders for presentations, and I actively check out binders created by others.  I have always felt, though, that more could be done with the tool.

So.

It is Sunday morning here in Mouth of Wilson.  It is a balmy 10 degrees outside. The back door broke in the wind last night, so the house is like an iceberg.  Ah, THAT is what the deadbolt was for....

Minnie the cat is trying to eat the fish; Bad Kitty is trying to drink my coffee, and Dexter is chasing his little stuffed gator.  The turtle is eating ham.  The dog is outside peeing on the truck.  Mustache man is under the weather (too much butter??), and Sharpie Boy is watching video game bosses via the Angry Video Game Nerd.  The Boss is watching reruns of World's Dumbest (Don't even get me started on what I think about that show!)

Since things are pretty peaceful, and we have time before getting ready for Sunday School, I thought I would kick off a little Sunday project and see what happens.

Dante's Inferno

When the student return from their long weekend, we will kick off our Dante unit.  They seem to love talking about Hell.  Some of them think they live in it, actually.  But, nonetheless, we will devote ourselves to the study of Dante's version of it.

I've taught this content at the college level and have scaled it down to the high school level, and there are some pretty great activities that have surfaced over the years.  But, I am always looking for better ways to share this amazing work.

So.

I created a Live Binder called "The Dante Binder Project" and included just the basics of what I use to teach the unit.  I posted it on Twitter with an invite for others to add content, and I will see if anyone does that between now and 11:00 PM tonight.

LiveBinder seems to be a tool that calls for collaboration.  We will see :-)

300 Reasons

So, Mustache Man (that's my son) and I watched 300.  My other son, Sharpie Boy, didn't make it through the opening credits before running off to draw.

Eh.

The actors were brilliant, and I actually liked the effects (as a gamer, it is all about the visuals and the game play).  But, I just couldn't get into the story line.  It probably would have been awesome to have seen it in the theatre with surround sound, as watching it on my macbook pro isn't the same experience.  Also, having to answer 4000 questions every 32 seconds so Mustache Man could follow along wasn't helping (he is 10).  We liked some of the creatures, and, of course, "this is Sparta" is now a catch phrase around the house...(as in "Pick up your toys!  Off to bed!  This is Sparta!"  That will get some good use (just like that guy that shot his daughter's laptop...."This is your laptop; this is my 45" is a great phrase to get my kids to eat dinner).

After watching the movie, I went to a mate's house to play Risk in celebration of another mate's birthday.  There are at least 300 reasons why I can not and should not conquer the world.  I suck at it is probably the best reason.

Living in the middle of nowhere at a boarding school limits other Saturday night entertainment, but we had fun.

I have watched a few of the links people sent to me about Gerard, and, eh, they were OK.  I liked him on the Ferguson show and on the British talk show.  I also liked his clip on SNL.  Having played bagpipes for years all over the east coast at Scottish games, I have no problem with accents.  But, the SNL skit was funny, as it reminded me of friends I have not seen or talked to in years.

The last site I looked at was just atrocious.  It was about that desperate housewives chic.  First of all, don't even get me started on the desperate housewives.  They are all, um, desperate?  Second, the comments section of the page was just dumb.  It is amazing to me how people think they know someone based off anything our media scrapes up.  Do I really care if Gerry is a man whore???  Do little children in Africa care that Gerry's trailer door is busy? Really?  This is what we most care about as a society????

So, that is where I stopped.  I tried.  I really tried, for a day, to be a super fan.  Sorry, Gerry, it isn't in me.  I leave you to all the other women of the world that can pay that much attention to your every move.

RIP Whitney Houston

News has it that Whitney Houston has passed away.  For those of us that grew up in the 80s, her "I will Always Love You" was THE song at every dance.

Rest in Peace, Whitney.  I am sorry this life couldn't give you all you needed.

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis. Dómine; 

et lux perpétua lúceat eis. Requiéscant in pace. 

Amen.

May the souls of the faithful,

through the mercy of God,

rest in peace

and rise in glory.

May light, perpetual, 

shine upon Whitney,

now and forever. 

Amen.

Weekly Wrap: Gerard Butler, Unsubscribr, Naked Men, and Feral Cows

So, it is time for a weekly wrap of the precious and witty stylings of this bog.  Included are some updates and/or reflections.

We'll start with Gerald Butler because, if traffic is any indication, you've come to see what I've written about him.  If you are a techie person or a teacher, scroll down a bit to the information about Unsubscribr, Build Chatter, and Pinterest. I will leave the naked men and feral cows to the very end :-)

I am a little blown away by how many people wrote to me about Gerard Butler.  Most people were very kind (seeing as I was little snarky about fan clubs), pointing me to this movie or that interview.  These ladies know their Gerry!

Someone emailed me to tell me I had fallen prey to something called "The Butler Legacy." This is, evidently, something that happens to smart women that adore Gerry for his spirit and brain and not his looks.

Well, I am not sure that I can lay claim to the BL, but I do want to say that, while he is handsome, smart, and funny, he isn't the only actor I enjoy.  I am absolutely in love with the work of Brendan O'Carroll,  Sean Connery, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Gary Sinise, Helen Hunt, and Tom Hanks.  I enjoy all of their work for different reasons.  I've not written blog posts about them because I didn't have a blog at the time I discovered them (although I will probably write a post about the amazing work Gary Sinise does with veterans).

Only one person emailed me in anger.  Truly, I meant no disrespect toward people in fan clubs (truly).  It isn't my thing, but I don't think less of you if it is your thing.  Yes, it seems odd to devote so much energy to an actor when there are people out there that deserve our undivided devotion because they are trying to change the world by working with the poor and discarded (the work of Vickie and Thom Hicks, for example).  Yes, it seems a little OCD to focus on every word and movement of any man or woman.  But, everyone has a hobby, and mine aren't any better or worse. If adoring Gerry is your thing, havatit.

It can't be easy to be that cute.  I would never trade places with Gerry for anything (well, except that I would have so much fun trying to save the world with his bank account; imagine all the poor children that we could get vaccinated?  Imagine the rice we could buy? Imagine the schools we could build???).

It would be fun to be his official biographer, too, because you could hang out with him, he would tell great stories and make you laugh, but then he would go away to be with his famous friends.  It would be the best job in the world.  I am certain he has people for that; it appears that he has people for everything.  I wonder if he feels all alone despite the crowd.  There is such freedom in not being famous, wealthy, or good looking.

I did find out, though, that the name of the book he spoke about on the Stern show is called Resurrection by Neville Goddard.  I ordered a copy from Amazon this morning.  It would be fun to talk to anyone about it if you have read it.  I just received the book about Jnana Yoga that I spoke about earlier this week.  I am excited to hit the hot tub to start reading.

TECHIE PEOPLE AND TEACHERS START HERE

Many, many thanks to the people at Unsubscribr for sending me an invite to their full version.  I really love love love love this tool.  I was a member of way too many mailing lists, and they were just pulling me down because I couldn't get to student or parent emails or to any of the BRG fan club (ha).  My digital life has become so much more manageable because of Unsubscribr.  If you have not clicked on their link, you ought to hang your head in shame.

Kudos go out to the folks over at Build Chatter. John has been very kind, and has been working with me to get the app to work.  It isn't working yet, but I was impressed by his responsiveness.  With any new start up app, we can expect some challenges as people with varying abilities begin to use it.  I see much potential in the app, and hope to use it to create literature quizzes for my students.  I will wait and see how it goes with them, and will keep all y'all posted.

Finally, I got my invite from Pinterest.  Again, I am not sure why everyone's panties are in a twist over this site.  It is pretty, for sure, but it is like going to a conference where there are only poster sessions.  I like posters and all, but, bah, after you have seen one too many, it is time to hit the pool!  I will see if it gets any more dazzling before I make a final assessment of it.

NAKED MEN AND FERAL COWS

There is actually a book about the naked men of India.  Sadhus: India's Mystic Holy Men describes how these men detach from all earthly necessities.  Now, I am a spiritual woman, but I am attached to being clothed.  Anyway, I ordered the book and we'll see what they have to say about it :-)

I did not know that there are, in fact, hoards of feral cows living all over the planet.  PBS has a great little ditty about the problem in India.  If you have some time, check it out.

THAT'S A WRAP

That is this week's wrap.  I must return to helping my son donate unused toys to the local shelter.  He and I have a date to watch 300 after dinner (but only if I hand pop some popcorn, AND make butter, AND make stove top hot chocolate, AND read to him from his Star Wars Dictionary...sheesh...Gerry Butler just made my workload worse, hahaha).  Once we get through all that, I will THEN have time to get into the hot tub with my stack of books.

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My New Favorite Actor: Gerard Butler

As it goes, here are some prefatory comments.

I am not a star struck kind of person.  I don't get autographs.  I don't go to some wacky location because a star might be walking by at high noon.  I am not a member of any fan clubs.  I have nothing against folks who do these things; I just don't do them.

I have had only two brushes with famous people.  One was a guy I went to college with (Steve) who went on to be Steve from Blues Clues.  He was a great guy in college, and he was a great guy when he was in the show.  He is now a great musician.  But, I knew him when he was just another college kid.

The other guy was an actor on a famous soap and was playing the lead role (in that play by the name we don't mention) when I was an intern at the PA Shakespeare Festival.  On the day he arrived, he was surrounded by a swarm of bee-people.  Everyone kissed his butt.  I was a lowly box office intern and resident bagpiper. I had been given my instructions about the guy: if he comes to you, send him to us.

On his second day there, he came to the box office all puffed up like a Greek God.  I, however, was reading a Margaret Atwood book, and had no interest in becoming one of the butt kissers.  I never heard of the guy, and while acting on a soap gives you amazing visibility, it doesn't really prepare you to wave around a sword while reciting Shakespeare.

So, he swaggered up to the window where I was perched with said book, and demanded to know if I knew who he was.  Without looking up at him, I replied, "well, I hope you aren't St. Peter because I am not finished with this book."

He stomped his foot.  No joke.

He demanded to know if I actually worked there to which I relied, "Indeed, I do."  And after he demanded to know if I would help him, I finally looked up at him, closed the book slowly with a bookmark, and said, "I believe that is why they are all here" and pointed to the swarm of bee-people.

I added, for a nice touch, that he was far too important for a lowly intern to care for, and, thus, he should go to the Big Man for all his ticketing needs.  I hoped he didn't think I meant Bill, himself, but who knows?  He declared that anyone and everyone should help him, and I replied, "My dear...I don't care if you are the reincarnation of the Bard himself.  It's not my job to help you."  I was snarky, true.  But, I was 21 and an English, not theatre, major.

Our initial exchange kicked off a strange relationship.  Every day, he stopped by the window.  He came to visit me out of a personal challenge to covert me to become a Bee-person, I think, or for some witty exchange.  Who knows why actors ever do the things they do...they are paid to act like someone else all the time.  It was fun to wait for his daily visit, though.  He would come up, all puffy like he was King Neptune, and ask for some dumb thing.  Would I get him a glass of water? No.  Would I give him a piece of paper? No.  On the day after I had a day off, he asked me for two things.  Paper and pencil?

No.  I am still an intern.  All Equity pencils are kept in the safe.

By the end of the season, we had formed this great un-friendship/friendship thing.  He loved to torment me, and I loved to ignore him.  Our witty exchange always ended when I would say, "but, alas, I am a lowly intern."  (Side note: I loved his wife; she was simply the nicest person I had ever met in show business, and she was a famous soap actress, too).

At the cast party, he signed autographs for everyone in the cast.  He brought one over to me and said, "Well, I know you don't want one. But, here is one anyway (it even had my real name on it; I didn't know he even knew it - he always called me Curly)."  I smiled at him and replied, "Don't worry, Lancelot, I won't ever forget you, but my Mother wanted an autograph and you spared me the shame of having to ask, so thank you."  We both laughed so hard about the idea that I would lower myself to ask him for an autograph.  But, I would have for Mom (who, by the way, didn't watch soaps; she watched C-Span).

So, all that said, I am not a star gazer.

And, what, pray tell, has this all to do with Gerard Butler?

Well, it is just to say that I wasn't part of his ever-growing stalking club or whatever people call themselves that travel around the world to see his image brush by on the corner of mid-town.

I heard an interview with Gerard Butler on the Howard Stern show (yeah, yeah, keep your comments to yourself).  I had never heard of Butler, but given that most movies I watch have animated animals or talking trains in them, it is no wonder.

I actually kind of felt sorry for the guy.  I didn't know that he was handsome or smart or anything, but he kept trying to talk about amazing things like books (do actors read?), and everyone kept bringing it down to the chics he sleeps with or dates.  I was interested in the movie he was pushing (Machine Gun Preacher) because it reminds me of the work Vickie and Thom Hicks do in Sierra Leone at Nazareth House.  He wanted to talk about so many interesting things, but, sadly, all he got to talk about was his A list of bedmates.  That was boring.

About a week later, I showed "Beowulf and Grendel" to my 12th graders, and, lo, he played the part of Beowulf.  We were comparing that rendition to the rendition with Angelina Jolie and the actual poem.  I hate the Jolie version (not that it is her fault; I hate the script).  The Butler version is better but still wrong, but at least it has the good sense of having a different title than the original poem.  Of course, there is always some stupid love scene, but aside from that, I thought it was an interesting take on the poem, and the costuming was gorgeous.

Then, a few days after that, I read about the movie Coriolanus - apparently Butler is in that, too.  And, since I am always looking for movies to share with my students, I was intrigued. If a good movie of the Shakespeare variety is coming out, and I have time to swap out the play we read, I will definitely go for the blockbuster hit to make it all the more appealing.  Bribery at its finest.

So, since I heard about this actor three times in a short span of time, I looked him up.  He is, indeed, handsome.  But, more impressive...he is quite bright.  He is trained as a lawayer (the best acting school on the planet, really).  He is also very caring, as he was really touched by his experiences in the Sudan.  He appears to drive his own car around, and, sad for him, the paparazzi love to stalk him.  Women throw themselves at him whenever he is in public.  There are countless sites devoted to adoring him (Really?  People have that much free time???).

What I like about him, though, is that he is trying to be a regular guy and an incredible artist.  He is in the business to act - he doesn't care about all the other stuff.  He seems slightly uncomfortable by all the press.  The guy isn't married, and no one will leave him alone about it.  But, really, if you read his resume, the guy is super busy.  He takes on these hugely difficult roles (physically and mentally draining), and he is all over the world shooting scenes.  He does his own stunts, apparently, and almost drowned while shooting a movie about Xtreme surfers.

The guy is all about his craft.  And, I hope he gets a million of those awards that they hand out (I never know the difference between Grammy, Emmy, and Golden A-Hole).  He really is a brilliant actor, and he deserves to be recognized for the craft of acting and not whether one of the desperate housewives spent a week in his bed.

I like him because he seems so real.  Like, I can see him at his Mum's house eating cereal.  I don't know who he is dating, and I don't care.  I do wish I knew the name of the book he mentioned on the Stern show because it sounds like an interesting read (something about our souls making contact with each other).  But, even if I were a gorgoeus hotty model and famous, I wouldn't ever want to go in public with the guy.  I don't know how he ever makes it to the loo, for Pete's sake.  He is constantly surrounded.

If I were ever the type to meet a guy like him, I wouldn't waste his precious time asking about stupid crap; I would want to know what he is reading and what kinds of roles he has on his bucket list. I would love to see him make more movies that can be used in English or History classes.  We are in dire need of updating the classics.

One of my bucket list dreams is to write the screen play for a movie version of Dante's Inferno.  If I could hand pick the actors, I would cast Butler to play Dante, Sean Connery to play Virgil, and Kate Winslet to play Beatrice.  I would have Kenneth Branagh direct.  it would be amazing.  Lots of smart actors running around talking about real things other than clothes and models.

But, anyway, I look forward to seeing Coriolanus.  I am not sure I will see the surfing movie, but I will wait for his next adventure.

PS.  Wonder why I didn't post a picture of Sir Butler?  I don't want to encourage the paparazzi.  Every time we gawk at their work, they think they have the right to invade his personal life.  Give the guy a break.

Sorting the eMail: My New Favorite App! Unsubscribr

The email box overfloweth.  Always.

On any given day, I get about 1200 messages.  About 200 of them are useful, and only about 50 are personally directed. The rest?

Ahhhhh...the amazing mailing list pile.

By the way, that 1200 doesn't count the spam folder where I am guaranteed to have a larger, um, device and a bajillion dollars if I would just send over my bank account information so my long lost auntie can leave all her money to me.

Today, through the amazing MakeUseOf site, I was introduced to Unsubscribr.  You just type in your email, and poof, it sorts.  When it is done sorting, it gives you the option of just deleting your membership to the mailing list, OR it will also sweep it out of your mailbox.

No kidding, I went through and deleted over 1000 messages in less than 5 minutes.

It's funny, though, because I remember joining all these mailing lists in the past 8 years, but, ye gads, who has time to read all that stuff????  In my hopes of purging and becoming digitally lighter (and physically, but that is a whole other story), I found a quick, easy, and, let's face it, rewarding way to scoop the litter.

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What's So Special About Pinterest?

First of all, let me just say it up front...I am not part of the club.  I have not received my invite from Pinterest, and, yeah, I am pretty annoyed.


While everyone is off pinning stuff all over the live long place, I am stuck on the sidelines, and, yeah, that doesn't make me really like the tool from the get go.


So, now that you have the bias and residual irritation (my students would say, "Oh Lordy...she is giving us THAT LOOK"), let's answer this question...


What on earth is so flippin special about Pinterest?????


Well, according to the site, it is an online pinboard.  Aren't there like 4 billions others?  Sure, their pinboards are pretty, but give me Diigo any day.  Stixy is another great resource for those who want to slap virtual sticky notes into the cybersphere. Wallwisher is another great site, too.


So, why the big ta-do over Pinterest?


Well, they made a button...a simple, cute, catchy button.  That little button makes sharing so much easier.  Well, except when you can't have a button because you can't have an account because you are on some strange deep space 9 waiting list.


Socialmouths did a great story about Pinterest and has updated the stats on the growing popularity of the tool.  According to their site, "Update Feb 8: ComScore announces Pinterest just became the fastest standalone website EVER with 10 million Monthly Unique Visit, only in the US."

So...are all these other people getting invites to the cool kids party while I sit alone at home with my dancing shoes gathering dust???

Pinterest is growing, in my little opinion, because it is something new, and those of us that love new tools are eager for new meat...we have been chewing on the wonders of Voice Thread for too long.  WE NEED SOMETHING NEW.  So, for this week, it is Pinterest...but if they keep shutting out enthusiastic folks like me, we will all move on to a newer cooler tool the minute it is released (um, to ALL of us).

What did I learn today?  If you make a cool new tool, let all the kids play.  No one wants to be the 11th player on the team.

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Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader: The Confessions of a 21st Century Digital Hoarder

I am faithful to my Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter, Facebook, Diigo, and Google Reader.  Every day, several times each day - between shoving laundry or food into its appropriate end zone - I am connected to my PLN.  The truth is...I don't want to miss something.  I don't want a new 2.0 tool to fly by me without a wink and a nod.  I must confess....my name is BRG, and I am a digital hoarder.

My hoarding started years ago.  My first teaching job was in a prison.  I taught ABE and GED classes and created an education program for the county prison.  I loved that first job in its quirky way of scaring the pants off me and inspiring me to want to give the gift of language to others (trust me...drug dealers and prostitutes, most of the clients in a county jail, know a lot more about math than I do).

But, here is the thing...you can't just take any ole thing into a prison.  Because inmates, are, well, not the most trustworthy folk around, you can't just bring in books for them.  You have to be able to create your own worksheets and activities while in the jail.  Plus, there is no budget, so you have to make due with what is around.

Now, in those infant days of the internet (yes...it was that long ago), there wasn't a Purdue OWL I could jump onto to print out worksheets.  I had to make up my own stuff based on a few old GED and ABE prep books.  So, I would head to the nearest library in my free time, read through books in the library, remember all that stuff, go into the prison, make up assignments, and, poof!  We created an in house system of activities for the inmates.  It was heavy work, but I started to store up a list of bookmarks in my head.  Since I wanted to teach them "practical" reading, I would scan newspapers, magazines, and anything else that held current events.  I would go to places where they might be able to get a job with a criminal background (McDonalds, Burger King, etc.) and memorized the applications so I could recreate them on the ancient 400000 ton desktop computer.  That was where my hoarding began.

As the internet grew, and my professional experience and opportunities grew along side, I was able to stop the daily visits to the Bethlehem Public Library, and, instead, spent hours combing the internet for awesome interactive activities for my college students.  Back then, we were afraid that websites would just vanish, and so we printed every single thing out that was juicy and good.  I had stacks of paper lining my office, the car, my wee little apartment in Fountain Hill....paper, paper everywhere.

With the invention of bookmarking and RSS Readers, I was able to stop printing and just started hoarding links.  And, for the better part of 7 years, I have done nothing but store links, share links, and, sometimes, use them.  It is chaos.

I am a huge fan of the A&E show, Hoarders.  I watch it before I do heavy cleaning; it helps me to toss and donate.  But, ye gads, is there a Hoarders for digital collectors?

Right now, my bookmarks list is into the thousands, my RSS list is into the thousands, and I follow Twitter like crazy and add more stuff.  How can I find anything???  Will I remember what I have there?

So, here is my goal...I am going to use the amazing tool, Evernote, to sort my bookmarks, and I have started cleaning out RSS feeds.  It was a lot easier to collect these links than it is to purge them.  But, I am not so attached as I thought I was about these links.

Sure, there are some items that I need to keep.  For example, I want to remember how to find out how to get to the home page of Xtrranormal.  It isn't a site I use every day, but it is one that I use about every 5-6 months for student projects.  I also think my children will be able to use it, too, as they are interested in learning how to program games.  Another site, like an article about a movie about the Mole People living under NYC, well, I can find that again if I need it, or something similar.

So, here is what I learned today:  I can dump bookmarks.  I can overcome.

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Learning about Frustration via Facebook and Build Chatter

Wow.  I thought I had found an easy way to make apps for Facebook.  This is what I wanted to learn today after spending most of the day trying to re-recover from some wierdo virus that, literally, the kids dragged in...

So, after I woke from my troubled slumber, I set down to learn to code.  It just so happens that my buddies over at MakeUseOf did a little ditty about a program called Build Chatter today, and, thus, I thought I could forego the hand coding.  Let me set down my biases from the start.

First, I have been a MakeUseOf  fan from their earliest days.  For a brief little stint, I wrote some articles for them, but then got caught up in changing jobs and moving 18 hours away.  In any case, I am loyal to them; I adore them.  I am especially fond of Editor and Doctor, Jackson Chung and his Daily Buggle.  So, because I know how hard the MUO team (and, especially, the editor, Mark) work to make incredible posts, I know that I can trust what I find there.

So.  There.  Their recommendation of software is one I take to heart.  I trust them.  Since I wanted to learn how to make apps for Fb anyway, I was sure happy to find their post on a day when hand coding would have made me blind.

So, I made an account at Build Chatter and made a quiz app on Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.  10 sweet questions.  True/False and glorious.  Giddy with excitement!  Stoked!  Well, a little sick, still, but raising tissues like pom poms through the house on the way to the loo.

But, bahhhh,

When I went to submit the app, the haters inside my computer told me that I first needed to make a Facebook Page.  Bah.  I wish Build Chatter would have told them that from the start.  So, I went and did that, invited just a few friends that know me well and will rightfully tell me what is crap and what is useful, and then I went back to publish the app and it was gone, gone, gone.  There is no way to save it.

Bah.

Started over...made another quiz.  Published it to the newly minted page.  URL would not work.  I tried it in three different browsers.  It would not work in any one of them.

Bah.

I tried various combinations, and, alas, no luck. I should have just coded it by hand.

So, I do not have a shiny new app to share with you, BUT, I have a lovely new Facebook Page (click that bad boy LIKE button up there).

What did I learn?  Well, for starters, I learned that it is pretty easy to make a LIKE page in Fb.  I learned that coding by hand is better than using a service that was probably reliable when MUO wrote about it but is not stable now. Finally, I learned that Mucinex works better than Alka-Cold Plus.

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Yoga, Naked Men, and Feral Cows

Today, I learned a little about Hinduism.  More specifically, I learned about Yoga, naked men that are revered, and feral cows roaming India.

For whatever reason, I have been living under a giant rock and always thought that Yoga was the practice of sticking one's foot up one's bum and chanting peacefully.  My Yoga friends are super chill, so I figured it must work, but, alas, the BRG's foot does not bend so well in the opposite direction.  I have always opted for Pilates.

But, apparently, there are different types of Yoga.  Who knew?

The goal of Hinduism, in a very teensy nut shell, is to avoid being reincarnated (Moksha).  Or, if you must be reincarnated, your goal is to come back as something better than you are in this lifetime.  As a Christian, I obviously don't buy into these ideas, but, the getting there, the doing it part, well, now, that is pretty fascinating and worth a try.

My information, by the way, was gathered in my Baptist Sunday School class.  Our pastor (also the chaplain at the school) is really open minded about all world religions and is an academic to the core.  I am jealous that students get to listen to him while I prance around trying to get seniors to adore Chaucer's hilarious references to medieval flatulence.  Anywho.  His presentation was informative and, as usual, I grabbed some paper and jotted down notes. Those, however, are in the van, and it is 1:20AM and I am already in my pajamas.  So, I have to remember most of what he said, and, of course, consult Ye-Old Wikipedia.

But, before I go into how much a I admire the different Yoga disciplines...I must just note that I had no idea there were hoards of naked men wandering around India.  These men are so holy and have achieved such perfect balance with the world that they don't need clothing or its earthly implications.  On the yearly pilgrimage, they gather on these stairs next to water and then cleanse themselves.  My only question is whether they do that any time they near steps and water or if that is reserved for just that day.  If the former is true, yay.  If the latter is true, the sight of these men on the day before they bathe is likened to the mental image I possess of nudist colonies.  Unpleasant is an understatement.

The other thing I learned about were cows.  I knew that cows are venerated in India much like we venerate the Bald Eagle here in the States.  Actually, it makes a boat load of sense, but I have always felt that way.  Cows are cute and useful.

What I didn't know, though, was that because there are cows all over the place, the, um, substance of cows is all over the place, too.  AND...if the stench stirring up in my nostrils isn't enough...apparently there are about 50,000 cows that are "loose" and roaming the streets.  Feral cows.  Who knew?  So, these boys (literally, cow boys) go around and try to catch the cows.  They return cows if they know of the owner, but what happens to the feral cows?  Is there an SPCC?  Surely, they are not euthanized, but, hmmm, where do all the wild cows go?

So, anyway, back to Yoga.

Here is what Wikipedia says:

Yoga (Sanskrit, Pāli: योग yóga) is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India.^[1][2] The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on the Supersoul.^[3] The word is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Jainism, andBuddhism.^[4][5][6]

Within Hindu philosophy, the word yoga is used to refer to one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy.^[7][8] Yoga in this sense is based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and is also known as Rāja Yoga to distinguish it from later schools.^[9] Patanjali's system is discussed and elaborated upon in many classical Hindu texts, and has also been influential in Buddhism and Jainism. The Bhagavad Gita introduces distinctions such as Jnana Yoga ("yoga based on knowledge") vs. Karma Yoga ("yoga based on action").

Other systems of philosophy introduced in Hinduism during the medieval period are bhakti yoga, and hatha yoga.^[10][11][12]

The Sanskrit word yoga has the literal meaning of "yoke", from a root yuj meaning to join, to unite, or to attach. As a term for a system of abstract meditation or mental abstraction it was introduced by Patañjali in the 2nd century BC. Someone who practices yoga or follows the yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment is called a yogi oryogini.^[13]

The goals of yoga are varied and range from improving health to achieving moksha.^[14] Within the Hindu monistschools of Advaita Vedanta, Shaivism and Jainism, the goal of yoga takes the form of moksha, which is liberation from all worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and death (samsara), at which point there is a realization of identity with the Supreme Brahman. In the Mahabharata, the goal of yoga is variously described as entering the world of Brahma, as Brahman, or as perceiving the Brahman or Ātman that pervades all things.^[15] For the bhakti schools of Vaishnavism,bhakti or service to Svayam Bhagavan itself may be the ultimate goal of the yoga process, where the goal is to enjoy an eternal relationship with Vishnu.^[16]

 Now, the Yoga that seems to be the fad in the US is the Karma Yoga - the yoga based on action.  But, I find the Jnana Yoga (based on knowledge) much more fascinating.  There is also a yoga based on service.

So, there you have it.  Today I learned a little more about feral cows, naked dudes, and, most importantly, the various concepts of Yoga.  I just ordered a book on how to learn more about Jnana called The Yoga of Truth 

Truly, Christians share a passion for learning the truth.  I am eager to see how much is similar between the Christian and Hindu ideologies.