Fort Hood

I was running with a friend on Friday morning and we were discussing the shootings. I was lamenting the coming onslaught from the talking heads as they all race to say something profound and meaningful first.

Instead, I ran in to this post from James Fallows. He has been a journalist (the real kind) for a long time and his experience writing about these types of events (and world events in general) shows:

In the saturation coverage right after the events, the “expert” talking heads are compelled to offer theories about the causes and consequences. In the following days and weeks, newspapers and magazine will have their theories too. Looking back, we can see that all such efforts are futile. The shootings never mean anything. Forty years later, what did the Charles Whitman massacre “mean”? A decade later, do we “know” anything about Columbine? There is chaos and evil in life. Some people go crazy. In America, they do so with guns; in many countries, with knives; in Japan, sometimes poison.

We know the emptiness of these events in retrospect, though we suppress that knowledge when the violence erupts as it is doing now. The cable-news platoons tonight are offering all their theories and thought-drops. They’ve got to fill time. I wish they could stop. As the Vietnam-era saying went, Don’t mean nothing.

RIP.

The importance of curriculum

Readers of this blog know that I feel strongly about teaching actual content in our K12 classrooms. I am biased in that I have become more of a nerd as each year passes (I enjoy thumbing through the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy from time to time).

The Core Knowledge Foundation has been evangelizing about the power of curriculum for years. Most people do not hear them though. One of their recent blog posts expresses some frustration therein noting how this issue is not sexy and does not play toward soundbites and cyber jousting. This post also points toward a long post/whitepaper? detailing the power of curriculum.

I am breaking one of my own rules by not actually reading the entire post before writing. I make an exception because the author is Russ Whitehurst whose reputation and past work I trust from the Institute of Education Sciences.

Robert brings it all together nicely with this paragraph:

It could takes years — lifetimes, even — before we have a “great teacher” (by whatever definition you favor) in every classroom.  But a strong curriculum might mitigate some of the worst effects of subpar teaching, it would have little cost and you can put it in place today.

There is a good discussion in the comments regarding actually implementing curricula effectively.

Time to Grow Up

I’m not there yet. I keep thinking that the next milestone or “life event” will get me there. Graduating from college? Didn’t work. All of a sudden, in return for working 55-60 hours a week, I had more money that I had ever seen before, a car and no one looking over my shoulder. I was definitely not feeling like an adult.

Turning 30, getting married and owning a home all happened in the same 12 months. I thought owning a home might be the difference maker, but although there is much blood, toil and treasure expended on behalf of our home, it didn’t work. A few months later, Heather and I were married. Maybe if I had married someone with fewer brain cells and less independence, this might have made me feel like an adult. Alas, it did not.

If the impending arrival of <Rikki and Vikki?> doesn’t do it, I’m not sure what will. Not one, but two extra miniature beings who depend on me? There is so much to screw up there. If this doesn’t do it, I may have to up the ante and ascend to various public offices ultimately leading to the presidency of the United States…or maybe a small island nation. Maybe Guam would pseudo-secede so I can finally feel grown up? I’ve also heard Palau is nice.

21st Century Skills meets the Simpsons

I have mentioned 21st Century Skills a few times before. I should probably put sarcasm/scare quotes around that phrase so that there isn’t any doubt how I feel about the topic.

The Core Knowledge blog notes that the concept has invaded a recent Simpsons episode. I yelled at myself for not watching this show more often over the years. I have now added it to the DVR if, for no other reason, than this episode.

Beating Back the Cynicism

Here are two links to help beat back the cynicism you may or may not feel from time to time (or perhaps daily). The first, from Marginal Revolution, asks a question that I have often thought to myself privately. What are some examples of successful government bureaucracies? Since most of us are assaulted daily by poor and inefficient ones, this was a good reminder that they do exist. Granted, this is all subjective. The second comment is interesting as it ties the examples together with a theme of “specificity of purpose”, which makes a lot of sense to me.

The next discusses the potential for a mobile (and ideally open source) payment system for microfinance. It goes on to discuss some parameters that would help and why this would be a good innovation. Innovation is the key word there. My internet travels brings ideas like this to my attention several times a week. Such innovations help counter my cynicism.

Blogging may be lite…

…for the next 18 years or so.

I haven’t said much about the impending birth of <Taylor and Shakira?> for a couple of reasons. For one, time has been a big issue…even more so now that Heather has begun her bedrest (check out her blog). The bigger reason that I don’t like to say out loud is that I fear that writing about <Mary Kate and Ashley?> will cause this blog to lose some of that icy lack of emotion I try so hard to fill it with.

I have heard other parents describe the powerful effect different moments during pregnancy had on them. One of my favorite parent quotes (the originator will remain anonymous lest this blog be used against him in a court of law) is “If anyone ever hurt my boys, I would kill them.” I believed him at the time, but I didn’t really get it. I do now. I’m not promising violence, but I understand the inclination.

My moment was the first ultrasound where we could clearly see arms and legs and lots of movement. My heart leapt…and I don’t mean the Steelers just won the Super Bowl kind of way…more like 5 times Santonio’s TD. I knew at that moment that there was very little I wouldn’t do for them (except paying for two weddings). It also occurred to me that they would likely have me wrapped around their little fingers immediately (we didn’t know they were girls at the time, but that is what we suspected we were having).

Watching some of our friends children grow up these past few years gave me an inkling of what a parent can feel, especially for the girls we see every Thursday night. I grew to love them quite fast, but once again, that was magnified many times a few months ago staring at an ultrasound screen at babies that were perhaps an inch long at the time.

As of today, they both weigh a little over 2 lbs. We are hoping to sprint toward that 4-5 lb mark across the next 8 weeks. Heather is 20% done with her bedrest and so far, so good. All indicators point to a healthy pair of future doublemint twins and she has not had any issues with boredom yet.

I will do my best to share the many thoughts that flash through my mind in the coming weeks. I think about everything from the logistics of doubling everything to whether or not this weekend’s marathon will be my last until they are teenagers to their education. Oh yes, their education is probably on my mind too often. What do I need to do to make them smarter than all of you? I have many plans as well as a wife who will intervene as necessary.

However, working, taking care of the house and spending as much time with Heather as I can have taken priority. Am I nervous about twins coming? Not really. There is nothing stopping this train–that I wish to contemplate–so being nervous or scared will serve no purpose. The ice returning to my veins feels good. Bring on the diapers and the sleeplessness and place your bets on how long before I eat my words.

Dedication

I’d like to think I’m a big Steelers fan. I bore people who don’t care about football talking about them and do my best to bore people who love football talking about them. Thanks to the wonders of NFL Sunday Ticket, it’s hard to remember the last time I missed a game. I have not yet reached the encyclopedic knowledge of their personnel and salaries like my friend Gary, but I am on my way. That being said, the owner of this vehicle destroys me. This was taken in the parking lot of the Harris Teeter near my house on Sunday.

The Steelers have been a bit enigmatic thus far this year. I am worried about when we play a real football team (next week vs. Minn comes to mind). The offense moves the bill seemingly at will, but often disappoints in some fashion. I can’t remember watching a Steeler team with so many open receives on almost every play. Needlesstosay, I am thankful for our easy schedule. We should be undefeated, but I am currently thankful for 4-2. I’m glad to get Minnesota at home as well.

Here are a few other random football thoughts/predictions that I am making public now to come back and check my predictions later in the season.

• I don’t believe Denver is really that good yet. Same goes for Minnesota as they are two plays from 4-2. Cincy is a tough call though as they have now beaten two supposedly good teams (Pitts and Balt) and should have beaten Denver. I suspect it will be the Ravens and Steelers fighting for the division though.
• Indy looks good, but I’m not sold yet. Maybe they are really good or maybe their division is terrible (Yes!) and the AFC is weaker than most years (Yes!).
• New England still scares me. As an aside, I want to add “Dear Tom Brady-please spread your TD passes out a little bit more from now on as I am one of your owners in FF.”

In which I link to the NYT twice without being angry

The topics might be very different, but this is a special day. Most importantly, we have an education article about career-switchers. Yes, I am shilling for ABCTE here. We knew the article was in the works, but I never expected several paragraphs. Good times.

Slightly less important is this article from Tom Friedman regarding the recent Nobel Peace Prize winner. It’s clear that Tom realized I am no longer one of his disciples and he is trying to win me back. I know that Barack will never do this, but it was fun to read and think about.

Last is an apology for not blogging much lately. Heather has started her bedrest (1.5 weeks down, 8.5 to go). I have many thoughts I wish to share about this, but haven’t had the time between work and spending time with her at the hospital. I will find the time though and probably spew about a thousand words so beware.

What the MSM covers

You and I complain about this a lot. Ok, maybe it’s just Heather and I complaining about it. We have gone back and forth on this topic for years now. We get angry at big media for putting so many resources against stories like Jon and Kate, Britney, etc. and they ignore health care policy, climate change, education policy, et al. After we calm down, we remember that all of these evil media empires are motivated by profit and that you and I are the customers. This is what we are asking for. Sure, we subscribe to the Atlantic Monthly and readers of this blog know that I will link to it over and over again (see the next paragraph). We also get the Washingtonian, People Magazine, Bicycling and yes, US Weekly. There are nights when I am happy to pickup US Weekly and read the captions because it doesn’t involve my brain. Reality TV does a nice job of not using up any processing power after a long day at work as well.

Ta-Nehise Coates post about the coverage we deserve, most of which I have excerpted below, spoke to me. He is responding to many other posts a few weeks ago. If you have time, browse a few of them, but if you don’t at least stay with me a bit longer.

Tough medicine. It’s always more comforting to think that some all-powerful being (rich white men, the media, big business etc.) has brainwashed “The People.” But when you start delving into this stuff, you realize that often those institutions are performing in the service of actual human beings, many of them not so rich, and not so powerful.

“The People” aren’t noble. And they aren’t evil, either. After dealing with my own writing, with my own family, and with my own person, I find it difficult to muster the energy to master the details of climate change. And I write for a living. But damn if I can barely keep my living room clean.

I thought about this last week while attempting to follow through on a promise to my family, to cook more. I grew up in household where my Dad cooked. My cornbread game is not to be slept on. But cooking right, and cleaning right is hard work, and takes a lot of time. There is a reason people go to McDonald’s every night for dinner.  Perhaps the reason isn’t a good one, but it’s not stupid or pathological.

Ditto with political coverage. The shouting heads exist for a reason–we invented them.

Google wave update

Google is slowly allowing the world to get access to Google Wave. I have not yet received an invite, but this is not surprising as I am not that nerdy. I have been an evangelist for Google Wave since I first learned of it. However, I found I am not that good at explaining what it is and why it is so cool. Here is a 2 minute video showcasing an excellent and very realistic IT use case. Now do you think it’s cool?