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Showing posts from January, 2012

Respect Yourself

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George Reedy was a former press secretary and political writer who served under Lyndon Johnson. Probably more intellectual than most Presidential Press Secretaries, and sometimes thought of as a Johnson whipping boy, Reedy was nevertheless a keen observer of the White House and the institution of the Presidency. In writing about the bitterly fought 1964 campaign between Johnson and Barry Goldwater, Reedy noted how the respect for the office of the Presidency was quickly restored after the heat of the campaign ended with the final results. You might recall that Johnson was running for his first elected term after finishing out JFK's term. This was the campaign that featured the infamous "Daisy" political add where a child's game of "loves me, loves me not" was superimposed over an exploding mushroom cloud. In the end, despite the taunts, insults, and fear mongering, Johnson won a landslide victory. George Reedy once noted that the day after the elect

Return to Sender

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It's such a simple phenomena. Been around since dirt. But it's oh so true. It has lots of names, some fancy, some academic, some right to the point. Let's see, predictable, indicators, and past performance all fit into the equation. Dr. Phil, in all his prime time glory is fond of saying, "We teach people how to treat us." Certainly do. The great historian Mircea Eliade called it "The Myth of the Eternal Return." AKA...what goes around comes back. Native Americans built much of their culture on the cyclical nature of all experience. Four seasons, four directions, four quarters or quadrants. The Daily Racing Form and it's advocates swear by knowledge of the past. If it happened once, chances are it will happen again. It's true, often the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. I can't leave out police detectives from this discussion. For every one of those, "Gee, he or she was the last person I'd ever susp

Artsy

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Recently, I was given the opportunity to make a small poster about my life as a teacher. As a fan of the medium of collage, I had no trouble deciding which way to go. Then the entire world of computer software opened up to me and I found myself fascinated with how easy it is to throw down a melange of meaningful images. See what I mean: I'm still playing with all the possibilities of this software, but it appears it is well worth the expense. I'm supposed to sell myself, as it were, to a group of beginning teachers by making this poster so they can learn a bit about my academic and social self. Perhaps I should say selves. In doing this, it occurred to me that I can easily make a lesson out of this presentation...an inquiry lesson. What questions will the viewers ask? What will be assumed correctly and incorrectly from the images I've chosen? If I were to replace each image here with a half a dozen other images, what conclusions might be drawn. Lastly, how diff

Still Waiting

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It is the Fall of 1964 and I am walking to my local shopping center deep in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. I'm a high school junior and I have 75cents in my pocket to finally purchase a paperback book that resides on a small revolving book rack near the front of the drug store that sells everything from make-up to first aid supplies, kitchen items to magazines and books. It takes me 2o minutes to walk home and I can't keep the book in brown paper bag because there is a center-set of black and white photos that comes with this edition. The Book is Why We Can't Wait by Martin Luther King. I want to read his thoughts on the Civil Right Movement as it is happening. Earlier in the year I did a paper for my American History class that changed my life. I'd heard on the evening news that voter education and registration was an important issue. In trying to find a topic I came across a Newsweek magazine with a small article on literacy tests still being used in So

Our Kind of Town

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The second season of Portlandia has arrived. Too bad the IFC (International Film Channel) is carried by so few cable or satellite companies that the world can't share a good laugh every week about the contradictory nature of this special place called Portland, Oregon. But wait...this just in. There are at least three Portlands that I know of and possibly more. Most of the country sees the politically correct, greener than green, foody food cart capital of the world. And it's there all right in all it's wonderful, paradoxical, deliciousness. But its only a small part of the real city on the Willamette River. There are four quadrants of the city Northwest Northeast, Southwest and Southeast, as well as NoPo (north Portland). The river divides more than just these sections, it functions the way railroad tracks often do in other cities. The demographics and socioeconomic realities of these areas are similar to any city in any state. The wealthy live near and in the

There Was a Time

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I've been thinking about our lives "BC" and "AD." Oh, not that use of these letters. I'm referring to Before Computers and After Deluge. Like many people, I probably spend too much time online. That's because much of the work I do supervising student teachers or participating in an active, rigorous, writing group demands it. If you add in a little Facebook, checking sports scores or streaming events I can't get otherwise...you get the picture. But that's not to say it has consumed my life. On the contrary, I just learned that since my retirement from full-time teaching, I've read 40 books. That averages to about 8 a year, or one every few weeks. Some were quick 175-250 page novels, but others were longer works of fiction in the 600 pg. league. Some were memoirs, history, biography, autobiography and of course, all manner of fly fishing literature from articles to fly tying recipes to books of maps, and collections of Pacific Northw

In The Zone

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This is the time of list making. Resolutions, changes, best films, restaurants, underrated athletes, politicians, top tens of all sorts. In that mix comes some fascinating information about books and the American psyche. Recently the New York Times included the top bestseller in non-fiction over the last 35 years. Seems as if 35 years ago the list was topped by Alex Haley's Roots. This year it was Steve Jobs. But what falls in between really says something. A year ago G.W. Bush held the spot with his version of events called Decision Points. The previous year was Sarah Palin's Going Rogue . 5 years ago saw Obama's Audacity of Hope #1. In 2002, 10 years ago, it was Bill O'Reilly's No Spin Zone . You see where this is going. If we look at 15 years back we find A Reporter's Life by Walter Cronkite. 20 years ago Me: Stories of My Life by Kathryn Hepburn held the spot. 25 years ago it was Bill Cosby's Fatherhood and 30 years down the road i