Daily Blues & Views

In July of 1969 I found myself in Houston, Texas, completing the training to become a VISTA Volunteer, our nation’s domestic Peace Corps.   As part of the training , we were placed in poor communities living with families that survived on surplus commodities like government cheese, peanut butter and powdered milk. Each day I would make my way from my “home” to the training session in downtown Houston.   One particularly muggy morning I decided to take a bus in early and find a small air-conditioned café to hang out in until the training meeting began. The 42 Holman pulled up to the stop half a mile from the home of the family where I was living.   I boarded, sitting near the front. Only a handful of people occupied the bus. Two more boarded at the stop after mine.  Waiting at the next stop was an elderly black woman carrying a package and holding a cane. As she boarded the bus, her legs buckled and she dropped to her knees onto the bus steps. I looked up a...

I took the old tape recorder out of the bottom file cabinet drawer and was surprised there was not much dust on it.  It was residing under a few old political posters and boxes of slides; right where I hoped it would be.  The true test of time would come when I plugged in the AC cord. In went a cassette and down went the button marked "Play."  Out came the voice of Kate Wolf, the late darling of the Bay Area folk music community.  Shock and awe.  The old machine was not dead, in fact, it was full of life.  The recording made in 1977 sounded as good as I could ever expect. These old Sony cassette recorders were always well made, but I never expected one to pop to life after sitting dormant for the last 12 years.  Shock turned quickly to delight. When you try to play a tape cassette that hasn't been used for years, it's quite dicey.  It helps to rewind and fast forward the tape a few times to stretch it out a bit.  This old machine w...

The man was very centered.  He was clam and thoughtful and smiled when he spoke.  His ideas appeared well thought out and he was dressed for the occasion.  A nice business suit is definitely appropriate for an appearance on 60 Minutes, still among the most watched television programs. The man is an expert.  After a few niceties, he uttered a profound thought.  "It's probably the most important invention since electricity," he said. The man is a successful Chinese businessman.  He is not both enamored by and involved solely with his expertise: A I...Artificial Intelligence. The TV interview was punctuated with images of video screens that reduced people walking down busy city streets to numbers and black and white descriptions of their clothing. The man said, "it's coming whether we like it or not," in many ways.  He was convincing. The man explained that we do not want to think for machines, rather we want to teach them to think for themselves....

We all have them.  Those "friends" who hover around and over the fringes of our lives whose political beliefs are the direct opposite of our own.  Some times they come in handy when we want to think about what the "other side" believes and what informs those beliefs.  For me, these folks come from very disparate parts of my life.  That could be from specific interests I have like fly fishing, or horse racing, or writing, or even my generation.  Usually our close friends, especially those we have maintained relationships with for decades have compatible political beliefs.  We almost take for granted that the people we hold close will see things the way we do. And then there is family.  The classic trope of the family holiday dinner that has to avoid any talk of politics is repeated thousands of times every year.  That Aunt or Uncle or a distant cousin who seems to be radically conservative or liberal does really make regular appearances.  But...

New day, new year...but an old dream with a new twist.  One recurring teaching dream that seems to find me now and again popped up on a cold, fairly quiet (until the firecrackers started) New Year's Eve concerns the last class of the day.  The recurring part is that I have a class in a room that is not my own and, of course I have forgotten to prepare adequately for it.  It's always a challenge for me to find the exact room because I have to walk across a big campus that offers me only a vague sense of where I am.  The class is reminiscent of one I had many years ago because it has a large group of hyperactive, low-skilled 9th graders who have very little buy-in to the whole notion of school and reading.  Even with no lesson plan I am not at a loss because these kids are mostly the ones that have given up and been given up on.  I want to establish some reading and writing routines and am willing to try all manner of strategies.  But, in the dream I ent...