Some things that work (Part 2)

This is related to my last post on Linda Hereshoff’s Special Education program at Jordan Middle School.

The next program that I would like to bring up is NYLC (or, the National Young Leaders Conference). This was lot of fun but more importantly, it was illuminating and well conceived. I had the chance to play a Representative, a Supreme Court Justice and a policy analyst–in the process discovering I love legal research.

Through the same program I will be attending the Presidential Inauguration in January.

The program is run like a sped-up session of Congress. The entire Conference was structured around a piece of legislation, bit of which were Amended and presented by student teams. Our legislation covered “safety”; ie, everything from terrorism to gun control.

Presenting policy was a blast. Me and another student were in charge of presenting modifications to federal weapon’s laws. He and I got the job because we were the only people in our group of 20 who had ever fired a gun. He was from rural Alabama so once I convinced him the restrictions were necessary, we had honed our arguments for the general caucus’s Amendment approval process.

I particularly remember presenting our Amendment in front of the committee–made up of other students–and caucus without my notes because I had had to give them to the committee unexpectedly. I had had to hand-write out 3 copies 10 minutes before my presentation so I basically had them memorized. Therefore, when a committee member asked for some piece of minutiae evidence I gave him chapter and verse of it from my notes.

The whole caucus went “oh!”.

The Amendment was accepted 40 to 2 in favor in my caucus.

My boyfriend, Matthew, attended another session of NYLC as well as the follow up Law Forum:

NYLC (especially the law forum) was an excellent educational experience for me. It gave a more in depth look at our government and legal system, not just by telling us how it functioned, but by inviting prestigious speakers and letting us enact demonstrations of our own, and thus showing us.

These programs require teacher or student referrals and cost a lot of money, but they are impressively run and a great deal of fun.

Inspiration Quote:

It would not be possible for Noah to do in our day what he was permitted to do in his own…The inspector would come and examine the Ark, and make all sorts of objections.
-Mark Twain “About All Kinds of Ships,” 1892

Some things that work (1 of 3)

I spend a lot of my time working through and within programs that don’t work. I am sure many of you do as well. So I think it is important to praise those who do well. I think a good system is one which is effective, efficient, and kind. In that spirit, I picked out one today (probably more later):

Linda Herreshoff’s program in the Palo Alto Unified School District’s Junior High School, Jordan Middle School. She works with students on the Autism Spectrum including students with Aspergers and other high functioning kids. Linda is a lifesaver for students with disabilities–her work has improved so many lives in this area it’s difficult to give her enough credit. From classes on how to tell jokes to working with parents to forming solid relationships with students (who, like all 11-13 years olds can be prickly critters). She is a wonderful teacher and person.

Inspirational Quote:

“You see, Asperger’s is unlike other ‘visual’ conditions. You can tell if a child is physically handicapped, you can tell if a child has Downs Syndrome - simply by looking at them. But an Asperger’s child looks COMPLETELY NORMAL! It’s what’s happening on the inside that is their detriment. If they tantrum, act out inappropriately, or do things that other children typically don’t do - it just looks like their parents are to blame for failure to ‘bring them up right’ or ‘discipline them correctly’. So again, my goal is not only to help Evan and others like him, but it’s also to help the general public know more about these types of pervasive development disorders.” Liller Family Blog

Other Story-Archs (Part 2)

I was surprised at Al Jazeera’s coverage of “Israel at 60″. While Al Jazeera often linked with terrorism by the Bush Administration (according to Al Jazeera and the British newspaper the Daily Mirror) they usually don’t get any cred for good reporting or interesting perspectives. Their three part series on Israel at 60 is not the standard fair I saw at CMU which was a lot of stuff about Israeli culture and free food and “never forget”. Al Jazeera is more negative, their story-arch emphasizes faulty assumptions of historical Zionism (”Zionist mythology has propagated the idea that Palestine was a barren and scarcely inhabited land. But that was far from true. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had lived for centuries in the land that Jews were now laying claim to”) and the plight of the Palestinians.

Same image, different coloring.

What is fascinating is how this story-arch feels so different from others found on Israel’s 60th B-Day. It has many of the same threads–worries about Israeli Arabs, interest in the movement from the socialist kibbutz system to modern capitalism, questions about Israel’s identity–but the coloring of those threads (the tone of the piece) changes the effect utterly.

Al Jazeera’s English edition is not always beautifully written (like the New York Times) or neutrally written (like the Economist tries to be) but it is surely one of the most interesting news sites on the web because of its solid writing and reporting perspective.

Inspirational Quote:

Today, Malcolm’s online reporting and many others’ like it do offer such information sooner — perhaps even too much of it. He is operating in a whole new world in which deadlines are minute-by-minute; reader comment is swift and often severe; and the tools range from audio and video to BlackBerrys and laptops.

It is ’round the clock — it’s demanding,” says Malcolm, 64. Not only is the process of delivering political news via blogs a lot faster than traditional models, “it is a lot more unpredictable,” he adds.

Andrew Malcolm on blogging

Other Story Archs (Part 1)

I have been thinking about story archs for some of the scholarship applications I am looking at (how do I tell a coherent story about my interests in 500 words of less) and also reading a lot of news. Because of this I got curious about how other regions’ news sources tell the same story as US/European sources at the same time. For example, I had been hearing about a picture which captivated the Chinese Blogosphere (or at least part of it) of the handicapped athlete having the Olympic Torch ripped away from her by a Tibet protester (US news sources called them “free Tibet” protesters. China Daily, where I got this picture, called them “Tibetan separatists”). It’s the kind of meme which shows up so many places it is hard to track. I have seen this one mentioned in comments on articles and blogs, but it took me a while to finally find a copy of it:

(In case this was horrific enough, the man pushing her wheelchair in a blind athlete. yeah.)

This story focused on the valor of the athlete and the violence of the protesters. I guess with all of the news this week, the Paris protests seemed more outrageously aggressive than violent (no one fired into the crowd and no one was killed). China Daily also made no mention of the powder-puff blue garbed Chinese guards (the Economist called them “thugs”) who menaced protesters (ineffectually it seems) away from the athletes in Paris and San Francsico.

Next time: Al Jazeera’s take on Israel at 60 is surprisingly balanced.

Inspirational Quote:

“He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.” about Andrew Malcolm

Hilary v Barak–post response to MSNBC article

This is something I posted to the MSNBC article “Hilary: Obama is out of touch with families”. There’s a lot of vitriol against either Hilary or Barak by supporters of the other in the comments for news stories like this and I wanted to say my piece about how we need to structure the debate to come out of this contest with a Democrat in the White House. Enjoy!

Perhaps I am being silly here, but who here support[s] John McCain?

Anyone?

Going once…

Fine.

So, rather than trying to find the most effective way to put down Hilary (she doesn’t have a normal family because her husband cheats and her daughter overachieves. Well, anyone seen the divorce rate or the growth in women attending Law and Med school? Husbands (and wives) cheat and their children fight their way to the top. Her family outline seems pretty darn normal to me) or the best way to put down Barak (out of touch. Well, yes, all three of the candidates are millionaires. I don’t care what their personal net worth is if they support the policies I support).

How about we distinguish how they will beat John McCain, because right now he’s the lumbering turtle in this rabbit race and to be effective in November both candidates must finds ways to distinguish themselves by beating *him* down.

Clinton doesn’t want to spend 100 years in Iraq.

Obama doesn’t want to overturn Roe V Wade and bring coat-hangers into the bathrooms of our daughters, mothers and wives.

McCain is the real enemy, I am cool with passionate debate but I know come November, I will vote for *anyone* rather than John McCain.

Both candidates do it for me.

I still support Clinton. However now every argument I have with my Obama friends always ends with “but I will vote for either rather than John McCain, who hates babies”.

(Btw, I say John McCain hates babies because he would rather they be born and then starved, beaten or microwaved to death than that they be aborted. Sounds like hate to me).

See, I don’t mind being vitriolic when it is against a candidate whose view on abortion, equal rights and proper military deployment are anathema to me.

Inspirational Quote:

But language is a treacherous thing, a most unsure vehicle, and it can seldom arrange descriptive words in such a way that they will not inflate the facts–by help of the reader’s imagination, which is always ready to take a hand and work for nothing, and do the bulk of it at that.
- Mark Twain Following the Equator

Clever Spam

Sometimes it takes nothing but pure cynicism and an eye for grammatical errors to tell what is Spam. Especially when craigslist replies mean someone might be contacting me for a job…

from H & F FABRICS <patricksnell2008@live.com>
reply-to patricksnell2008@live.com,
[...]

I have been directed to bring to you the offer of work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly. We are glad to offer you for a job position at our company, H & F FABRICS. We need someone to work for the company as a Representative/Book keeper in the USA/CANADA. This is in view of our not having an office presently in the USA/CANADA. You don’t need to have an Office and this certainly wont disturb any form of work you have going at the moment. Our integrated yarn and fabric manufacturing operations use state-of-the-art textile equipment from the world’s leading suppliers. Order processing, production monitoring and process flow are seamlessly integrated through a company-wide computer network.

* The average monthly income is about 1500.00 USD.

Your tasks are:

1. Receive payment from Customers

2. Cash Payment at your Bank

3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed

4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the

offices Payment is to be forwarded either by Money Gramm or Western Union Money Transfer) or any Local Money transfers take barely hours, so it will give us a possibility to get customer’s payment almost immediately. For example you’ve got 3000.00 USD, you take your income: $300.00 USD Send to us: 2700.00 USD,First month you will have 5-10 transactions on 3000.00-4000.00 USD so you may calculate your income.For example 10 transactions on 3500.00 USD gives you $6300.00 USD Plus your basic monthly salary is 1500.00 USD Total: 3000.00 USD per month After establishing a close co-operation with us you’ll be able to operate with larger orders and you’ll be able to earn more.Our payments will be issued out in your name and you can have them cashed in your bank or other Cashing Services.Deduct your weekly salary and forward the balance to the company via western union money transfer or money gramme money transfer .We understand it is an unusual and incredible job position. This job takes only 3-7 hours per week. You’ll have a lot of free time doing another job, you’ll get good income and regular job.But this job is very challenging and you should understand it. We are looking only for the worker who satisfies our requirements and will be an earnest assistant. We are glad to offer this job position to you. If you feel that you are a serious and earnest worker and you want to work for H & F FABRICS, kindly email us and let us know about what your intrest is.

Kindly send all reply to patricksnell2008@live.com

Best Regards

Patrick snell

Also, Patrick Snell is CNN correspondent, not the head of a fictitious scamming clothing producer. Also, see the ScamAlert posting. While the warning is a little hysterical, it is right–if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Inspirational Quote:

But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.-Mark Twain Letter to Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, 2/7/1907

Things I don’t care about in this presidential race

Top 3 things which I don’t care about:

1. The cost of any of the candidate’s haircuts
2. Any of their pastors’s soundbytes, co-professors’s political actions, or spouse’s affairs
3. Their clothing

There are so many interesting issues–health care, tuition afford ability, constitutional preservation–that these quick print issues are just, well, irritating.

Inspirational Quote:

“Everyday throughout America, the Overspeeder runs over somebody and ‘escapes.’ That is the way it reads. At present the ‘mobile numbers are so small that ordinary eyes cannot read them, upon a swiftly receding machine, at a distance of a hundred feet–a distance which the machine has covered before the spectator can adjust his focus. I think I would amend the law. I would enlarge the numbers, and make them readable at a hundred yards. For overspeeding–first offence–I would enlarge the figures again, and make them readable at three hundred yards–this in place of a fine, and as a warning to pedestrians to climb a tree.”
- Mark Twain, “Overspeeding,” Harper’s Weekly, 11/5/1905 (from a letter to the editor dated 10/18/1905)

Press Release for Saltnote Stageworks Festival

Shameless self promotion, but I am really exited about this festival, so here goes:

PS: I am playing the 3rd Genii in The Magic Flute, and expect to be in the choruses for Carmina Burana, Pagliacci coro, Ragtime, Sour Angelica and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.

Come watch!

Huge Month-Long Music Festival Coming to Maryland

Stageworks Festival is new and it’s exciting!

The PROGRAM is the largest Young Artist Festival in North America, with over 100 participants from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia uniting to present 17 consecutive evenings of performances in opera (Carmina Burana, The Magic Flute, Pagliacci & Suor Angelica), musical theater (Ragtime), jazz (with highlights from Porgy and Bess), Big Band, chamber works (Mostly Mozart), cabaret and more! All this with Grammy-Award winning conductors, Broadway directors, a music director from LA Opera, faculty from The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Kennedy Center, NYC Opera and leading universities and conservatories throughout the world, and world-class guest artists, Michael Maniaci, Rebecca Turner, and Stephen Reid.

The PERFORMANCES are local (Village Green in Indian Head, Maryland) and economical ($5 tickets for Monday-Thursday evening programs; $8-$10 for Friday-Sunday evening programs).

The PARTICIPANTS include youth, adults, faculty, students, technicians, paid staff, and volunteers.

The PROMISE is one of world-class professional entertainment for our community while promoting, encouraging, and training emerging young artists!
The young artists who will be attending and performing in Stageworks Festival possess the raw talent and strong desire necessary to succeed as the musicians and performers of tomorrow. Providing these young adults with the training and opportunities that will be afforded them this summer is the dream of Artistic Director and Waldorf resident, Lisa Kay Morton. Her goal is to make Stageworks Festival an annual event in Indian Head, Maryland: top-notch training and performance opportunities for young artists, while simultaneously giving the local community 17 consecutive evenings of world-class, but low-cost musical entertainment!

While the participants converge upon Charles County on June 6, 2008, the concerts won’t begin until June 13th, but run each evening thereafter through June 29th.

Details about Stageworks Festival can be found at www.stageworksfestival.org

Inspirational Quote:

You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, “Why not?”–George Bernard Shaw

Overheating labtop mini-hack

ok, so I know it’s because Amelia (my Macbook Pro)’s fan is not so effective right now. And I will take her to an Apple Store when I get home to CA. However, until then, I didn’t like how her screen froze and her fan whirred and she got hotter and hotter. I was scared for my Amelia. So I thought. And thought. And it was 6am and I needed to finished my course registration so I stopped thinking, and I got my medical icepack out of the freezer, put it on my bed, put a tarry cloth on top of it and put Amelia–battery squarely on the icepack–on top.

At that point she was nearly uncomfortable to touch she was so hot, but as I was adding and moving classes I could feel her body cooling dramatically. And now she is good!

Inspirational Quote:

“The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions.” - Mike Krzyzewski

A Cool Way to Prep for Finals

One of my friends recently blogged about limiting his “infoporn” intake which I thought was an interesting idea. I have limited my access to novels before (during the crunch weeks of college admissions) but never thought to limit my “trashy news” input. Here is his interesting post called Going on an Information Diet.

Inspirational Quote:

If someone wants a sheep, then that means that he exists.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery