Facebook Reunion

FACEBOOK MADE IT HAPPEN!

I recently got in touch with a high school classmate whom I haven't spoken to in twenty-five years. One quarter of a century. Ugh! I'm getting older.

Anyway, we weren't terribly close back then. We were both kids who did well in school, participated in after school activities, and then went home. Both Steve and I really didn't have a network of close friends to hang out with, and needless to say we weren't party people.

I'm struck today by how much we have in common. His information list-of-interests practically reads like mine, and he's terrific writer. Within a day, we exchanged a huge batch of reminiscences, some good and some bad. We grew up in a very small town in upstate New York, a place that was claustrophobic for people like us - folks who like culture, museums, and diversity. He now lives in Yonkers, and lived previously in Manhattan. We probably would have been friends if we had given each other half a chance.

It was fun remembering our teachers- the boring ones, the zany ones, the amazingly inspirational ones, and the deceased ones that live only in our memories. It really hit me through my correspondence with Steve how much teachers matter and make us the adults we are today. We both remember how Mr. Wray played the B-52s in English class how we were both blown away, having never heard anything like it before.

Jumping Out of an Airplane Senior Project Style

Eleven hours ago, the students in the Senior Project Seminar Class jumped out of an airplane - not a real one, of course, but a metaphorical one.

Last night in the media center, students, sponsors, mentors, teachers, administrators, and family members gathered to help celebrate the official kick off of the Seminar. Mr. Snyder brought along Dunkin donuts and bagels because, hey, what's a celebration without food?

The students were all aware that they would have to deliver some kind of brief shpiel about their projects to the audience, but nothing could suppress the sweaty palms and racing hearts. For a few minutes each, they would plunge into a place that, according to The Book of Lists, more people fear over death or disease - public speaking. I remember Jerry Sienfeld saying once that at a funeral, most of us would rather be the stiff in a casket rather than the one giving the eulogy.

I could read the panic in some of the students' eyes and if you listened carefully, you could hear the pounding hearts. A couple students seemed desperate to want to cling to the paragraph they had prepared earlier.

And then it happened. They jumped out of the plane one at a time. There was no need to create an order. They instinctively knew who would follow whom. We had done some public speaking in class earlier this year, but this was different. We were literally surrounded by adults and strangers!

My dad told me stories of how he jumped out of planes during his soldier days in the 82nd Airborne. In some ways, our Lindenwold students bested him because public speaking, as I mentioned before, trumps death and disease, situations much more dire than jumping out of a plane with a parachute strapped to your back.

When they were through speaking, each student floated back to Earth. The adrenaline quickly washed away, but the memory will always remain with them. They can do this!

Joy - Inside the Actor's Studio

As I write this entry, I'm watching Inside the Actor's Studio, an eternally fresh, fifteen-year-old program on the Bravo network. Conan O'brien, the hilarious host of "Late Night," sits opposite James Lipton, who is a living paradox, a host who is both wacky and stoic. Over the years, he has interviewed hundreds of the most famous actors ever to grace the stage and screen. Try it by clicking on the link! You're sure to find a favorite actor sitting opposite Lipton:

http://www.bravotv.com/Inside_the_Actors_Studio/season/15/guests/index.php

I like to think I'm a creative bloke, but Conan is absolute light years ahead of me, and I am simply in awe of him. He is unpredictable and unreasonably funny. The man percolates with enthusiasm and joy. He would have made a brilliant teacher. I suppose good teaching is a kind of performance, and there needs to be somewhat of a sense of "What's-he-going-to-do next?".

Maybe I should watch more stand up and more of these exceedingly clever late night T.V. shows to keep getting tips and inspiration that could fuel my lessons.

Sadness

Nearly everyone who knows me well is aware that I'm a compulsive newspaper reader. Today a column in the Sunday Inquirer caught my eye. Tucked away on page A6 was a column about a Brazilian supermodel who died from horrible infection, and featured right alongside was this photo of a beautiful, smiling girl.

I'm not going to go into gory details about her a short life filled with potential, a life cut down by an insidious bacterial infection that required doctors to amputate both hands and feet in an extreme, futile attempt to save her life. You can read it for yourself. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/38287079.html

The treatment failed. In December Mariana Bridi was riding a fast-track modeling career that promised to catapult her family out of poverty; a month later, her body is turning into clay and dust, a twenty-year old body shut down by a flukey virus

Of all the weighty articles that I read today, this one most captured my attention. Maybe it's because she is just a wisp older than many of my students, so many of whom think they're immortal, intoxicated by youth. Maybe it's because her life seems so tragic. For a supermodel to have her hands and feet amputated... Now I'm thinking of all the sad stories I've read about, all of those poor children from the wars in the Congo brutally robbed of their limbs by machete-wielding animals.

I told my students that I want their journals to focus on positive stuff and personal development. I realize now that this can't happen all the time. I'm very depressed as I complete this entry.

If I can carry away a positive from all of this, maybe it should be to simply be more thankful for my health, the health of my family and friends, and for the health of my students whom I shall see tomorrow. I'm reminded of our mortality, and that we're here for such a short time.

R.I.P Marianna Bridi

Dedication Around the Piano

I've been sitting in the band room for over an hour watching the music coach for the Spring musical, Tim Carroll, teach music to Jess Rowand, Matt Weil, and Craig Pate. Over and over and over again, they rehearse The Rain in Spain, dissecting it, buffing it, molding it, and blending it. Mr. Carroll really is the consummate professional, and he doesn't miss a nuance or a note. Sometimes he veers a little off topic, but every bit of what he does positively contributes to the the students' understanding of the music. He dutifully teaches the stuff from the musical, and as I write he's giving them context by telling them about Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody. Good teaching demands that we teachers meander, and Tim is a darned good teacher.

Most of the people in the audience haven't the vaguest inkling of the hours spent rehearsing. The Rain in Spain has taken manu days to prepare and it will be over in three minutes when showtime hits.

"Yes we can."

What does "Yes We Can," the message that propelled President Obama's ascension to the White House, mean for you?

This quote reminds me of a favorite quote by Henry Ford: "Whether you think you can or can't, you're right." Basically, it all boils down to choices we make. We can decide to harness our creativity, stamina, and focus in order to realize goals. Or we can choose to go through life limiting ourselves, putting down our capabilities, and allowing obstacles and negativity to smother our dreams.

The founder and former chairman of Kinkos, the copy shop bought out by Fedex, exemplifies the motto - "Yes We Can." His name is Paul Orfalea and when I was a younger man, he inspired me very much. I worked for Kinko's from 1993 to 2000, and for a handful of years savored a lucrative, fun career as a store manager. During our annual summer picnics in places like Honolulu, Orlando, Las Vegas, and San Diego, Paul cheerfully mingled with 600 of us managers, one from each Kinko's store. Here I am in a picnic photo with Paul.

He did horribly in school. Nobody knew he was dyslexic with ADHD because back in the late Fifties and Sixties people didn't know about this stuff. Teachers wrote him off, but he refused to let people label him as stupid. In college he had the foresight to start his own business by making the then new technology of photo copies affordible and accessible for college students at his Santa Barbara campus. The company started in 1971 with single copy machine and a dream. Over the years, Paul created a copy empire that generated over a billion dollars per year in sales, making him a fantastically wealthy man. To close with a quote from my old beloved boss:

"You can either complain or look for opportunity in every problem. I prefer opportunity," Paul says in his book . In other words, "Yes you can;" it's your decision.

Check out the link to learn more about Paul: http://www.evancarmichael.com/Famous-Entrepreneurs/2152/Paul-Orfalea-Quotes.html

Beyonce

What quality about Barack Obama most inspires you?

At last Tuesday's Inaugural Neighborhood Ball, I was struck by Beyonce emotionally sharing with America that President Obama inspires her to want to be "smarter," and I feel very much the same way. Smartness to me means reading and digesting books, learning more not for grades but for the sake of simply learning more, and empathizing and dialoguing more with others who don't share my opinions, lifestyle, or standard of living. Being smart means taking my level of knowledge and wisdom to the next level.

Personally, I admire people who are smarter and more well-read than I. Unlike skilled athletes who all grow old and incapacitated, or wealthy people who can be prone to losing their millions, brainy readers like President Obama become exponentially wiser with age. We all can't become adept athletes or inhabit 10,000 square foot houses, but we all have free and easy access to great ideas and fine books by means of the library, Internet, and teachers.

Will President Obama inspire millions of Americans to pack the libraries as movie fans pack a Loews for two hours on a Saturday night? Probably not. But I have confidence that he will start to inspire more of us to better ourselves by walking the talk when it comes to learning, reading, and thinking more. See you at Barnes and Noble, Beyonce!

President Obama's Lack of Cuff-links

Like untold tens of millions of Americans today, I watched the inaugural speech by an incredibly gifted man who shares my love for ideas and, like me, knows that words and writing are magical. Unlike everyone else, I'll wager that I was one of the very few to notice that under that thin-looking black overcoat and dark suit, our new President's shirt was sans cuff-links. I think this speaks volumes about Barack Obama.

I don't mean to knock men who like wearing cuff-links, but I think in this day and age, those who tend to wear them a lot might be more prone to having vanity issues, much more so than the rest of us who keep away from fancy, overpriced shirts that require cuffs connected by clasps of pretentious bling. In my mind, absence of cuff-links on my president's shirt during his inauguration day proves his humility.

I wonder what President Obama would prefer to wear if given the choice, a chunky Timex sports watch or a sleek, shimmery Rolex adorned with a few diamond chips? My money says he'd go for the former. This is a man not concerned with fancy stuff. This is a man who will route out the type of greed that has caused our economy to implode.

***After-note*** I did see President Obama during the ball-hop wearing cuff-links with tux, but hey, it's a tux, not a business suit, so I understand!

A Student Lost and Found

s I sat in the food court of a local mall earlier this evening, a vaguely familiar student walked up to my table and said hello. I barely recognized him, and never would have nailed his name if he hadn't told me. Why? A few years ago, he transferred to my class, staying for only a month or two. Every year I have a few students like him, young men and women whose names inhabit my attendance sheet, but whose bodies and minds are a million metaphorical miles away. Sometimes they goof off, crying out for attention, and other times they want simply to be left alone, resisting all attempts for me to teach or connect with them. They are usually absent, just like this young man. Tragically, they often drop out, going to a place beyond my reach.

Our man, who in this blog shall remain nameless, sat down and told me how he decided to turn his life around because he saw how he was driving his future into a deep pit, blowing off school, hanging with the wrong crowd, and wasting his potential. Without help or guidance from parents, he took the initiative to focus on his studies while becoming an independent man with his own set of wheels. He explained how he skillfully and patiently interviewed his way into an excellent job that requires him to multi-task and to exhibit reliability at every turn, and yes, he is still in high school. He handles thousands of dollars of cash during every shift. He spoke like a thirty year old man, commanding both the English language and my intense respect. This is a leader going places.

He told me, more or less, to keep fighting for the kids who were like him - the ones who seem swallowed alive by their environment, the ones who fight us teachers and resist getting educated, the ones who seem as if they have no hope.
EVERYONE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO TURN IT AROUND. WE ALL NEED TO HEAR SOMETHING POSITIVE SAID ABOUT OURSELVES. EVERYONE.

A Field Trip to the Zoo!

I spent Saturday night sleeping under The Treehouse at the Philadelphia Zoo, right next to my son. It was a very cool field trip, and my son's cub scout troop, along with the troop out of Lindenwold led by Mrs. Bickerdyke, had a blast. We had the place to ourselves, and got a chance to see a special room closed to the public, filled with fascinating snakes and lizards. Each had a drawer-cubby all its own, and I saw one critter that was a combination of a snake and lizard. I also learned that an armadillo is a mammal. For almost half a century I could have sworn it was a reptile.

In the morning a docent, who looked a lot like an older Robin Hood, led us around the zoo. Richard explained that he started working at the zoo in the mid 70's and just retired. Here he was now volunteering as a docent, waking early on a frigid Sunday morning to take a handful of us scouts around the zoo. This gentle, smart man loved zoo-keeping, regaling us with stories of escaped critters, the resurgence of bald eagles, testosterone-saturated female lions with manes, and loads of kooky stuff. I thought of Poe's quote about how enthusiastic people bring a kind of eloquence to what they do.

Excellence On The Job

Like the rest of the country, I watched what dominated the front pages and news networks yesterday: the emergency landing of the jet plane on the Hudson River. This was literally the coldest day that we experienced in years. If it weren't for the amazing man in the cockpit, Chelsey Sullenberger, the 150 passengers on board US Airways Flight 1549 would have surely been exposed to hypothermia, or badly hurt, or killed. Pretty much everyone made it home last night. People described Captain Sullenberger as "the pilot's pilot." Here's what the Inquirer reported about him in today's paper:

"He earned his pilot's license at 14, was named best aviator in his class at the Air Force Academy, flew fighter jets, investigated air disasters, mastered glider flying, and even studied the psychology of how cockpit crews behave in a crisis.

This is someone who has not just spent his life flying airplanes, but has actually dug very deeply into what makes these things work, and I think he proved it," said Robert Bea, a civil engineer who has known Sullenberger for a year."

How many people spend their lives obsessing about how to improve themselves on the job? What a glorious gift to be in a profession that inspires a person to learn more every day, to "dig deeply into what makes these things work."


I think Martin Luther King understood the stuff that makes professionals like Sullenberger tick, and he evidences it with the quote that I put next to his image. I want all of the students in my senior seminar class, and all the rest of my students for that matter, to one day find themselves in a profession for which they feel PASSION. I guess at the end of the race, when we're six feet under, we all want them to say, "Here is a great (fill in the blank) who did his job well."

Poe and Our Men's Basketball Team

I saw Poe's picture spread across the Magazine section of today's newspaper. I've always had a soft spot for the tortured E.A. Poe since I'm usually drawn to offbeat, creepy stuff (I hope my wife doesn't see this entry).

Anyway, the quote that headed the article, "There is an eloquence in true enthusiasm," really hit home because this is the very stuff that drives me. Watching enthusiastic, passionate people work is absolutely magical, and when things really rattle and hum, they can have the aura of a performer about them. I don't care if the subject is a custodian, a comedian, a cosmetologist, or a clown; enthusiasm should propel us, and if you don't have it, then fake it.

If only Poe could have seen our boys basketball team play Sterling earlier this evening. We lost, but the guys gave the fans a cardiac roller coaster of a game. Enthusiasm and adrenaline provided the a fluency and smoothness that that made nearly every moment a pleasure to watch. Virtuosity is a word that comes to mind.

When I started my teaching career about ten years ago, I came across another related quote that has always inspired me: "I don't teach high school; I teach enthusiasm."

The Book Thief

Some books need a second chance. Last year, Ms. Baggs suggested that I read The Book Thief. I tried the first ten pages and just didn't feel it, so I discreetly returned it, my tail between my legs. A few weeks ago, another friend said, "Larry, you must read The Book Thief; it is your kind of novel." I decided to try something new...

Last summer, I became a rabid fan of audiobooks, so over winter break I effortlessly downloaded this novel. After five minutes of listening, I was completely smitten. The man narrating it has a British accent that sounds like it's been marinated by cigarettes and age, and he expertly lapses into a smorgasbord of German flavored tones and cadences. Lately, I've been bouncing back and forth between listening to the novel and reading it. I listen to the novel when I clean the kitchen and take my walks around the neighborhood. It has become my friend.

(Interested in free audiobooks, gentle reader? Check out http://sjrlc.lib.overdrive.com/7246968A-03B4-43C1-A015-C7FA3D93CA0B/10/337/en/Default.htm )

The novel is set in Nazi Germany, and the protagonist,who is the book thief, is a preteen girl living in foster care who becomes adept at stealing books. She and her family are excruciatingly poor, and extremely kind; they can't stand Hitler and the Nazis. They daringly hide a Jew in their basement, an offense punishable by imprisonment, torture, and maybe even death. The amazingly creative facet about the novel is that the omniscient narrator is Death, with a capital "D." Yes, Death, is relaying this poignant story that focuses on Liesel, the young and wily protagonist.

"Like people, books sometimes need second chances."
- Mr. Abrams

Journal Prompt Grab Bag - $1,000,000,000

If I had $1,000,000 dollars I would keep my day job. When I was young, a million dollars seemed like an fantastically huge amount of money,and I suppose it was in the 70's and 80's, but now it seems almost paltry. A person could never retire on the interest generated by that kind of cash, for having a cool million in a savings account would generate $15,000 per year tops. To put it into the stock market these days? Yikes!

Not to be completely boring, this is what I'd do...

1. Firstly, put half in the bank and half in the stock market via my 401k and IRA (and there must be some bargain stocks out there.


2. I would use the funds to finance an international vacation with my family each year - France, Israel, Russia, Argentina, China, Japan, Mexico, Africa, Australia, Galapagos.... Here we come! A nice three week vacation each year will cost about $20 grand a pop!


3. I would put $100,000 into a safe college fund for each of my children.


4. Charity must not be forgotten. If a million dollars suddenly came my way, I'd cut a $20,000 check for some kind of charity.


5. I'd spend about $20,000 or so for upgrades on our house. We'd like new siding, a finished basement, and a nice backyard deck.

Lincoln: What he wanted as a young man.

With every page from my chosen self-improvement book, Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, I learn something new about our greatest president. Today on page 24 I read an excerpt that he wrote when he was about 24 and seeking his first political position in the Illinois state legislature.

"Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it is true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed by my fellow man, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem."

Wow! Here is a young man who cares passionately about earning the good will and respect of other people. How different from crumb-bum politicians who don't give a damn about citizens' opinions.

I would hope that good teachers and professionals would want to feel the same as young Lincoln, that it is important to be esteemed by both students,customers, and colleagues. I can't stand it when authority figures immaturely reason, "If they don't like me then I don't have to like them." Lately, I've been thinking of the magnificent teacher Lincoln would have made. Lucky for us that he went on to climb the politcal ladder right into the White House!

Grades?!

I asked my students how a teacher should go about grading their journal entries. They know that journaling is a significant part of their Senior Project Seminar grade, but how does one go about grading something like a blog entry when there is no precedent? I modeled for them what a week's worth of entries should look like, and my entries, though probably probably primitive by expert standards, are rich with text and images.

I established that proper English is important, and entries riddled with misspellings and egregious grammar errors will receive points off.

• Is it fair for the frequency of the entries to be between five and seven per week?
• Should people who go above and beyond be given extra credit?
• What if these people make a mini-presentation to the class, showing how they managed their latest application?
• How do we stretch the Blogger application, and do something that no other WISE group has done (and thus throw Vic for a loop?)
• How do we become networked as a class.

Trip to Northlandz Model Train Museum!!

I spent three hours this afternoon touring a New Jersey gem with my son and his scout den: Northlandz Train Museum. One man named Bruce Williams Zaccagnino spent the better part of thirty years sculpting miniature landscapes in a 50,000 foot warehouse that accommodates 50,000 feet of track on which hundreds of electric trains journey and loop.

The museum is a jaw-dropping, massive display of this amazing man's passion for model trains. His discipline and craftsmanship boggled me and hours later I'm still getting over it. He has the industriousness of an aunt and the creativity of an authentic genius.

Here is an excerpt from the brochure that really struck me because sometimes I really feel it in my teaching: The man's mission is revealed here:

"This is what we do" says Mr. Williams, who along with his wife’s steadfast support works 365 days a year in pursuit of this accomplishment "If you can create your own enthusiasm, you can do anything", he said, "If you maintain that enthusiasm you can do it well". If Ralph Waldo Emerson is correct in that "Nothing great can be achieved without enthusiasm," then something spectacular has happened in Flemington.'"

I INVITE YOU TO CHECK OUT THE PICKS AND VISIT-

http://www.pbase.com/plasma/northlandz

http://www.northlandz.com/

Dumpster Diving for Education.

I've never stolen books as the protagonist does in The Book Thief, the latest novel that has gripped me for the last few days.

I have, however, gone dumpster diving behind the local library and, oh, the sweet finds I've encountered! I never know when the library is going to weed through its stacks and sprinkle discards into the brown dumpster. Upon opening the lid recently, a few Seventeen magazines from the early Seventies greeted me along with several chunky bound volumes of twenty-five year old Smithsonian magazines. I once found a nearly complete set of the Harvard Classics. On another propitious day I scored a the very first issue of the Guinness Book of Superlatives (World Records), mint and 1956, and a treasure trove of adolescent novels. Once I found a very old dictionary nearly the size of a cinder block.

I mainly look out for books so that I can restock a five tiered bookshelf that sits in my room. It is my wish that the once trashed books will find a place in the homes of my students. They may borrow or take.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." --A. Einstein

I've been mulling this quote over for a few days. It all comes down to choice, I suppose. Some people go through life bored. Nothing excites them and clinging to them is a mordant cloud of cynicism or a jaded feeling of "been-there-done-that." Ho Hum.

Or we can chose the alternative. This computer and Internet with which I'm communicating is a miracle. The wooden desk upon which this computer rests is a miracle, grown from a tree that made its own food from sunlight, water, and soil - and shaped by tools fashioned from metal, tools guided by human ingenuity.

I could go on listing hundreds of more miracles that are literarlly ten feet away, but we mustn't get carried away. Or may we?
Thanks, Einstein!

An Education Through TCM

My wife and I sat our kids down in front of the television and had family movie night this evening, courtesty of TCM http://www.tcm.com/index.jsp . Thank goodness for this incredible resource which is something that can give young people like my kids an alternative to the fluffy stream of Disney Channel and Nickelodian programming that saturates young brains.

I saw that the 1934 ultra classic It Happened One Night would be on and called the kids down. This snappy film directed by Frank Capra, and starring Claudet Colbert and Clark Gable, won five Oscars in its day. This film is the daddy of all screwball comedies and durably defines the genre.

I think of how so few modern high school students appreciate music and film older than 1995. At the mention of black and white film, we "old heads" can practically hear the teenage eyes rolling. If parents don't turn kids on to classic films, then it is up to us teachers. We can help students efficiently excavate through the mountains of media and lead them directly to the mother lode - the clusters of gold. The classics are there for the taking. Now for my first video link. Enjoy and archtypal slice of comedy from It Happened One Night!