It's only April...

Well...the Yankees began this young Major League Baseball season with Bronx Hero, Andy Pettite, and staff ace, Chien-Ming Wang, on the DL...since their returns both Mussina and Pavano have gone onto the DL as well...Pavano's case is particularly frustrating because the guy has been injured more than an underweight sumo wrestler since the Yanks acquired him a couple of seasons ago.

Tonight, the Yankees are back in the Bronx to face the division-leading Boston Red Sox and attempt to halt a 7-game losing streak...their longest in 7 years. This kid Jeff Karstens goes to the mound, fresh off the DL himself, and fresh off getting his brains bashed in by the BoSox last weekend in Boston. Karstens gets hit by a line drive on the 6th pitch of the night...broken fibula...perfect. He'll probably be gone for 2 months. Great.

Needless to say things have not been going well in the Bronx...Now, facing a 7 game skid, and another pitcher on the disabled list, in last place, sitting one our fifth straight loss to the hated Red Sox and our 8th loss overall. (Who knows when the hell that last happened)

What happens?

Another rookie, Kei Igawa, comes in, pitches 6 scoreless, and gets the win...Rivera saves it, Posade hits a bomb. Yankees win, thaaaaaaa Yankees win.

Now call me crazy, but I'm a Yankee fan and ya know, honestly I like our chances this year. The baseball season is long...lots of things can happen. That's one of the reasons why it is such a wonderful, fantastic, stupendous game.

A Ray of Sunshine

My girlfriend, Courtney, has been visiting her family and friends on the West Coast for a while now. Far too long, for my tastes, because I really miss her. Part of the reason she went out there was to get the car that her mother bought for her as a graduation present and drive it back to Ithaca. Remarkably, the car that her mom got her is a green, '68 VW Bus. I saw the thing last year when we were out there and it is pretty amazing. It has all of the amenities of the classic camper, and from what I understand her Mom has spent the last year repairing and restoring the hell out of it. I, for one, am very excited about it, as if seeing my baby for the first time in 2 months wasn't enough.

Here's a pic of "the Bus" we took when we were out in Cali last summer.




So as I write they are together (Courtney and her mom) driving back East. And while I was composing that last post (you know the sad and bitter one about how crappy our President is), she called to tell me a little anecdote from the road.

Court said that she was driving her VW Bus through her old school's parking lot in Arkansas, en route to visit some of her old teachers I guess. And she drove by a group of Sixth graders walking into the school, like 12 and 13 year olds, Arkansas natives. And they all waved to her enthusiastically and threw up Peace Signs with their little 12-year-old hands. She was surprised and thrilled to say the least. So stoked that she called me.

Isn't that cool that a bunch of kids from Arkansas associate "the Bus," as we have been calling it, with Peace. There is hope for us humans I think. And everytime I get a chance to interact with kids I am reminded of that. It is one of the many reasons I am so excited to become a teacher. Also, it is pretty weird, that she called to tell me about kids flashing peace signs in Arkansas, as I was writing to advocate Peace on my blog from my laptop in Ithaca. So yeah...like I said before...

Peace.

The News...

I apologize in advance for being so damned serious on this blog. I will blog some fun-loving things like Dave does in the near future, I swear.

Anyway, as many of you know.... Actually when I say "many of you" I really don't know who the hell I think I'm talking to. I mean there can't be more than 3 or 4 people that actually read this blog ever. How does that work exactly? Are we allowed to speak on our blog as though we are actually speaking to the vast Internet community, even when, in reality, we know we have a readership of a stout, but paltry, few? I dunno. But I like doing it. [By the way Dr. Mary Kennedy recently informed me that "Internet" must always be capitalized in formal writing. Did any of you Masselink kids ever hear that? It was news to me.]

Ok..so yeah..As many of you probably know the House passed a funding bill this week for the War, that included a timetable for withdrawal. The Senate followed suit yesterday. The unfortunate fact is that "our" President has already emphatically stated that he will veto any bill that involves a plan to get us out of Iraq. And we don't have the numbers in Congress to overide that veto.

So now we have both the Senate and the House, agreeing that we must set a timetable for Iraq. We have 71% of Americans dissaproving of the way Bush is handling the war (including 93% of Dems), and 64% supporting a timetable similar to the one just passed in Congress, 59% approve specifically of the bill just passed, according to a poll conducted by CBS News/NY Times this week. We have all kinds of Iraq war vets, supporting withdrawal. the most recent, reliable, poll from Zogby I could find indicates that overall 72% !! of American soldiers in Iraq supported withdrawal by 2006! The poll was conducted at the beginning of last year. There have been more recent reports of our own soldiers dissaproval of the War effort that I can't find links for right now. Besides all of that the Iraq citizens themselves want us out to the tune of 70%, more than half now feel attacks on U.S troops are justified!!!

So, I mean the bottom line is that support for the war at this point only exists with the President and with those Republicans in Congress too stupid, and too loyal, to realize that he is at the helm of a sinking ship. If Bush persists in vetoeing bills that make plans for withdrawal, which he is very likely to do, the war will go on despite our wishes. And to the detriment of America, Iraq and on some levels the entire world. More Americans will die for a cause that is basically, at this point, nonexistent.

Things are worse now in Iraq than they were under Saddam. And not simply with regard to the level of violence-- even schools and hospitals, and basic utilities are in worse shape. The reasons that the President used to lead us to war have all been debunked, at this point. There was no good reason to go there in the first place and there is no good reason to stay now. The President is undoubtedly worried that failure in Iraq, will mean a failure in his Administration. He has focused all of his energy into one basket, and if those egss break he has nothing. The guy is obsessed with his legacy and still believes that he is a great man, and a great leader. If he has to pull out of Iraq, he might have to face the reality that his legacy will not be a glorious one. I mean think of all the terrible things that have happened on his watch. If he is forced to withdraw from Iraq, his last hope of salvaging anything decent from his presidency will be squashed. For Bush, I believe, it is completely personal now for him. He is using the lives and resources of America to vainly and naively attempt to save his name from disgrace. History will bear witness to the utter and dismal failure of his Presidency, and we will look back on these post-911 years as some of the worst in our nation's history. It is a sad and terrible thing. But the only way to make it better for all of us, is to start doing the right thing again. And start doing it right away. Bush is determined to drag this war out for the rest of his term so he doesn't have to face the consequences of his actions. I fear that the only way we can ensure troop withdrawal is to impeach the moron, or wait til November '08 and make damn sure we vote in a Democrat who is committed to ending the War. I am ashamed to say thats what it has come to. The President will be studied for all time however. Because he has exploited every possible weakness in the U.S. Government system. He has abused his power ever time he was been able to and to this point we haven't been able to stop him. It is really f*cked up that the system is still set up to the point where a rogue leader can so thoroughly control the fate of this once great Nation. I always thought that we were beyond this kind of thing, but I am afraid we are not.

Supporting the troops does not mean supporting the President, it means getting us the hell out of there as soon as possible. If your still not sure, check out VoteVets.org . Here's a sample of one of the most popular vids from the site.






Impeach the President.

Take a stand for Peace, and for responsibility.

I guess I'm back...

The thing is, I just don't really understand the whole blog thing yet...I never really think to go to the blog, when I have something I want to talk about...I don't know why I don't, I should...I definitely should, I just don't think of it...anyway. I have been writing all of these mass-e-mail-style rants to my peoples lately and I just realized that I should really just blog it instead. I have a lot to say about all of the moronic things that John McCain has been saying and doing lately for example, but I keep forgetting/neglecting to post it...

So today, well tonight, I was just cruising looking for info about the Neuvo-Folk (made that up..I guess I'm supposed to call it "Freak Folk")band, Oakley Hall. Andy turned me on to these guys, and I have only heard the album, Gypsum Strings, so far (about 6 times)but these guys are alot of fun...I think there's at least one girl involved too. Anyway they're pretty damn good at playing rock music, and while searching for info about them I stumbled onto this blog. These guys on this site get to a bunch of cool shows, and offer some interesting insights. You kind of have to scroll and search for a minute to get a sense of all the great shows they review. They also have some interesting links on there. So yeah, check it out if ya like....

Hello Folks

Happy almost Christmas...
I saw this offer for teachers on the web. Seems pretty cool. The folks at participate.net are giving away copies of An Incovenient Truth, the Al Gore, movie. I think they have something like 50,000 to give away. Check it out!!!

My Final Multimedia Project

I ended up using googlepages to make my website rather than freewebs. I have to admit that the issue of ad banners was my only consideration. I just hate them. I feel that both programs are user-friendly and have good options. I chose to write about revision and editing on my website, because it is an area that I have done a lot of work with, and that I felt I could make the most comprehensive and useful contribution in. They say to write what you know, and this topic is something I have really learned about. I wanted to supply a resource that others might find useful, rather than a website that was for me personally. In retrospect, I wish I had dressed my site up a bit more. The topic of how to teach revision and editing is not terribly exciting, but some of the activities and strategies were actually exciting for me as a student teacher. I feel like I can help students with their writing with confidence now, and that's pretty exciting for English geeks like me (us). So I could definitely have given my website more of an exciting vibe. I think I will probably go back and tweek it a bit somewhere down the road

On my second go through googlepages, I felt really confident about the program. Making a website is far from the mysterious and technical process it once was for me. I do have alot to learn, but I feel like this class has given me a new perspective on access to the web. You can do just about everything you want to do on the web, as long as you look in the right places and have the motivation. Just the simple process of getting out there and making a website or two, making a blog, making and contributing to a wiki has really demystified the whole process. It makes it even harder to figure out the old school of teachers that are so afraid of the web. I feel like a couple of simple assignments for each of these teachers to do over the summer or something, would completely wipe away their apprehension toward cyberspace. Why don't administrators try that? I guess its because the administrators themselves usually don't feel it will be useful either.

Map maker, map maker, make me a map...

506 has definitely redrawn my personal map of what is possible and practical in the classroom. I have always been a fan of the internet and of digital technology in general, but I had never given serious thought to the ways I could put this affinity to use in my classroom. Above all, 506 has forced me to address the issue of computers and their increasingly undeniable relationship to English teaching. Before this semester, I had never had a blog before, and I had never even been a regular contributor to or reader of someone else’s blog. My exposure to the blogosphere through 506 has been fantastic. I am officially in love with the read/write web. Even the class wiki, which I have only recently gotten into and primarily because it will help my grade, has the potential to be an excellent learning tool. I have become a major supporter of Wikipedia as well. I used to go to Wikipedia once in awhile as change of pace or as a last resort when I couldn’t find what I was looking for through more traditional web resources. Now, I view it as the absolute best way to access encyclopedia-friendly information. It is my go to, my first choice. (Digression: I particularly love going to Wikipedia for info about narrow or obscure bits of pop culture…because wiki pages for no name musicians and stuff are usually produced by the band’s biggest fan they are often more comprehensive than anything you could get otherwise, even from the bands own website in many cases) I think that wikis can work as a way to supercharge group activities and group learning. They offer flexibility (by allowing students who have computers at home to work on their own schedule) and freedom, two things that appeal to increasingly quick thinking and busy youngsters.

But the thing I am most excited about is the use of blogs. I strongly believe that blogging can be a great way to extend class discussions, and have new discussions that might otherwise be impossible in the classroom. Anyone, who still has doubts about using blogs with your classes need only check out the stuff Chris is doing with his classes. Those blogs are fantastic, educational and really fun. In fact, the confluence of education and fun may be the mostly unsung benefit of these read/write technologies. It is a great answer for teachers who are having trouble connecting with or engaging their students. Not to mention the street cred you can get from having a really sweet class blog!!! I love the individual freedom to express that characterizes the blogs, and I think freedom can be a wonderful thing in an English class. I think the lack of freedom to interpret and invent that marks traditional English pedagogy has probably been the discipline’s biggest mistake all these years. The writing James did on his personal website has inspired me to rediscover the basics of English teaching. We need to think about what it is about literature that we love and impart these things to our students. People didn’t start writing and reading because they had to for class, or because they knew it would help them get a job. They did it because of the universal human desire to express, to interact and to share in life’s beautiful struggle with other people. It sounds funny, but in this sense, the internet might be able to help us get back to basics. If we can find ways to produce eager readers and writers all the other BS- Regents et al -will take care of itself.

Now the one thing I have to admit I am not yet excited about, is the Multimedia Apps and their usefulness in the classroom. My experience to this point indicates that the relationship between multimedia projects and teaching English is vague at best. And the time they require is almost prohibitive. Even the stuff we saw from Shade Gomez’s classes was less than inspiring. The videos and stuff were cool, some displayed a lot of talent and creativity, but I still can’t see devoting weeks and weeks of class time to it. Maybe once a year or something. I’m not even that excited about their benefit for us in 506. I think a class that focused on the power of the internet and emerging read/write technologies could be just as useful. Now it is true that I was trumping up the idea of “fun” a mere paragraph ago, and the multimedia apps can certainly be that. But we have to be able to marry the fun to learning. We have to be producing better readers and writers and critical thinkers and I am not sure I have seen a strong case for that to this point with making an IMovie. That being said I am glad for the experience. And I am inspired to use these kinds of apps in my private life after 506. I just can’t see their value in the classroom as clearly as I would like to. In the sense that any new technology requires one to think critically and problem-solve, multimedia apps are useful. But to me this isn’t a compelling argument for their use in an English classroom.

I want to give a shout out to one of my favorite people, Sarah Ostrom. Her "link happy" post inspired me to get a little link happy with this one. Thanks Sarah!!