Starting Over

I'm not sure why, but I've decided to re-launch this whole blog thing. There's so much going on in the world and so much going on in my life.

So, if life really begins at 40, here's what is my life right now:

• Family
• Teaching
• Politics (following rather than participating actively)
• Television
• Music
• Video games
• Reading
• Some sort of social life (a serious challenge with parenting)

The original intention of this blog was to share insight into subjects near and dear to my heart as they unfolded in my life. I left much of that off about the time my first child was born. The second walks and is beginning to talk, so... it has been a while. I guess it's time to update.

Family

Amy and I continue to love our life together. Our girls are wonderful and the older one is celebrating a birthday soon. She's leveling up! She has become more expressive stating how much she loves her family, more curious asking questions about the world and words, more stubborn in refusing to do what we ask, more sensitive in refusing to eat what we offer, and more amazing in the joy she brings to us every day.

The younger one is also a joy. She is growing so fast, now walking and bumping into everything. She constantly tries to play with her elder sister but doesn't know how. She eats most anything we can put in front of her and she's learning to talk. We are doubly blessed.

Teaching

The new job is amazing! Oh yeah. I have a new job. Well, it's not that new anymore, but it's still new relative to this blog.

I'm blessed to work in a small city about 30 minutes from home where I'm entrusted with more than two dozen high-ability students. I attempt to challenge, enrich, and help them in all areas of their academic and social/emotional development while advocating for them and assisting staff in better serving them.

November is National Novel Writing Month, and I've been teaching creative writing to students at work. It's coincidental timing, but it's also an excuse for my own forays into writing. I've got a plot arc sketched out for a novella or a long short story, but it's kind of derivative. Maybe I can clean it up a bit and revise. I'm only about a couple thousand words in and I'll need to pick up the pace significantly if I want to complete it before 11/30.

We began with story prompts/story starters. Students began by showing me variety from the silly to the absurd to the dark and gritty (or at least as dark and gritty as brilliant 10-12 year-olds can write). Seeing their strengths and weaknesses in writing, I decided to focus on three aspects of creative narratives: characters, setting, and conflict. After lessons in all areas (special thank you to Creative Writing Now), students have greatly improved and are just diving into final projects. Many of my students really want to write a novel. I know that is pretty ambitious for the age group, so we're starting with shorter works, but I've told them they can continue to write all that they want.

Politics

Politics. Where to start. Yikes. It's hard to know.

First of all, I've been getting really into listening to Podcasts. Lacking time for reading, especially since it conflicts with commuting, I've started to listen to intelligent analysis of politics and society in order to further educate myself about the world and various worldviews.

The best of these podcasts is definitely Pod Save the World (NSFW language) with Tommy Vietor. Vietor's former role on the National Security Council as spokesperson gives him insight and network connections with major players in the realm of foreign policy as well as respect from many members of Congress regardless of party. His podcast is amazing and I learn every time I listen to it. Of particular quality was his interview with Michael Morell, the former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. They discussed everything from talking with President Bush on 9/11 to the raid on the Abbottabad compound where US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden.

Tommy Vietor, SXSW 2017 (Creative Commons Media)

Vietor needs to run for office. His intelligence, charisma, and passion are too much to be on the sidelines. His party needs him. His country needs him. Democrats should make it their mission to convince him to run for Congress in 2020. Some might point to possible gaffes in his past when dealing with right-wing media outlets (particularly Fox News), but I don't think any Democratic voters will hold them against him.

Returning to the discussion of podcasts, also available from Crooked Media (all NSFW for language) are the amazing shows Pod Save America (about domestic policy, hosted by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfieffer, and Tommy Vietor), and Lovett or Leave It (comedic analysis of the news hosted by Lovett with a panel of three guests that usually includes one professional comedian). They also have Pod Save the People and (changing their naming strategy) With Friends Like These. The newest podcast (as of November 4, 2017) is Crooked Conversations.

An example of what their conversations are like can be found here in a discussion with conservative contributor Tim Miller (who worked on Jeb Bush's 2016 campaign according to Ballotpedia) about the Steele Dossier.

Here's another excellent short video featuring DeRay McKesson (host of Pod Save the People) talking about the Republican Tax Plan from the Pod Save America live tour in Philadelphia. 

DeRay McKesson discussing the Republican tax plan. (Link to Video)

To take a second and talk about Crooked Conversations, I was exceptionally impressed with the premiere episode about media bias. The discussion was incredibly thought-provoking and should probably become required listening in high school government/civics classes. It's an interesting formula involving a deep dive discussion of a topic with experts. Other episodes included discussion of the criminal justice system and the corporatization of breast cancer research.

Crooked Media are not the only podcasts I've been enjoying, and they're not even the only political shows. I've also taken to listening to NPR Politics and less political shows such as This American Life (which I cannot recommend enough) and Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Yes, for some reason, a science podcast counts as politics in this day and age. This nonsense is because so many on the right refuse to believe in science or the conclusions of experts when it contradicts closely-held beliefs. I should correct that statement. "So many on both sides..." There are a number of left-wing science deniers, as well. As Bill Maher pointed out to Tyson in a recent podcast episode. I believe he listed alternative medicine, the Non-GMO movement, people who oppose vaccinations, and people who believe strongly that organic and natural are superior to engineered.

Tyson on Bill Maher's HBO show in 2016

Other political stories that I feel need to be amplified or at least considered:

• Trump continues to take a wrecking ball to US Government institutions that help millions of Americans.
• He also continues to behave in such an unorthodox, reckless, and ignorant fashion that respect for the US around the world has plummetted in a matter of months.
• Highly conservative Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker describes him as "debasing... the nation."
• Conservative Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake believes he's destroying the American political process.
• John McCain doesn't name him but criticizes his pandering toward white supremacists and his infantile behaviors.
• Tweets by _RememberBot_
• The Rohingya people of Burma/Myanmar (and now Bangladesh where many of them are now refugees) are suffering a genocide at the hands of the Myanmar military and leaders of the world are ineffective at helping them.
• Trump administration is all talk, no action on Rohingya crisis
• Canada, at least, has sent a special envoy
• More up-to-date news from Washington Post
• But nobody in the US is even mentioning the small US delegation from State to Bangladesh
• The president tweets and suddenly we don't care about the Rohingya anymore. All attention on cable and network news immediately turns to whatever new conflict he's started. We forget about thousands of people being slaughtered or displaced in terror by their own government! It's infuriating!
• Trump is on a two-week Asian tour. Nothing on the itinerary about the Rohingya. Nothing.
• Less about politics, but no less important: every day brings more news of sexual harassment and sexual assault. 
• All sexual misconduct is offensive, but there's some truth to the idea that when it comes from more left-leaning individuals, it seems even worse. 
• We expect right-leaning individuals to place less value on women due to their more traditional views regarding gender roles. 
• We expect liberals to value women equally and thus treat them more fairly and empathetically. Seeing the lack of empathy and degrading treatment of women (and sometimes men) just seems to be even more difficult somehow.
• There may also just be some of the awareness of the humanity of the groups that so many associate with on a more tribal level. We don't want "our guys" to be the bad ones. That's a horrible way to act and feel, but it's also somewhat human.
• Lost in my above message is the empathy that was provoked during the surging #metoo Twitter/Facebook trends. 
• It makes my heart hurt and I hope that I've never participated in or been a bystander for such events. 
• I can only say that I'm trying to grow and do better as a human being, as a man, as a father, a brother, and a son. 
• We are all of us human and we must, all of us, work to improve the world we live in.

The most powerful thing you can do when a woman tells you her story is BELIEVE her. #metoo

— J.H. Moncrieff (@JH_Moncrieff) November 4, 2017

Television

So, Amy and I have been watching a few different programs of late. Mostly, we've been bombarded with children's television. Nick Jr., Disney Jr., PBS, and Netflix all dominate most evenings and weekends when the TV is on. Which, let's face it, is most evenings and weekends.

That said, we've seen a few things lately that I think bear mentioning (at least in brief).

1. The Good Place is NBC's best show in years. This one is brilliant largely due to excellent writing that subverts your expectations and turns tropes on their head (heads?) every chance they get.
2. iZombie is awesome. It's an adult Veronica Mars with zombies. What more do you want?
3. Dark Matter's cancellation was a travesty. Sign the petition!
4. Killjoys is a fascinating program that I fell behind on. I plan on catching back up. Why is it not streaming on Netflix?
5. Wynonna Earp was surprisingly entertaining. It's pretty trashy, but still, a joy to watch.
6. Vikings is pretty good and not bad for historical accuracy (as these things go). It also makes me want to go play Crusader Kings 2.
7. We will start Stranger Things season 2 as soon as we can.
8. We will probably watch The Punisher separately. (She still hasn't seen the Defenders yet.)
9. Game of Thrones and Westworld were both incredible. New seasons are awaited eagerly.
10. Jane the Virgin got a little tired this past season. I'm not sure whether we're going to finish it.
11. We're way behind on Orphan Black but we love it.
12. We're way behind on the Blacklist but we love it.
13. Lucifer is a devilishly good time.

We don't get to the movies these days. I really want to see Blade Runner 2049, but the last film we saw was Wonder Woman.

Music

Five years ago, my tastes in music ran towards electronica and trip-hop. Nowadays, it's children's movie soundtracks and folksy pop alternative. Life happens and things change, but I'm always looking for more. One thing that has not changed is my love of classical music and jazz. Currently, in what should be surprising to exactly no one, I'm listening to Sibelius and Monk a great deal. A couple examples:

Sibelius: Andante Festivo (Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons cond.)

Thelonious Monk: The Man I Love (1971)

Monk was a true genius and we will never see his like again.

In personal music news, I do not play enough. I think it's been... way too long since I even practiced, much less performed. Someday.

Video Games

Generally speaking, I'm playing PC games over console games these days. Particularly, I started Diablo 3 again (for the first time since the Reaper of Souls expansion for the game was released). I've also dabbled in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Steamworld Heist. I don't have a lot of time to play with the little ones, but I like to sneak a few hours in here and there, frequently sacrificing sleep to do so.

Reading

I read, but most of it is online articles and not books or novels. I have been browsing through some books at work lately. In order to support my students' learning, I'm looking at Philosophy for Kids and Teaching Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom.

At home, I'm reading The Aeronaut's Windlass and Skullduggery Pleasant #1. Neither are going quickly, but I'm enjoying both.

Social Life

What social life? I miss playing board games and card games with friends. I still love Doomtown and just supported the Kickstarter for the next expansion. I highly recommend the One Night Ultimate games from Bezier Games. I also highly recommend Codenames by Czech Games. 

I pretty much only get to play games in small quantities and with my students. They get game days as rewards and occasionally in order to reinforce social skills.

Wow. I wrote a lot. It's a hard thing to go years without posting. Hopefully, the next one will only be a few days or weeks.