Busy Busy Busy

Busy busy busy. I have little time to blog these days. Late January through March is the busiest time of the year for me. Two nights a week calling and running the scoreboard for the Kaufman Lions soccer teams. Another night a week at SMU in grad school. Jackson's starting spring soccer this week. That's another night of the week for practice plus Saturday morning soccer games starting in March. Getting things together to finalize the foster to adopt process. The homestudy is going on right now as I type (waiting my turn for individual interview). Running running running.

Taking "Democracy and Development in Southeast Asia" at SMU this semester. Excellent class so far. Just turned in an eight page paper on Modernization theory, Neoliberalism and Asian Values. This week my assignment is to lead the class in our three hour discussion over democratic and economic development in Thailand. Busy busy busy.

Okay, gotta go!

2011 Reading List

 

 

So here's the final list of books I read in 2011. You'll notice a lot of Lost Generation novels in the list. That's due to my course at SMU on Lost Generation writers in the post-World War One era. Also a few books from my SMU Silk Roads course are on there.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1919 by John Dos Passos

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes

Verdun by Jules Romaine

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Combray by Marcel Proust

The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

Old World Encounters (Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times) by Jerry H. Bentley

Confessions by St. Augustine of Hippo

Religions of the Silk Roads by Richard Foltz

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Game of Shadows

 

Saw the new Sherlock Holmes (Game of Shadows) flick over the holidays. Really enjoyed it. A bit more action oriented than the books and stories but the movie successfully retained the vibe of Arthur Conan Doyle's world. My European History classes are beginning the second semester talking about this period (1870-1914) in Europe and I was glad to see mention of the anarchists. It's a nice reference point for the students who saw the movie.

I see very interesting parallels in this era of European Mass Politics and the protest movements of 2011. TIME magazine named "The Protester" as person of the year. 2011 will be remembered for protest movements throughout the world. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movement people who felt marginalized by the institutions of governments and economic systems rallied to affect change or at the very least have their voices heard.

This phenomenon bears eerie resemblence to the movements that arose in the late nineteenth century. Feminism, Anarchism, Zionism, Socialism and a host of movements became prominent challengers to the status quo in Europe. Each group experienced varying degrees of success in reaching their goals. All had in common the belief that they were marginalized and excluded from the decision making processes of society. Some of these movements failed miserably. Others were the catalyst for enormous change (i.e. women's suffrage).

Check out the movie. Good stuff.

Flickr Update

Finally got around to updating the Flickr site. More to come. Click HERE.

Putting the Fun in Disfunction

When it comes to sports, the major professional sports leagues that interested me the most were the following...in order of interest...   1.) Major League Baseball 2.) The NFL 3.) Major League Soccer 4.) The NBA 5.) The NHL   Some years, one or two would move up or down a spot depending on what was going on with my rooting interests in a particular year.   But I have to say that as screwed up and as dysfunctional as the National Basketball Association is, it has moved up to number one on my list. The Association became firmly ensconsed in the number one spot when the Mavs played the evil Heat in the finals. The Mavericks won the title and then it seemed that we were doomed to David Stern's "nuclear winter." The lockout should have soured me as a fan. I should have been disgusted by the greed and idiocy of both players and owners.   But then something weird happened. I found myself entranced by the drama of it all. There were bad guys (Stern, Billy Hunter, Derek Fisher and of course, always Kobe). There were good guys (Kevin Durant at Rucker Park, Dirk throwing a World Series first pitch, Delonte West working at Home Depot). Everything was on, then it was off and then they were all going to court to decertify unions, sue each other and then BOOM! The season's back on! And it's starting Christmas Day. And the season starts with the Mavs playing the Heat on Christmas Day at home. And Lebron, DWade and Bosh (RuPaul) get to watch Dirk and Co. get their rings and raise the banner.   A Chris Paul trade to the Lakers gets voided by Stern in an obvious conflict of interest by the Association since they currently own the Hornets. The Mavs benefit by picking up an angry Lamar Odom (and a Kardashian to boot!) for next to nothing. Kobe, Fisher and the rest are highly ticked their management gave Odom to their divisional rival which makes the whole thing sweeter. Anything that makes Kobe cry and whine is a beautiful thing.   CP3 eventually gets traded to the Clippers to play with my favorite non-Mav and Sooner legend Blake Griffin. You think Gary Payton to Shawn Kemp or Chris Paul to Tyson Chandler (back in the OKC Hornet days) was awesome? Paul to Griffin will be EPIC! Backboards will shatter across the nation.   Speaking of Tyson Chandler, it does really stink for the Mavs to lose him along with Caron Butler and JJ Barea (The Little Rican). But I'm over it now and the Mavs made some great gets to take the sting off a little. JJ has been more then replaced by Delonte West. If West stays on his bi-polar meds and keeps his guns locked up he will actually be step up. If Carlisle can make Vince Carter care than we may see "Vinsanity" once again. No one replaces Chandler, but Odom will be a monster force if his reality show doesn't distract too much and Khloe Kardashian is happy in Big D. Plus, with the financial flexibility we might be able to make a run at Dwight Howard next off-season.   So the NBA may be rigged. It may be a soap opera run by a mafia don. The players may all be tattooed drama queens. But it's better than any "reality" show. And for sheer entertainment value no other league comes close to this semi-pro league pretending to be a major league. I'm all in this year. GO MAVS!

Fried Flamingo in Detroit

I was assigned to write a story with these five words: flamingo/Detroit/fried/astrophysicist/quarrel. Here's what I came up with...

I was eating fried flamingo down in Detroit on 8 Mile Road when suddenly an astrophysicist came crashing down through the ceiling and on to my table. She began to raise a ruckus and quite a quarrel about why my table was in her way.

"Way to what?" I queried.

"The floor. I supposed to hit the floor."

"Um, am I being filmed? Is this on YouTube?"

"YouTube? Ah...no. Much more important than that. If things go well or as I envisioned then I may have solved the secret to the universe."

"The secret to the universe is going to be found in Detroit?"

"Sir, Detroit is the secret of the universe."

"Really. I woulda figured Kansas City."

"You're obviously not an astrophysicist."

"How'd you tell?"

"You don't have a moustache."

"Ma'am, you don't have one either."

"That's cause I wax."

"Then how do your peers tell you're an astro..."

"My white coat is a dead giveaway."

"And falling from ceilings in soul food restaraunts."

"Hazards of the job."

"So what, you were time traveling and got off track and ended up on my flamingo sandwhich?"

"The Delorean took a wrong turn."

"Detroit never liked Deloreans."

"That's why Detroit is stuck in the past."

Reflections while reading F. Scott Fitzgerald

Dick Diver. Freakin' Dick Diver and his easy F. Scott Fitzgerald charm. The full evolution of his race? I knew Dick Diver in 7th grade. His name was Craig Palmer and he was a drummer who was too cool to play in the band. He went to school dances with 8th grade girls and played in a garage band called Public Interest. His band was a band of Rick Perry frat boys and could only cover cheesy 60's songs like Woolly Bully. His hair was never messed up and he had a Tom Cruise "grinning like an idiot" smile. He wore Izod and Polo golf shirts with the collar up and never wrinkled khakis. He looked like a yachting instructor or a Young Republican. Craig Freaking Palmer never spoke to me or hassled me or even knew I existed. He was too busy hanging Union Jack flags in his room thinking that made him edgy between golf lessons and lacrosse practice.

Rangers!

We Will Crush Them!

 

Standardized testing should be used as a prejorative in the English language. It is the bane of education.

Standardized testing stifles the humanity of students everywhere. It quashes the creativity of our youth. It crushes the human spirit of individuality.

While the Chinese teach their students quantum mechanics and string theory we teach our students test taking strategies.

Yes. This is how we will be victorious. We will crush them with our test taking strategies!

I'll put my multiple choice test takers against your multiple choice test takers anytime and anywhere.

Our nation will have the greatest multiple choice test takers in the world!

Rest in Peace

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs. I learned how to use a computer on an Apple II E back in elementary school. Your iPod has allowed me to listen to music anywhere. Your vision of minimalism and artistic integration with technology was inspiring. Thanks...