Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

words

Last spring Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords made the following statement to MSNBC...

"We need to realize that the rhetoric, and the firing people up and ... for example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, the way she has it depicted, we're in the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they've got to realize that there are consequences to that action..."

"I Disagree With You, But I'm Pretty Sure You're Not Hitler" - Jon Stewart

"At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds,"

- President Barack Obama

"Thank you Mr. President, for becoming the president of the United States of America last night."

- Glenn Beck

We don't update our blogs.

"We don't update our blogs." - from the song Trainwrecks by Weezer.

Must update the blog. Must update the blog. Must update the blog.

Some quickhits...

Just got my invite to grade AP World History exams again this summer. This will be my fourth time to participate. Word around the campfire is that this will be the last year World History will be grading at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Makes me a bit sad. I really dig Ft. C. Plus at CSU, graders get their own private rooms. At the other grading sites, usually in big convention centers in cities like Cinncinati or Louisville, you have to share a hotel room with another grader. I will miss the mountains. But I'm excited to be going back.

I finalized my class selection for this semester at SMU. I had originally selected a course, then got freaked out by the syllabus which included four papers...including a 25 page research paper. So I dropped it and enrolled in a literature class that seemed a bit more manageable (read: easier). But the subject matter didn't appeal to me and I thought I'm in this graduate program for personal enhancement...not just for a piece of paper. I don't want to take a class just to take a class. So I dropped that one and got back in the original course. Class starts in two weeks.

The class I'm taking is SOSC 6368 Silk Roads and Silicon Highways. Here's the description:

This course explores the complex interaction between religion, politics, economics, and ecosystem from a global comparative historical perspective. The course will among other things, help students understand the present wave of globalization in the context of earlier waves of globalization, and specifically the emergence of the Silk Road trade network in the period around 200 BCE.

Cool huh? I'm looking forward to it. Yes, I'm even looking forward to the papers. This is grad school not pansy school. I'm not going to dodge the challenge (although I would drive a Dodge Challenger...I don't know what that means...and I really need to stop using ellipses in my writing...it's not MLA approved for how I utilize them.).

Soccer announcing is going well. I'm the P.A. Announcer/D.J./scoreboard/clock operator for the Mighty Kaufman Lions. Last night's game featured temperatures in the low twenties with ice and snow covering all the bleacher seats. However, I was nice and toasty in the pressbox with my little space heater. The Kaufman Lion soccer teams are still a bit wary of my musical choices but they're happy if I play their beloved Brazilian techno during their warm-ups and shout goal after a score. What a part-time job...I get paid to watch soccer!

Greatly enjoyed my son's 4th Birthday party. Lightning McQueen theme and lots of family there. JDW loves being the center of attention. Too many toys.

Okay...enough quick-hits and enough ill-used ellipses. I promise to work harder to blog consistently. Promise!

Photo: JDW and his first guitar.