Sunday Morning Thoughts About The PSA Project

It has been a challenge but not just the ones that I anticipated. Finding time, yes that is a constant. To find the time to think, assemble and create always kicks me in the pants. Two working days and five to create would help. Unfortunately my life is currently structured the other way around.

There are other things as well. The subject matter. The more I read about violence, violence against men, violence against women and all the inter-linking problems associated with violence is a huge big toxic soup. That isn't correct. It is how much I'm able to digest before I become numb or even worse, despondent over our collective survival.

I have limits about how much I want to ingest. Reading about how much anger some black men have toward black women is heartbreaking. Misogyny doesn't come close to what is out there.

Behind that anger there is pain. What are we not hearing? Is it our responsibility to even try to listen at this point? Is this something that women should be concerned about? Why to we have to fix ourselves and them too? Is it time to structure a new life beyond "the haters?"

I Have An Example

Many years, almost 25 years now, I lived in an apartment building. There was a couple above me. Quiet folks, both worked.

One night there was a loud angry ruckus above me. Furniture breaking, a man cussing a woman out of her name and humanity. Punches. I heard everything. I thought it was an intruder so I reached for the phone. Then I heard it. "I am your husband, you do as I say. I don't want to heard anything come out of your M-F'ing mouth. You do for me!"

I took my hand off of the phone. You see, at the time what I was taught was that if you hear some guy beating a woman that was between them. You didn't call the police. If the woman managed to get outside and ask for help you could do it then but behind their doors, nope you couldn't do it.

For the record, if you hear or see one person beating the hell out of another person CALL THE POLICE!

Anyway, I saw the woman the next day. Half her face had been beaten. You know what she did? She smiled at me as if nothing happened. I nodded a half smile back. We were complicit in a deception. A deception supported by religion, education, business and culture.

There are many stakeholders in making sure there is control over the treatment of women, men and dollars. If they financially benefit from the sublimation of women there is no vested interest in stopping. If they produce music that cause young men to kill themselves because they live in perpetual fear there is no reason for them to change the content of the product.

There is a lot of deception going on. This must change, generally by the light of truth. I can start with me. I can do what I can do and I will. I'm still figuring things out. Trying to make the process simpler so that it can be replicated.

It seems in addition to awareness there also has to be, I don't know how to say this, but a grounding in self-love, self-esteem and being secure. Emotionally secure. Spiritually secure. This is not the same as religion, I'm talking about something to the effect that a person intrinsically knows he or she is loved. Faith based or self generated, I don't care. However you get there. There has to be more than consumption to fill the void.

So. Yeah. The violence is real. If it is in your face you have to deal with it. It is also a symptom of deeper problems. How can each one of us, in the space we have, resolve the actual problems?

There are ways. But is there willingness? I have so many damn questions it isn't funny.

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Vipity Vipity Vop on the Finally Friday Freakout

It was a long day, I was ready to call it a day at 6:43am. Twas not to be and I had to go through the whole thing. Considering the alternatives this is not a bad thing. This video clip is a jewel. I do not know anything about this woman but she was slicing the ivory like a Jedi Master. From the Rhythm and Blues Revue, this is Martha Davis & Spouse with Vipity Vipity Vop



I watched the whole review and learned about performers I never heard of and saw folks like Nipsy Russell and Mantan Moreland as young men. It seems like the performers were forced not to be themselves, except Martha, that girl whipped on those keys. I don't know how to explain it but it seemed that folks were on their best behavior instead of feeling comfortable in showing their authentic performance style.

Then again, it could be me. Probably is me. Anyway dig the video and I'll catch you on the flip side.

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Learning 2.0 Applied by Real Teachers Who Blog

There are time when I have my head in my hands waiting for the Muse on Duty to show up and give me a hint. I search but nothing is sticking. Finally the Muse shows up. “Where have you been; I’m on deadline you know?” The Muse said, “Not my problem. I’ve got more important things to do than to wade through that muck you call memory.”

“There is no reason to be nasty. All I’m asking for is a little help. Aren’t you supposed to be a bit more nurturing?

“I’m no angel, I’m a Muse. Come on, times a ticking what do you need?

“What cha’ got on the education beat?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? Stuff is jumping all over the joint. You have people desperate for education and other who couldn’t care less. You have a technological revolution in tools that can aid in self-directed learning. You have young folks that are starting to think being stupid is a badge of honor. Get real time, what do you mean nothing?”

The Muse is sucking up on a Strawberry Sangria smoothie. “Oh, all right! Why don’t you look at how learning is being adapted by actual teachers or bloggers that teach or something like that.”

“You couldn’t tell me this Sunday?”

“Ingrate. I’m out of here.” (We have actually improved our relationship but there are times when she is “challenging”. I blame the Sangria.)

It Is Elementary

Kathy Cassidy of Mrs. Cassidy’s Class Blog is using her class blog as one of the tools she uses to help educate her first grade class, inform parents about activities and connect the students around the world. I’m not exaggerating on that one. Though the use of Skype, video and other tools she has her Canadian students communicating with students in Alabama, Louisiana and Australia.  Kathy also has a wiki to demonstrate resources for students age 5 to 8 years of age. This might be of interest to home schooling parents looking for ideas or even traditional teachers looking to spice it up just a bit.

From Kathy’s wiki I discovered Mrs. Berry's Classroom Blog who make use of slides to demonstrate concepts and to show what the students have learned.

The platform that both these teachers use is called BlogMeister where a teacher can set up a blog and is the administrator for the class. Young students can have a blog through the teacher who can monitor for content. To add this to their daily works load is very commendable. I hope they have the support of the parents and the school administration to help them in their efforts.

Junior High on the Sly

There is no one way to use a blog for education. At Crews Lake Middle School it is used to remind students what they did in class and what the homework assignment is for the next day. This is putting a serious crimp in “I forgot my homework.”  The students are working on integrated learning skills. Fear not, there are slackers in every class. One kid thought he/she could mooch by with a three word/four slide PowerPoint presentation. 

The battle for spelling, grammar and writing a complete thought continues but on new platforms. Teaching the Outsiders has a post about what middle school students need.  An older blog that hasn’t been updated Hannah's Monarchs had students writing about social studies topics.

Sometimes a teacher needs to talk about the actual process of just what happens between teaching, needing to adhere to testing requirements and administrative diversions. A good example of this found at On the Shoulders of Giants by Ariel Sacks. Ariel lays it out their about the reality of teaching in New York and being able to afford it. 

One post I found really interesting is the one about the Digital Divide in her classroom. Not just that some of her students don’t have access to the Internet but there are electronic and software blocks placed in school so that Internet access is restricted or crippled. 

We signed out the LCD projector and a laptop at school ready to demonstrate the site, only to realize, duh, the site is not accessible through school internet!  For the next day, we took still shots of the site at home and showed them to students the next day, and passed out detailed instructions for them to sign up and access the site. 

The kids were very excited about this, but only some of them have been able to access the site at home. Some have internet access, but needed help going through the steps of signing up, which of course, I can't help them with at school.  I have helped some students by phone.

I wasn’t kidding about support from the administration and infrastructure.

12 O’Clock High School For Teachers and Parents

As students become teenagers the challenges increase.  Students may have multiple means of contact such as mobile phones, blogs, Second Life and, dare I say it, SMS or Twitter. They have created social networks that provide the information they deem important. Convincing them of what you need to teach them is equally important might be a little rough. In addition, Parents can be techno-oblivious and that is not a good thing with a tech-savvy teen in the house.

Classroom 2.0 is a network of teachers trying to figure this out.  Lorna Costantini is asking questions about Teaching Parents How To Use Web 2.0 tools. Marielle wants to know the best way to incorporate writing skills using technology. Marielle’s other blog Authorship 2.0 looks a little bit closer at how students are really using the technology and that educators (and the rest of us) need to engage in the process.

Over at Fireside Learning Conversations about Education, Jane Jessep wants to know how do you make online learning more dynamic. Susan Sedro at Adventures in Educational Blogging is actively using the current technology tools and writing about the results.

Which puts me right back where I started. So much to write about and not knowing where to start. Again.  Oh, my head. I’m going to make a Strawberry smoothie w/o Sangria and begin again. I don’t want to have to deal with that dame again next week.

This post originally appeared on  BlogHer where I am a Contributing Editor.

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Warp11 Baby - She'll Makes It So

It is a cleaning, web surfing, creating and relaxing weekend for me. I need to be nice to myself, in fact it is a spoil myself silly weekend on the Stoop. I'm doing what I want to do, not what I have to; say hallelujah, come on get happy! I ain't got to work on Monday.

Oh yeah! To the matter at hand. Want to give a hat tip to Violet Blue for leading down the path of Trek inspired music, created by a band called Warp11. This is fine ditty known as She'll Make It So



Not my usual musical genre but I like it, music has got a good fun vibe and It Is Star Trek Damnmit!

The deal with the Universe is I do one thing for the home, one for my body and then I play on the Internet for x amount of time. Soon as I get a handle of those pesky BX codes the blog will get spruced up too. Full speed ahead.

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Alternative to Yahoo GeoCities - Google Sites

Earlier this month I tried to help put out the word that Yahoo GeoPages is making its transition to the great beyond.

I really do like blogs, I learned basic HTML, had Dreamweaver, Paint Shop Pro and god knows what else. It was a pain in the butt trying to make sure I had everything correct. Blogs saved me so much time it didn't make sense to keep up the site.

Websites, if constructed for ease of use are still good ways to present information that may not fit the blog format.

More important to me there is a lot of good old school Trek fan fiction that is about to hit the vapors. In any case, if you have old stuff on GeoCites consider transferring your content over to Google Sites, if your content doesn't fit the blog format. And it won't have that ad panel on the side. Selfish, I know but seriously I hate to see that Yahoo GeoCities stuff go to waste. Memories of simpler times.

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Total Eclipse of the Heart on the Finally Friday Freakout

I first heard this song on the radio around midnight. I stayed up until quarter to two because I wanted to hear it again and find out who sang the song. I don't think I've been so struck hearing a song like that before. This is Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.



I do like the song. Really. In the dark thinking about a guy and this comes on the radio? Whammo! It makes an impression.

The music video is freaking strange. I get what they tried to convey but dancing ninjas in a torch ballad? Em, I don't think so. Oh the other hand, I miss music videos. Because if you match up the right way to convey the song and the artist you create a bit of transformative art. And if you don't you get this mind blowing cultural kitsch that you can't begin to explain.

It is an understatement to say Bonnie had some hard luck with music videos.

So let me leave you with how she should have been presented at least once in her videos. This is Bonnie doing a cover of U2's I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For



Yep, she's alright with me. Keep the memory in Memorial Day and eat some BBQ for me.

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We Are All Astronomers – 2009 International Year of Astronomy

Human have look to the stars for freedom, faith, wishes and destiny. It is in our fiction and our non-fictional tales of survival. May 2009 has a been a great month for star gazing and thoughts about galaxies beyond sight. And no, I’m not referring to a certain Paramount movie franchise reboot. 

In space the main story is the successful repairs to the Hubble Telescope. Not only is it a great month for astronomers but it is a great year for Astronomy. This is the 400 anniversary of the invention of the telescope. In addition, 2009 has been designated as the International Year of Astronomy.  Let’s talk about actual space, the infinite frontier.

Astronomers That Plotted The Paths

This is Annie Jump Cannon. At the Smithsonian Photo blog I learned that:

“Annie Jump Cannon systematically categorized the hundreds of thousands of stars shown on the photo plates taken at the Observatory to create her own special classification system, which is still in use today. Cannon’s colleague, Henrietta Leavitt, devised a theory that helped to determine the size of the cosmos and discovered 2,400 variable stars—about half of the total number of variable stars known at that time!”

Despite the best efforts of academic educators of the time, there were women who made significant contributions to Astronomy. Annie was one of those women. A.J. Cannon was one the first persons to figure out a way to classify stars and objects in space.

The San Diego Supercomputer Center has a biographical page on Ms. Cannon and her tremendous contributions to astronomy, and, as a graduate of Wellesley College, there is certainly a biographical tribute page to this important alumna.

Annie Jump Cannon help to show the path for contemporary astronomers like Amanda Bauer at AstroPixie.  Amanda has been keeping her eyes on the Hubble repair mission.  Amanda will be participating in the “We Are Astronomers” project as well as speaking about Astronomy in the United Kingdom.  Amanda has posted a teaser project short video that shows the changes in human perception about the makings of the universe narrated by David Tennant.

Nicole and her co-workers at One Astronomer’s Noise were also bonding to their monitors watching the Hubble repairs and reflecting on how modern astronomers have to adjust their perceptions of the universe with each new discovery:

From this, we can improve our models of galaxy formation and evolution.  This is important since, after all, galaxies make stars and stars have planets and planets have us!

400 Years of Watching The Skies

As I mentioned at the top of the post, this is the 400th anniversary of the Telescope, The star gazers have been busy celebrating and documenting the experience. One of the places you have to visit is the 400 Years of the Telescope – A Journey of Science, Technology and Thought. This is a video that has aired on PBS; this is the trailer for the video:

The website has hours of video about astronomers, their influences and their vision of the future. If you can’t view the video that is ok, they have transcripts available on the site.  This is a portion of a transcript o Catherine Cesarsky on How She Became An Astronomer:

I was studying physics in the University of Buenos Aires and I was very lucky that at the crucial year a new professor came and he was in astronomy. I decided to work with him and became an astronomer and I have been thankful ever since. I always loved to look at the sky and I was always interested in knowing, but no, I didn’t think from early on that I would be an astronomer. It happened.

I think astronomers all over the world in the last decade were realizing that the next important project in astronomy was going to be a very large, millimeter, sub-millimeter interferometer. So the Japanese started one project, the Europeans got together and studied another and the Americans were in fact the most advanced in their studies. Eventually we realized that it was much better to all get together and make a very, very big one. So we got together, we called it ALMA: Atacama Large Millimeter Array, which also means soul in Spanish so it’s a really beautiful name. The Americans and the Europeans first agreed to do it; we signed the agreement, actually I signed with the head of the NSF on the 24th of February 2003 and the Japanese joined later and they brought with them also Taiwan, so now we have these three parties for the project of the price tag of about $1 billion.

There are some astronomers who have fallen in love with their topic and it comes out as a passion to teach or convey what they know. Alice Enevoldsen at Alice’s AstroInfo  uses her blog to answer beginner questions about astronomy. What to know what an actual sunspot is? Go ask Alice, or rather read her explanation.

2009 International Year of Astronomy

This is a year long celebration and many countries of the world are participating; you can find out if your country has an informational node that indicated participation in the festivities and country specific contributions to astronomy.

The activities are not only happening on a international or national level. It can be a close as your media player. If you don’t have time to read or watch the videos (and you should) then I recommend that you download a podcast or two from Astronomy Cast. 

Star Stryder (aka Dr. Pamela Gay) and the other collaborators work the auditory canal through Galaxies, Gamma Ray Astronomy and How Old Is The Universe? Dr. Pamela has her own blog and when she isn’t teaching she is trying to locate all of the Astro-Twitters, which is a great way to network and check out what other folks are doing in astrological fields.

This is just a pebble in one of Saturn’s rings on Astronomy blogs and Astronomical events occurring this year. I hope that you will check out the above blogs and websites. If you know of others pop them in the comments.  And for those of you jonesing for even more, psst…100 Hours of Astronomy.

This post originally appeared on BlogHer where I am a Contributing Editor.

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California Special Election Today - Do We Care?

This is the third election in California. Most people haven't a clue. I myself I have a vague idea but I do know how to find the California Voter Guide right quick. I do have it here in paper form but dang if I know where it is. If you have confusion about the Proposition this this the place for a quick review and the Pro/Cons.



There is also the League of Women Voters - SmartVoter.org May 19th information page.



Kim Anderson of CalVoter has a review of the election. She did an 30 minute interview with Channel 10 in Sacramento:









I'm going to vote because we have enough loony toons here in California. To take money from mental health funding to balance the budget is straight up wacky. I'm not being funny. This is Proposition 1E.



The thing is California is in such deep Bandini maybe severe cuts is the only way to get everyone to come to consciousness. We need real solutions. The propositions are bad bandages in my opinion. Anyway, gotta go to the Salt Mine so that I can earn money to be transfered to the state at a later date.

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No Means No PSA - PSA Project

This is a text based video on helping folks remember that "No" does not require a reason when it comes to deciding if you want to have sex with another person. Some people are under the impression that no is a prelude to yes. I found a good source of ideas at http://www.clotheslineproject.org and that is the organization I imagined could benefit from created the PSA

No. It is not. She may have tacky underwear she doesn't want you to see. You might have really bad breath. You might be a nice guy. You might be a self-centered inconsiderate bore. She might have other things to do and having sex with you isn't on the list.



When in doubt back up and stop. The inspiration for this came from a line text in the UCLA Freshman Handbook. There was a section on Date Rape and in the section for men it said that men should not take it personal that a woman does not want to have sex with them.

I do agree with that sentence but there wasn't an equivalent statement for the women. For the women it was all pro-active self defense and awareness. So if all it takes is to spread the word that men need to know that no having sex from someone who says no to them is not a bad thing then heck yeah, pass the word.

(Yes, I know it is about self esteem, power and a bunch of other stuff. But if we can stop one guy from doing something seriously wrong with a few words let's put the thought in his head.)

Process and Tools:

• Swish Max a very easy to use Flash animation program.
  
• Slide screen PNG image. I used Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 to make transparent
  
• Sound Loops from FlashKit.com
• Assembled in Serif Movie Plus X3
  

This week I wanted to keep it really simple and play with text and music. I am learning to focus on one idea and express that idea.

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I Just Want To Stop - the Finally Friday Freakout

No fooling, I crashed and burned. I remember going to the store. I remember coming home. Next thing I knew it was 10 p.m. I actually function better at night so I get to stay up a bit longer than I usual.

I dig into the Groove Yard I find another unexpected gem. Never saw this guy before either but loved this song to death and beyond when I was in a different space and time. Heck, I still like it. This is Gino Vannelli's I Just Want to Stop:



Cool. Except that I have stuff to do. Lots and lots of stuff that will not be done because I'm going to be napping as much as possible. I do not recommend overbooking or stressing yourself out.

Pace yourself and well, yeah, naps are ok. I find that strange to type because I hated naps when I was a kid. Really. So much to see and do why would I want to sleep?

I've changed my mind. About the sleeping not about stuff to see and do. I gotta go do something now. Later.

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Oh I Wish I Could Put It Together Like Jay

I love what he does and how he explains things:



I know he works hard at making it seem simple but still, he does have skills that I aspire to have.

Visit Jay Smooth's blog at http://www.illdoctrine.com

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Domestic Violence Tombstone PSA

Using music, a tombstone and text I made a simple PSA on three statistics about women and violence. In the video I linked to Violence UnSilenced, a place where people can go to share or read stories about people in domestic violence situations.

People who are abused may not be able to talk about what is happening but in a private safe community place, web site or blog there can be a connection made to their personal danger.


Process:

I used Tombstone Builder. I started out with Tombstone Generator. Created a bunch of markers 15 to 20 or so. When I tried open them they wouldn't open. Grievous. This is no reflection on Tombstone Generator, I've used it before. I just was too upset to figure out the problem.

I then thought ok, I'll make my own but all of the real world tombstone makers have their logo or other watermark on the headstones. Understandable and because they are facing foreign mechanical knock-offs, I don't blame them.

I still needed a headstone. I found Tombstone Builder and I'm good to go. The music is from the Internet Archive, The Negro Prison Songs from Mississippi State Penitentiary. I assembled it in Serif Movie Plus X3.

My point in describing the process is that using basic tools and technology you can tell a story or convey information. Music helps a lot too.

Thoughts and Concerns

This was harder than I anticipated. I initially wanted to have parts of faces showing bruises. I did find those, most regrettably. I needed women of color. There is one recent woman of color who was assaulted by her partner.

Here is where the ethics kick in. I could make the case that this woman is a public figure and the photos have become public record. I could crop or distort the photos. I could focus on just the bruises.

To change factual photographs is not a good thing. It is dishonest. Damn me for taking a photo-journalism class but there you go, it is not a good practice to distort the actual recorded experience.

The second issue is that I don't know who took the original photos. I don't know who owns them. They look like police photos. Either way, I don't have permission until I find that out. Since I don't want to it is ok.

I decided not to use those photos. There is a real live person involved. I don't know this woman. I don't know the truth about her situation but I do not want to be perceived as benefiting from her sorrow.

It seems others have no problem doing so but I do. So yes, it would have been a better piece with photos but the ethical costs was much too high.

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