What I Am Reading...

I just came back from a book signing by former President Jimmy Carter in St. Louis, so I am starting his new book "We Can Have Peace In The Middle East" tonight. It looks like a very good read.

What I Am Reading...The Last Campaign

During the Obama campaign many references were made to the 1968 campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. Obama appealed to people of all races, creeds, economic, and educational backgrounds. Kennedy's campaign was a little different. Kennedy appealed to the lower class, African Americans, Chicanos, and Native Americans. His relationship with the privileged class was anything but stellar. The common thread that both campaigns had was that they both offered hope to a period where hope seemed a far away dream. Kennedy got in late to the election after he realized that none of the candidates for the Democratic nomination offered the hope he felt America needed. His problem was finding his footing or his core group of supporters. The pro-Vietnam group supported the candidacy of LBJ and when he chose not to run, they immediately rallied behind current Vice President Hubert Humphrey. The university students and anti-war activists were behind Eugene McCarthy, and most southern Democrats were supporting George Wallace. This left the late arriving Kennedy to carve out his own niche. Kennedy was unique in is method of campaigning. He chose to go to areas where candidates didn't normally go, the inner city ghettos, the Indian reservations, etc. He chose to campaign in methods that most politicians had deemed antiquated.

Kennedy was the hope that America needed at the time. One has to wonder what would have happened had he made it to Chicago in 1968. Would the 68 Democratic Convention have been the stain on the party that it became? What kind of atmosphere would another Nixon-Kennedy campaign have created? Imagine how Nixon would have felt coming so close to the presidency only to run against another Kennedy?

The Last Campaign is a very appropriate title in that it was the last campaign conducted of its type and probably the last campaign that captured the imagination of individuals that had previously been locked out or disinterested in a presidential campaign. One can only hope that the recent campaign has recaptured the imagination of the American electorate.

Why do we do the things we do?

I just got back from spending three days snowed in at a technology conference in St. Louis. It was an excellent conference. The two keynote presenters were fantastic. The first keynote was Will Richardson, who I have followed through his web-logged blog and also read his book. The second day's keynote was Meg Ormiston. What an awesome person! I don't see how anyone could come away with this conference not being challenged as a teacher but more importantly accepting the challenge as a teacher. Will's challenge of building a network of people to learn from and allowing our children and the students we teach to experience building their own networks forces us to let go of the reins as teachers and let the children learn in the way that they learn best. He focused on the idea that the "answer" isn't as important necessarily as the process we use to get the answer.
Meg just blew me away. I left there questioning why I do the things I do when I teach. Why do I teach what I teach? Why do I teach it in the manner I teach? Why don't I do more? When I was driving home I was asking myself all of these questions? The more I thought about it I realized that there was not justifiable answer for any of these questions. That often times I am critical of others for doing the same old same old simply because that is the way it has always been done. What a poor excuse? I really want to go into my classroom and just start throwing things away. Sounds kind of hasty! Maybe I had better do it quick before I change my mind! I really hope that I can break the predictabliliy I have fallen into with my teaching and work to engage my students in a more effective manner. It won't happen overnight but Will and Meg gave me a place to start.

My Thoughts on Inauguration Day

I sat in my classroom yesterday looking at an event that I never really dreamed as being possible as a little kid. I remember studying MLK Jr. as a kid and I remember listening to my grandfather lose his cool when African Americans were referred to in a derogatory term. I remember going to school in the fourth grade and learning that an African American family had moved to our small central Illinois town and how they only lived there for three weeks. I remember family friends referring to King in negative terms. I remember standing idly by as people told jokes about African Americans, maybe even laughing just to fit in. But as I watched yesterday and followed this election from start to finish I realized that what President Obama had been preaching his entire campaign, "CHANGE", had actually occurred in me. I think that over this past two years I have grown more tolerant of our differences and less tolerant of ignorance. I have grown more aware of other people's situations and maybe less aware of my own.

Being in Springfield the day that this journey kicked off will be something I will always remember. Meeting then Senator Obama and his wife Michelle on two different occasions will be something I always remember. Watching the first African American President of the United States being sworn in with all of those individuals who fought so hard for equality during the 1960s will be something I always remember. Listening to the ignorance of people and their remarks based on nothing other than ignorance will be something I hope to forget.

I can only hope that my own children remember it for what it really was. The day some of America grew up.

A Good Day

What I Am Reading.. John Lennon

I recently completed reading the recently released biography of John Lennon by Philip Norman. I have always been a Beatles fan but especially a Lennon fan. Probably because he was the most political. I got turned on to the Beatles by my 6th grade music teacher, Joe Foss. I still remember many of the things that he told us. What the original name of the Beatles was? How Stu Stucliffe died? He told us about how Ringo wasn't the original drummer, the rumor that Paul McCartney had died, and what brought about an end to the Beatles. This was my first investigation into the various details.

I decided to tackle this immense task knowing that the writer had the approval of Lennon's widow Yoko Ono to write the book. What struck me immediately was the amount of disfunction that existed in Lennon's childhood. A father who left, a mother who died, and numerous up tight aunts who raised him, all impacted his development.

He was by no means a good student although he was blessed with an abundance of talent both musically and artistically and equipped with what we would refer to as a sick sense of humor. He also had problems committing to any long lasting relationship other than with his Aunt Mimi. His relationship with his first wife Cynthia and his relationship with his first son, Julian, were seemingly loveless at times.

The book goes into adequate detail regarding the rise and fall of the Beatles which was what I was really interested in. (Yoko shouldn't get the entire blame for their demise!) It was quite evident that by the late 1960s Lennon was looking for a way out as were the other Beatles. Only Paul seemed to have the motivation to keep the band going.

John and Yoko's relationship was that of soulmates but it was not without its own issues. John's relationship with Yoko was marred by experiementing in the drug culture and a seemingly open marriage. (Lennon was also heavily involved in a variety of drugs during the Beatle days.) Lennon would right many introspective songs during this time period and tackle many political issues of the day much to the dismay of President Nixon and others in Washington. He and Yoko would also welcome their only son Sean into the world as well. Towards the end of his life, John seemed to withdraw from the music scene, and become comfortable being a husband and a dad to Sean and attempting to rebuild a relationship with Julian. The last segment of the book is a touching interview with John's son, Sean.

Throughout the book, Philip Norman draws references to occasions when John himself commented on his fear of dying at a young age or at the hand of an assassin. He was very much afraid of guns. What is said is that in the months before he died John Lennon was more at peace than at any other time in his life. He had come to terms with being an ex-Beatle and with being a husband and father. What the future held for this musical genius is left up to our imagination...

This was a great book...probably one of the best biographies I have read in some time.