Note: As the disaster of Typhoon Haiyan continues, I will continue to post ways we all can help. Please read and choose carefully anytime you give donations. Thanks. Here's the link:
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/11/21386694-how-to-help-organizations-offering-relief-to-typhoon-haiyan-survivors?fb_action_ids=10151752157430911&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=AddThis_Blogs&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
And now, the DN.
2 Okay, then it is time for a primal scream.
3 One.
4 Two...
5 Ah, nevuhmind.
6 I was going to have this harmonious convergence of voices shouting "IT'S FRIDEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" but realized only too soon that nobody, myself included, would be together enough to synch that all up in the earliness of the morning, stars included.
7 So this morning I'll hold back. I started writing this nonsense last night, after nine p.m.
8 I had slammed a few veggie shakes AND a neo-classical Matterhorn Häagen Dazs, an amazing concoction featuring a mountain of ice cream with a chocolate shell first dripping, then hardening on the sides. Here are some slides. Roll the clip:
10 Moving On, Part 1: I had a pretty good day yesterday, but when you reach my age, any day that I wake up without a tag on my toe is considered a good day.
11 I stole that one from Helene's uncle.
12 I DID have a good day, but only because I'm feeling the good vibe of moving education into the twenty-first century.
13 It's not easy.
14 It is a greatness that is being thrust upon anybody remotely associated with education.
15 Explosive changes.
16 It's all moving at a locomotive pace.
17 I see some teachers flying off that ride, and going berserk, because change requires the going-of-berserkedness.
18 I made that word up.
19 Berserkedness. Rocky ride. We're all getting tossed around that train.
20 Some see red. Some are flying through the windows.
21 Some feel it's a runaway train.
22 Oh, I imagine.
23 I feel a bit like that guy in Casey Jones.
24 Trouble ahead, trouble behind, and you know that notion just crossed my mind.
25 The madness swirls.
26 It crosses my mind, but a large part of me realizes that I'm ridin' that bad.
27 A part of me smiles, because I know that people in education are the toughest hombres in the world.
28 Explosive creativity everywhere, tempered with explosive anger.
29 At the danger of being pegged as an inane Deadhead, I'll also say that I may be goin' to Hell in a bucket, but at least I'm enjoyin' the ride.
30 At least I'm enjoyin' the ride.
31 People ARE going through what can only be classified as berserkedness.
32 I don't remember in the history of my teaching a time when people were more stressed, crazed and divided.
33 Thank goodness that I've always been prone to creativity and experimentation. I'm pretty open to where this is all headed.
34 I embrace the ideas and concepts that our younger set brings to teaching. It is invigorating, and based a whole bunch on creative thought, critical thinking, collaborative work, and community involvement.
35 Those are four of the Holy Five C's that we are to embrace as we prepare for this voyage.
36 It isn't always communicated as well as perhaps it should, but make no mistake: we are blasting into this, and there is no turning back.
37 Communication, by the way, is the last of our five C's. It was originally the fourth of our four C's, but someone thought of "community," and that was when I think it all turned Holy.
38 I'm down.
39 I had my own websites flying around as far back as ten years ago. They had all those Holy Five C's buzzing every which way. Some might remember ybdrama.com, starring Chaplin, sepia cruises, the DN archives, the Heidi Chronz, a chat thread, and even a link to the immortal Strong Bad.
40 Other educational websites were out there, but very few. I really enjoyed putting together a rudimentary, yet fun website.
41 I had also constructed one for the Performing Arts Department, as well as one for my English classes.
42 I have lamented here the mishandling of and the eventual disappearance of that website at the hands of Geocities, a Yahoo effort that exploded like the Death Star.
43 Earlier this year I began building a new site, and my goal was November.
44 At of this writing, I can let you know that it is still in the works. It's been a slow roll because Xanga pretty much went belly-up, and I had to jump to this site, which I have embraced and which I enjoy.
45 So stay tuned. I would like nothing more than to get all that going. I'll try to steer it all through the High C's. Stay tuned. <yes you may let out a meager groan.>
46 LOTS more to come. I do hit deadlines, so we'll see how fast I could make this happen.
47 Meanwhile, as I compose these graceful and idiotic ponderings, I feel the Matterhorn Häagen Dazs wearing off.
48 I am getting sleepy...
49 Sleepy...
50 <Grinch yawn>
51 <YAWN!>
52 Gottago. Have a GREAT weekend.
53 See you again.
54 Peace.
~H~
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