January 2012
1 post
October 2011
1 post
Arts Integration and Lost Connections →
September 2011
3 posts
A Shambhala Sort of Wordle
Messing about with bytes again. Thinking about a project my World Religions class will be doing. Found this distraction.
On being a teacher on 9/11/01 →
Still Riding →
For the last few weeks, nearly a month now since the Pan Mass Challenge, people have been asking me if I am still riding. The answer to this is yes — although I can no longer justify eating Nutella particularly and my weekends have been spent thinking about being a teacher more than usual. I have discovered a great new sport, I think. Plus my experience on longer rides from a fitness...
August 2011
1 post
Response to a Recent globe Article →
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
2 posts
Some Who Wander, Get Lost
..or hoisted by my own petard. This past Memorial Day weekend, R and I were talking about bike rides we took as kids. Both of us had the experience where you just got on your bike one Saturday morning - maybe with friends, maybe not — and started riding. No helmet, no water, maybe no money, no backpack. And maybe you were between 9 and 11 years old. After 11, you started hanging around in...
May 2011
3 posts
April 2011
1 post
If you give a woman a tire iron... →
Last week, I got out for one of the first really nice days to ride the bike and rode along Quincy Shore Drive by the beach down here. High pressure day, bright blue clouds, friendly pedestrians, and some shell fragments. I had JUST turned down a side road to avoid post-work traffic when I perceived the tire had gone flat. It was a great relief to me that it didn’t “blow out” and...
March 2011
6 posts
Head Down, Keep Pedaling
Yoga. 10 miles. Upper body strength training. Tried on the spandex riding tights. What a look, really. If I had a cape and utility belt, it might be different.
Put the bike computer on the bike. Wrote an elaborate lesson plan involving stealth camera footage and a bunch of other technology and media for a class I am taking. Now what?
PMC progress
Once again thank you to my most recent donors, pulling me over the 25 percent mark. Yay!!
Yesterday I did another 8 miles, this time at the Quincy Y and on a life cycle. I was averaging only about 16 mph, but with the tension up and a steady cadence for a half hour. (You do the Math) I have been coming out of a little personal slump, and the motivation wasn’t great yesterday, but there I...
Family visit: another reason why the PMC
This past weekend, we found ourselves in Fishkill NY in a Holiday Inn Express right off I 84. The place gets a B+ I would say. The reason for the visit was to see family following the very recent death of my uncle Bob who had been dealing with cancer. He passed this past week peacefully. He’d recently come home from the hospital and had been there about 24 hrs in hospice care when he died....
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First day on real bike
The weather has not exactly been cooperative here in Quincy. It has stopped snowing, and I watch the melting shift the landscape of my yard and commute daily pretty much. But there is still sand and ice around.
I went out last weekend though for a sort of test run, clad in spandex and a tad chilly to start out. How tricky could it be? A bike is a bike is bike. Well sort of.
New consideration...
February 2011
6 posts
3 tags
PMC Training Day 4 →
Again, major thanks to my most recent new supporters! I have now reached the 20% mark in terms of my fundraising goals, and I am truly appreciative of the generosity people from all quarters are demonstrating. Yes, really. :) Mutual support is what the ride and the cause is all about, of course. So, again, thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.
Not sure if counting the days is the best...
Pa. teacher strikes nerve with 'lazy whiners' blog... →
Day 3 PMC Training →
First, I would like to give a major shout out to all the folks who have donated so far! I am already at the 10% mark for my goal, which is really terrific, to say the least. In addition to the support this shows for the cause, it really keeps my own motivation up. I know there are plenty of others of you out there who are planning to participate as well. All I can say, is, join the fun now! ...
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Day Two PMC Training →
As I have been tweaking my PMC profile, and will continue to do so, more and more folks who have dealt with cancer come to my mind: recently my uncle, the woman I went to China with who passed away from pancreatic cancer last year. Walking into the school library to face over a hundred devastated high school kids was something I will never forget, I don’t think. I made Chinese food this past...
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Day 1 PMC Training →
PMC Training Day 1
After convincing myself a couple of days ago to sign up for the Pan Mass Challenge, both a physical and fundraising project of no small magnitude, I started the training process officially.
Why I am riding, which has a lot to do with my brother John who died on Father’s Day in 1983 of an aggressive brain tumor, can be found on the link above.
But here’s one of...
December 2010
1 post
4 tags
Why I Like Suze Orman →
I sort of fell into watching some Suze Orman shows on TV and despite myself (and her larger than life-ness), I actually like her. And her show and her financial advice. So, here’s a top 10 list of why I like Suze:
1) She worked her way up and acknowledges the people who helped her. There are a lot of rags to riches stories, but she doesn’t just preach the American Way at people and how this...
November 2010
1 post
3 tags
My Gay Version Of Hell - The Daily Dish | By... →
I like Sullivan for all kinds of reasons, and yes partly because he is a gay small c conservative. Which in some ways I am too. Of course, the default “Gay” = gay male issue is found in his posting is annoying. But more to the point, for this curmudgeonly dyke: what a scary and tastless coffin! (remember small c conservative) However, if I am honest with myself, I will say I find...
September 2010
1 post
The fierce fight over the present tense - Laura... →
New literary criticism, this time about excessive use of the present tense in writing. Brits concerned about being “fashionable”? That figures. But perhaps the focus on the now has to do with the value of the new (by not surprisingly the “young” whoever they are) and the relentless commenting on what one is doing via social networking sites. Not that I would do that myself.
August 2010
3 posts
Our Brains on Technology, take two →
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On "When the 'gayby boom' came for me" →
In this article, a 31 year old lesbian talks about a visit to her doctor who “offers” in a sense to help her (help her medically I mean) should she ever decide to get pregnant and have a child. The author writes thoughtfully about her response to this. (To cut to the chase, she doesn’t want kids.) Her discussion about the pressures to raise kids creeping their way into gay life...
Some thoughts on Fixing Education – Part I →
July 2010
4 posts
Teach for America or Teach for Oneself? →
The Kids are All Right film review →
This review and the comment thread below are an exchange between the author and me about the recent film The Kids Are All Right. The film has not come to my area yet and I am not sure I can go see it. But that doesn’t keep me from having an opinion about it of course. I would love to see a film where one’s lesbian identity isn’t at issue or called into question at all but where...
Jill S. Brown: Infomercial Workouts: Are They For... →
Here’s a reprint of my comment on Huff Post:
“Must say that P90X is great. Tony is just silly enough to keep him from being a condescending musclehead and the workouts are hardcore. I am in my late 40s and definitely see results after 30+ days. I had lapsed out of my own routine over winter holidays and P 90X whipped me back into shape. Many options to keep you from getting bored....
Google to pay more for gay employees - Business -... →
I think the article’s title is a bit misleading although technically true. What I keep coming back to as the head shaker here is that health care benefits for domestic partners are federally taxable as “income.” If same sex partnerships were just treated with the value and attention that heterosexual partnerships were, the notion of family would be strengthened and extended at...
June 2010
3 posts
3 tags
Post Gay? No Way.
Radio Boston on NPR put on a program asking whether Boston was “post gay,” asking if we are so comfortable now in eastern Massachusetts that there is no reason to be concerned about gay rights and politics, more or less. The short answer is no. I gave some brief and hurried remarks as I pulled my aging Honda into a side road to make the cell call into the station.
Someone rather ignorantly once...
4 tags
Saving teachers' jobs →
Hmmmm In this article, saving teachers’ jobs is defended from the point of view of how it affects the bottom line of the economy overall. Makes more than a small amount of sense if it does minimize the value of those of us in the profession via a via the job we do somewhat.
Another Reason Why Teaching Isn't Like a Desk Job:... →
May 2010
1 post
I'm sorry. What? →
April 2010
2 posts
Rusty →
March 2010
1 post
Queer the Census →
Check out the site which tells the why as below, and more! It matters, including for all straight allies:
“The census tells the story of who we are as a nation, and that includes LGBT people — but only when we participate, and only when we’re fully counted. Thanks to the collection of unmarried partner data, a more complete picture of who we are has emerged. For example, we know that:
...
January 2010
3 posts
President Obama on Scott Brown Massachusetts... →
Is it just me but did Obama say, “What got Scott Brown into office is what got me into office. People are angry.”??? Angry at what? Female candidates? Being unemployed? Bush? Bush didn’t stump for Coakley, Obama did. Is Obama aligning himself with Brown? Distancing himself from Coakley who represents some angry-making policies like what Bush promoted???I think he’s...
WatchFinishing the Ottomans
A back to school orientation film for my World History Ii classes
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Unclutterer: Daily tips on how to organize your... →
Just last December, right before the real craziness of the month hit us — musical performances, grades due for school, multiple papers and projects to grade and for me to create and write, family visits, the dark of the year — I dipped further into this blogsite and R and I both went after some serious uncluttering. One of the best tips here was to take most of the CD collection and...
November 2009
4 posts
How many instruments? →
Resolution Number 9: How many instruments? →
Here’s my latest installation on my OTHER blog about practicing real instruments instead of the Wii game all the time.
animoto - Japan →
A video I made from the still photos I took in Japan.
Coro Allegro and Shofar
Coro will be performing a piece called Shofar in a few weeks, an oratorio about meanings around this Jewish ritual instrument, not a presentation of its singular sound. At the annual house party last summer, we were fortunate enough to have the composer present to discuss his takes on the piece. The day of the party also coincided with the Massachusetts legislature postponing their decision...
October 2009
3 posts
Meta band: a new movie →
This site called www.xtrnormal.com provides a fun way to make animated movies. More if you upgrade, of course, but worth the effort as is.