A fortnight of polyster & lycra

Hello!

It's been a couple of crazy weeks, so I'll do my best to summarize the most interesting parts.

San Diego Comic Con:

Highlights: Got to hear and see a plethora of artists and authors, including Grant Morrison, Jim Lee, Jonathan Hickman, Brian K. Vaughn, Robert Kirkman, and Bill Willingham. I also saw the Dr. Who panel, starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan (Dr. & Amy Pond respectively). Everyone was kind and gracious!

Best Moment:  Questioning Jonathan Hickman about the difference between writing creator owned works and for hire, such as FF at Marvel. I got a really heartfelt and personal response, cool (and genius) guy!

Serious Thoughts: This was the second time at SDCC for me and I noticed dozens of handicapped attendees, whether in wheel chairs, deaf, or blind. I wondered both about escapism and wish fulfillment, but also about diversity in handicapped heroes such as Charles Xavier (paralyzed) or Daredevil (blind).

Now: Reading Pax Romana and The Nightly News, as well as Supergods.

RAGBRAI:

Highlights: Biking 175 miles over three days, a giant slip & slide outside of Baxter, brisket and pulled pork sandwiches, not giving up on any hill.

Best Moment: Getting hosed by kids. Each kid with a hose is a godsend.

Serious Thought: (kind of). It was fun to compare the costuming of skin-tight ill-fitting bike jerseys and skin-tight ill-fitting Superhero costumes in San Diego. Why is one utilitarian and the other odd?

Now: Sleeping past 5 a.m. for the first time in two weeks. Also, my shoulders don't hurt anymore.

So, with less than two weeks to go I'm back and working. Put in four hours yesterday reading and readying myself for the grad school application process. Looking to do more classroom work in the upcoming days.

A few other things before signing off. First, as posted on my twitter and Facebook, I was interviewed by the kind people at education portal. You can see the interview here.

Lastly, I caught this interesting video from ReasonTV via reddit this morning. It's a fun exercise in loaded questions and quick cutting/editing.

I'll let the video speak mainly for itself, but I quickly want to comment on Matt Damon's insight on incentive. He's right, and has said it more clearly than maybe I've heard before. This notion that teachers need punitive incentive in order to teach effectively is insulting and scary. If we're really serious about putting incentives and punishment as a means to privatize and reform schools than perhaps the effects should be felt throughout the community. Should we raise taxes in a district if their student's don't perform well?

What to learn from Finland

Hello.

I am on vacation in San Diego at Comic-Con and loving it. The weather is beautiful, and currently thirty degrees cooler than home. Just last night  I saw a Tardis and a Delorian within ten feet of each other. I think there was some crazy 4th dimension time whirlpool action going on there.

However fun things are, my sleep schedule is attuned to Central, and I'm up at 5 a.m. local. To the internet! I found this really interesting article about Finland's education reform of the past thirty years and how it compares to America's. Find it here.

http://www.salon.com/news/david_sirota/2011/07/18/tony_wagner_finland/index.html

Also, Nicole had a great point about the man-dominated dystopic novels. The women in those books aren't necessarily portrayed in the most positive light, disastrously in Brave New World. I picked up The Hunger Games and will give it a read before the year. I'm also thinking about excerpts from Mary Shelley's The Last Man, critical of her own husband's Romantic movement. Collaboration folks!

Thanks and stay out of the heat!