Imaginary Presidents

On a lighter note, thanks to Kottke for this retrospective of the imaginary Presidency of Al Gore.

And why did he pressure the universally admired Fed chairman Alan Greenspan to step down early in 2002? Replacing him with that old warhorse Paul Volcker was a nasty surprise, especially when Volcker choked off a promising housing boom in 2002 and imposed old, outdated regulations on lenders. Some properties lost as much as 8% of their value that year. Now housing prices are rising really slowly, and GDP barely grew by 3% this year.

Happy President's Day

While many of us enjoy the day off and golf, bowl, or spend time with our families, please take a minute to think about why we have this day off. It's a big year for Presidential History, but I really loved this post looking back at our first president's trip across the Delaware. And this post about the painting getting a new frame.

A lot different

I get asked at least once a week just how much different is my life as a teacher different than mine as a lawyer? Someday I will come up with a comprehensive list (that will continue to evolve), but for now suffice it to say, that a year ago my week of vacation in February would have been spent on conference calls, checking my blackberry, and angering everyone I was on vacation with. Now, it's pretty much just what you see here (which is a story for another time).

"These were called breadlines."

It's Sunday night and I'm grading papers - specifically an essay exam from last week on the Great Depression. Due to the recent push for the state ELA exam I feel like my 8th graders are really at the top of their game right now when writing. Of course there are still hilarious (or disappointing) syntax problems, but a lot of students are writing great thesis statements, accurately using specific details to support their arguments, and just writing better.

That said, there are three problems I encounter perpetually: (1) inability/refusal to follow directions; (2) the "pile on," whereby a large number of seemingly arbitrary facts are grouped together in hopes of answering a question; and (3) "the blur," where issues and time periods are blended together and dumped onto a page - references to the Industrial Revolution in the midst of answering a question about the causes of the Great Depression.

Oh, and as you probably guessed the photo is by Dorothea Lange, 1940 near Bakersfield, CA.

A long way to go

I plan on blogging a lot more about my first year teaching in Room 507, but thoughts like this have crossed my mind a lot this year. It's funny to think that by Gladwell's theory, I was about 2 years past being an "expert" lawyer when I quit.

Small Change

I don't know why, but small stories like this make me feel good (even better) about the election.

The Mysterious Mixer

I realize this wasn't intended to be a music blog, but I discovered bitorrent this weekend and have been in heaven. Before the Animal Collective show last week, they were playing some pretty incredible dub that I didn't recognize and Shazam really let me down. In what can only be described as divine intervention, the Village Voice actually mentioned the song in the review. How that happened, I don't know. But anyway, I now know who Bullwackie (aka Lloyd Barnes, The Mysterious Mixer, etc...) is. I'm having trouble finding stuff and I haven't figured out how to upload my own, so enjoy these.