Cliché though it may be, the more things change the more they seem to stay the same. It has been many months since last I blogged here yet today doesn't feel any different than it ever has (the present moment is always merciful in that sense, at least.)

Things I've been thinking about lately:

• It is important to maintain and nurture our connections - our relationships with others - because that is all we are, really - as a social species we can only learn and grow and prosper by interaction. 

• Acting with purpose is much easier when one defers to the circumstances of a given moment because any event is only an aggregate of one's awareness and the particular configuration of one's environment - the former is malleable, the latter is not - "time may change me, but I can't trace time."

• The more time passes, either the happier I seem to be or the less things seem to matter, I'm not sure which. 

What's your favorite Mexican food dish?

Doesn't really matter what the dish is, I just like the way they all sound in Spanish.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

What event or experience are you most looking forward to right now?

Relocating to the UK. If I look forward to it any harder my eyes will pop out.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

Who's the best teacher you ever had? What made them your favorite?

I've had a lot of teachers who I could choose as a favourite, but the "best" ones were those who taught me something I needed to know just when I needed to know it.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

What's your favorite kind of tea? I'm looking for something new & need recommendations!

In terms of brands or blends? I don't pay as much attention to branding as I do to pricing, in which case the blends aren't very distinguished at the cheap end. Whenever I need a change, I throw a couple of different flavours of teas in together (cranberry never disappoints.)

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

Scenario: You've a writer & musician w/ 10 yrs of customer service, 1 yr public radio; ran PR for & hosted 2 local events recently; helped facilitate 1 fundraiser online this month. You're moving to London UK next month. Fastest way to find paid PR work?

Scenario: You've a writer & musician w/ 10 yrs of customer service, 1 yr public radio; ran PR for & hosted 2 local events recently; helped facilitate 1 fundraiser online this month. You're moving to London UK next month. Fastest way to find paid PR work?

Answer here

How much TV do you usually watch in a day?

The last time I even owned a TV, the Unabomber was still running around loose in Montana.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

The #Futrchat Daily

Earlier today, the Association of Professional Futurists (APF) conducted its fourth Twitter roundtable, #Futrchat, on the subject of transportation. Follow the link to paper.li for an aggregated digest of the discussion.

(Although I don't claim to have contributed to the discussion - I generally prefer to lurk and ruminate - the results are definitely worth sharing.)

If you could change anything about your neighborhood, what would it be?

There would be a corner grocery - the kind that has fresh produce - on every other block. In suburbia, this is no small feat.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

What's your favorite video game?

Tetris. Not only do I find my compulsive enjoyment of its simple form (as video games go) fascinating, but studies show that it makes a good warm blanket for post-traumatic, psychological shock. Isn't that a comforting thought?

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

Educational Reform in America: The Trouble With Numbers

A recent post at The 21st Century Principal blog, "Can US Learn Ed Reform from Finland?", by J. Robinson*, posits that, "[American] education reformers dismiss all of what Finland does because 'that country lacks diversity...'" While I agree with many of Robinson's subsequent points, this particular assertion requires clarification.

Diversity is a valid and relevant discrepancy in any comparison of the U.S. teaching system to the Finnish education system. Having a national population of approximately 5.3 million (http://bit.ly/ggWbZw,) there are only as many Finns in all of Finland as there are citizens in the state of Missouri (http://bit.ly/hO9DUZ,) and Helsinki, the largest of Finland's cities, has a mere 588,000 residents (http://bit.ly/dEQ9WN.)

Even if it were equivalent to the United States in ethnic or class diversity (and it isn't,) the urban population of Helsinki alone contains a staggering 11 percent of the entire country's inhabitants; whereas the largest American urban center, New York City, contains only two percent of all Americans (http://bit.ly/gKbmvx.) When this number is combined with the 8 other U.S. cities of one million or more inhabitants, the sum total still amounts to only 7 percent of the American population (http://bit.ly/gn2T6X.) On this basis alone, it should be clear that the Finnish system has had a distinct advantage towards the facilitation of a streamlined methodology that the U.S. would never be able to match.

This is not to say that every idea or model for systemic change should be dismissed as futile, only that its implementation will always pose a significant challenge to any established institution: the more an infrastructure expands, the less effective it is likely to be.

(Maria H. Andersen's article, "The World Is My School: Welcome to the Era of Personalized Learning," at the World Future Society's website, addresses this paradox from a different perspective, outside the box, as it were. Worthwhile reading.)


*Robinson's post, in turn, relates an argument by Pasi Sahlberg from an Op-Ed in the Boston Globe.

Carpe noctem?

I suppose I'm overdue for an update; I will be doing that soon, however, now is not the time. Too tired, must sleep!

formspring.me

Go on, ask another - I dare you. http://formspring.me/b00jUm

What music are you listening to today?

L.A. Vampires Meets Zola Jesus; an hour ago it was Simone Dinnerstein's recording of the Bach Goldberg variations.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

What was the best concert you went to?

Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood tour, at the Opera House in Toronto...er...I think that was in '94...?

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

Jeepers!

This is just a quick post to say, "hurray!" I'd like to blog more on the subject of Hal Niedzviecki's Peep Diaries coming to town next week but I'm in a hurry just now. Watch for updates and click the link in the meantime!

If you were to roll back time, to which era would you roll it back to?

Good question. The short answer is that I wouldn't - I'm reasonably satisfied that one era is as good as another, thus a rollback would only deprive me of my own chronological authenticity.

If, for whatever reason, I did backtrack, then assuming it were possible to do so safely AND return to the present intact, I would love to see the birth of the universe - if such a singular, defining moment ever occurred.

If not, then I'd want to do one of the following: a) pan forward to the moment at which a quantifiable explanation for material existence is discovered*; or, b) fast-forward to the end of time*; or, c) rewind as far as possible.

* That is, if forward time-travel were possible, and/or that time is finite.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

What was your favorite toy to play with as a child?

Lego! Having the freedom to imagine and build one's own toys is the best preoccupation a kid can have.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

Would you rather be a zombie or a mummy?

Mummy; dry rot sounds much more appealing than the zombie variety.

Go on, ask another - I dare you.

If you could ask Barack Obama one question what would it be?

"Can you get me a seat on the space shuttle?"

Go on, ask another - I dare you.