As usual, August seems like a longer month than most of the others (which it technically is) to the point that it almost feels like two separate months. Once again, I found myself in a state other than Alaska at some point in time during the month of August. That makes it the fourth time in the nine Augusts that I have lived somewhere on the Kenai.

This year, the first day of August was my second day of class for the Advanced Placement Summer Institute that I attended to get a better handle on how I wanted to teach AP U.S. History--which I am doing for the first time in my career this school year. I also managed to meet up with some of my partners in crime from Lincoln High School. I will say that as much as I liked the staff and students there, I'm still so very glad that I left when I did--especially after hearing their stories about what has happened since.

Some of the other events from this month include:

• Getting frustrated with traffic in Michigan--especially around Detroit and Ann Arbor
• Visiting family in Chicago with another great meal at New Star
• Attending my niece's baptism
• Having my flights delayed on my return trip so that I arrived home half a day later than I planned
• Starting back to school for my 26th year of teaching--9th in the district and 7th at SoHi
• Finding out that I was chosen as the first "teacher of the month" and thus getting to park in the principal's spot for the rest of the month
• Finishing the amazing second season of Strange New Worlds
• Introducing the show Taskmaster to my family after having been shown it in Michigan
• Beginning the first day of school with one of my own children taking two of the classes that I'm teaching
• Dealing with a lingering cold that I caught while travelling 
• Cheering during two home football games enough that the cheerleaders brought me pom-poms to use
• Seeing the first three episodes of the new Star Wars show, Ahsoka, and deeply enjoying it
• Organizing the start of my second season as a DDF coach
• Discovering that I am in charge of researching and crafting our school's application for accreditation
• Not playing a single session of a video game
• AND writing a list where each item has a different action verb!

My prediction for the month of September is that I will still be running around [metaphorically] trying to get on top of the many tasks that I need to complete, but that I will have a better grasp on them by the end of the month.

Only the first three episodes of the Disney Plus Ahsoka show have come out, but I am absolutely in love with it. Admittedly, my excitement about the Star Wars character Ahsoka finally getting a live-action show of her own might be coloring my view. In that vein, I don't know if the show will appeal to everyone. However, this most recent episode in particular has made this show one of my all-time favorites--I'm really hoping that they don't blow it.

I'm trying not to spoil anything, so I'm intentionally being vague. However, one of the greatest parts of this show is that it is intentionally returning the philosophical underpinnings of the Force back to the very first Star Wars movie. In short, it's making the claim that, even though some people are naturally stronger in the Force than others, everyone is a part of it and can open themselves up to it. The Last Jedi made some inroads on this idea, but its controversial plot of subverted expectations made it difficult to take any of its messages seriously. Meanwhile, Ahsoka is doing this in multiple ways, including showing other groups of Force-users outside of the traditional Jedi and Sith dichotomy.

Ahsoka is making these changes with style. The costume, ship, and set designs seem to come directly out of the notebooks of classic Star Wars designs. The cinematography is much more in line with the original movies than any of the other shows or movies have been. Basically, it feels like Star Wars to me--more so than other Star Wars movies and shows have (even though I still like them too). This third episode, in particular, resonated with me in ways that I do not fully understand and thus cannot express.

​I need more people to watch it so I can geek out about it with them.

I've seen a rising number of memes and posts recently defending Trump's legal problems by saying that he's only under these kinds of legal attacks because he was "draining the swamp" and the people losing their livelihoods will do anything to keep him from "saving our nation." It's a rousing story that is certain to appeal to people who feel that something is wrong with our nation, but have not quite been able to put their finger on it. Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of shady dealings that go on with our government. I hold with the classic idiom: there are two things that people don't want to see made--laws and sausages.

However, the evidence actually tells the opposite story, which is unsurprising as Trump's own The Art of the Deal advises that one often needs to present the opposite public front of what one is actually doing--magicians and generals refer to this as misdirection. The sad truth is that Trump was not expecting to win the 2016 election--note that he did not have any administrative staff ready in November and was still scrambling in January to get prospective members of his Cabinet together (unlike Clinton, who in her hubris had her team picked months in advance of the election). In short, he was unprepared and so turned to an outdated and unethical method that has been frowned upon ever since it lead to the death of President Garfield--the spoils system.

The spoils system (created by the President who makes me angry every time I see a $20 bill: Andrew Jackson) can be summed up simply as a President handing out jobs to the people who contributed the most (in cash or publicity) to his campaign regardless of the qualifications or experience in the job. Now, in a perfect world, our government would be a meritocracy--with each job run by the person best suited to be in that job based on their experience and ability. The spoils system does the opposite of what is needed for a good democracy--it puts the people who will most profit personally from the job into the position.

Allow me to provide four specific examples (and there are hundreds of positions that Trump filled using similar reasoning) to prove this point:
1) Ajit Pai was placed by Trump into the position of FCC chairman. He was already an iffy commissioner under Obama, but his positions on removing net neutrality and stopping investigations about foreign interference on social media made him an ideal candidate for Trump. He was literally under investigation himself due to some of his actions as commissioner when he was placed into the position of chairman and immediately ended those investigations.
2) Scott Pruitt was placed by Trump as the Chief of the EPA. His large contributions to Trump's campaign were enough for Trump to ignore that Pruitt was under multiple direct investigations for various environmental crimes. Unlike Pai, Pruitt was not as successful about changing environmental regulations and had to step down within a year due to federal investigations into his business practices. However, he still managed to weaken the EPA enough to lessen and remove the charges against himself even as he was leaving the office.
3) Louis DeJoy was a major fundraiser for Trump with absolutely no experience in the US Postal Service, yet had multiple businesses that were looking for exclusive contracts with the USPS. Of course Trump made him Postmaster General when the opening was available at the end of his term. DeJoy has since positioned his personal businesses to receive multiple exclusive contracts with the USPS, and is continuing to make controversial decisions in that position (including slowing mail ballot deliveries in the 2020 election) as it requires an act of Congress to remove a Postmaster General once appointed.
4) Elisabeth DeVos became the Dolores Umbridge of the Department of Education due to Trump's appointment of her as the Secretary of Education. She had absolutely no experience in any realm of public education. More so, she is a signatory to an organization whose stated purpose is the collapse of the public education system. All she had to do was be a top fund raiser for Trump in Michigan and she got the job. She immediately proceeded to dismantle programs and regulations which have led to multiple crises at all levels of our educational system.

Trump was a menace as a President, not a hero. Far from "draining the swamp," he increased the level of corruption in Washington with consequences that are still rippling across our nation today. Make no mistake: He is not a victim of simple political targeting--he is facing trials and judgments for very real crimes that were committed.

I dropped the ball a bit in planning for this, my second, year as a DDF (Drama, Debate, and Forensics--basically, it means competitive public speaking) coach. Based on last year's schedule, and how busy I knew I would be at the beginning of this school year, I thought that starting after Labor Day would give my team plenty of time to prepare. Unfortunately, I found out recently that the first tournament will be held two weeks earlier than previous years' opening tournaments have been held--and less than two weeks after my originally planned first meeting. Thus, I pushed forward my parent-information meeting to this evening rather than holding it the week after Labor Day (and thus after Homecoming). 

I truly had no idea what to expect for turnout. I hadn't been great about advertising the meeting, but I had also heard from multiple people that there were a number of students who had expressed their interest in joining the team. In the end, I certainly didn't pack the library, but the meeting did bring in six new faces to the team: one senior, one sophomore, and four freshmen. Of them, four sounded like they are really likely to join. As my four remaining team members from last year are all supposed to graduate this year, it's good to have younger members interested in joining. Unfortunately, I will likely need to wait until next week to find out as class meetings have been scheduled during the lunches this week. Considering that Homecoming will take up a good amount of people's time next week, I really should have started all of this at least one week ago.

Still, I feel like we are going to have a good year this year. Clearly, we're still building the program, but the enthusiasm seems pretty high. I also hope that I have a better handle on the logistics and funding involved in getting our team to and from each of the tournaments. I'm also hoping to avoid sleeping on classroom floors for the overnights as it not only seriously affected me, I noted a clear difference in my team's performances too.

In the end, I will plan for what I can, but I will also try to enjoy the moments as they come along.

In today's Gospel, Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter gets his new name as the Rock on which the Church is built by telling Jesus that He is the Messiah. In today's homily, we were asked to think about who we say that Jesus is. Considering the different ways that people have presented Jesus, I feel that this is an important element of my faith to examine: Who do I say that Jesus is?

For me, Jesus is the Lord and Savior of the world--even those, like myself, who are otherwise unworthy. Thus, Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and prophesy of the Old Testament, who brought to the world the Good News of redemption. In this, He clarified the complicated rituals behind Mosaic tradition into two Laws: Love God with all of your mind, soul, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. 

I believe that Jesus is within me, not just spiritually, but also physically. I believe that, in the Eucharist, I receive Jesus in physical form. He then becomes a part of the cells of my own blood and body. Through this physical connection, I become one of His children--born from His body and blood, and entitled to the inheritance of His kingdom through that familial connection. As a child of Jesus, I gain not just a reward, but also an obligation to care for His kingdom and to call back His wandering subjects.

I believe that Jesus wants us to spread love and forgiveness, leaving condemnation and judgment to Him. He especially warns against passing hasty or false judgment, and encourages us to embrace those who are different rather than chasing them away. In this, we make our world a better place in reflection of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In short, Jesus is my redeemer, my shepherd, my family, and my ultimate authority.

I have entirely too many passwords for entirely too many accounts. While I appreciate my phone and browser's attempts to aid me by providing "strong passwords." I often find myself in difficulty if I need to use that password to get onto that account on a different machine.

I have my own preferred method of building strong passwords that has worked for me since I came up with it. The basis is coming up with a short sentence related to the account I'm creating--such as (and this is one I have never used) "I hate new passwords!"--and then crunching it together, capitalizing like a title, and inconsistently switching in some l33t-speak numbers--thus "IH4teN3wPa$sw0rd5!" Sadly, this does not help me remember passwords better (unless I use them frequently), but it does make them easier to type than the machine-made strong passwords.

Remembering the passwords requires writing them all down on a sheet of paper in the house (that I currently cannot find) or on documents to which I have online access, but are titled something innocuous like "New Story Ideas" with a portion of a false story filling the first page (again, I don't do this specific file name, but you get the idea). Unfortunately, not all of my passwords are on any one file. Today, I was looking for a password that I thought that I had remembered, but clearly did not, and discovered that it also wasn't written on any of the places that I had thought it would be. It was, however, accessible through the settings on my phone.

Having had one of my accounts hacked a year or two ago has made me more cautious with my passwords. Still, I can't help but be frustrated by the number and variety. I suppose that this is another First World, digital age problem.

I just got home after dropping off clothes for my son who is spending the night at a friend’s house. I had a great day at school and then at the football games. However, I am sore, several layers beyond exhausted, and feeling a bit waterlogged. 

On November 7th of 2020, Donald Trump became the worst President in the history of the United States. He was already on the low end due to his return to the "spoils system" of political appointments and the largest deficit spending of any President in a single term before or since--even before the hit of COVID-19. However, he hit the bottom of the list of Presidents by being the first ever to refuse to concede an election. He then had the gall to claim that the election was rigged without producing any conclusive proof. 

If that wasn't bad enough, he then formed and incited a riot on January 6th of 2021, telling his followers to march on the Capitol. For the first time in history, citizens broke into the Capitol, disrupting the ceremonial counting of electoral votes. During the riot, he continued to urge the rioters on through social media, only telling them to stand down after it was clear that Congress was not going to succumb to his plan to place false electors.

Today, he was finally arrested for his part in conspiring to interfere with the election activities of the state of Georgia. So we are clear, the Constitution specifically does not give Presidents any power over elections--for obvious reasons. His claim that he was doing his job by contesting an election that he believed to be rigged is an outright lie (on multiple fronts). After his arrest, he was released on bail. This is the fourth criminal case in which he has been indicted this year and the fifth criminal in which he will need to appear in court.

My arguments against Trump are often dismissed because people say that I "just hate Trump." I don't. In fact, I tried to be even-handed when he first came to office even though I had specific reasons why he never should have been elected. Unfortunately, he surpassed every expectation I had about how bad he could be, and I sadly watched as his presidency severely weakened America by nearly every measurable way. It was clear that I underestimated just how much damage he could do. 

The only thing worse for America than Trump having been elected is the very real threat that he could be elected again.

Star Wars prop-masters have a long history of using everyday items and touching them up a bit to create a sci-fi-looking item. Sometimes they take greater care in disguising the modern products than in others. Famously, Episode I: The Phantom Menace has Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan talking into "Jedi communicators" that are just repainted disposable shavers for women. 

Today, when watching the second episode of the new Star Wars: Ahsoka series, I saw a prop that has great nostalgic resonance with me: a hand-held space-invaders knockoff. This was the first video game "system" that my family ever owned. It could run on AA batteries, but we usually just had it plugged into the wall. I spent many hours sitting at our dining room barstools mastering that game.

The controls were simple. There was a toggle that could move the LED space ship left or right but defaulted to a middle position, and there was a red button to shoot at the incoming space invaders. The space invaders came down three corridors (left, middle, and right) on the screen, some of them shooting their own lasers. Getting hit by a laser or an invader OR letting an invader get to the bottom of the screen meant game over. Every invader shot down increased the score. I believe that there were three modes of difficulty and that I could max out the score on the highest one. ... I spent a LOT of time on that game.

There it was in the episode. Of course, it was being used for a completely different purpose. Its blue plastic was painted brown, the LED screen was completely different, and it was held upside down, but I could recognize it anywhere. Its toggle and button controls were clearly visible--if unused and near the "top" rather than the "bottom." This is quite a deep pull from the prop master as that game hasn't been made for decades, yet was in households like mine around the time that Return of the Jedi was made--and this show is supposed to take place only a few years later in that story.

Seeing it really brought back memories, and fond ones at that. Two loved elements from my past were brought together due to this episode. In a way, it feels like I am even more connected to the Star Wars universe.

The first weeks of school always drain me. It takes me a while to get back into the school schedule. Thus, I'm not up to a longer post, and I leave you instead with a short anecdote. 

I didn't bring shampoo with me on my trip to Michigan, deciding to use whatever was available where I was staying. This wasn't much of an issue at my parents' place as my father uses same shampoo as I do. However, when at my brother's house, I mentioned my need for shampoo and was given a bottle of shampoo with a hair thickening formula. 

I'm concerned that I got some in my ears.

One problem with many of the critics that I've seen of movies and shows that I like is that they tend to take apart tiny details and point out logical inconsistencies within the larger story. As audience members, we are expected to hold a certain suspension of disbelief--especially when absorbing stories of fantasy or science fiction. It is generally agreed upon that better stories require less of a suspension of disbelief than more sloppily crafted ones; however, that does not hold true in reality. Apparently humans are much more willing to suspend their disbelief (no matter how poorly constructed the material) as long as the larger story is one that they would prefer to be true--or even deeply fear to be true.

We do this with relationships. Often we suspend our disbelief about the faults of a person that we care about because we would rather believe our constructed version of them. Oddly, we are also just as willing to create or magnify faults in others because it better fits the narrative about the person that we have already constructed. I have to fight against this tendency (and I do not always win) when dealing with students as my first impression of them can often cloud my ability to take them in as a total person. Sadly, we often see this in abusive relationships--with people unwilling to see the truth about a person out of some faint hope that what they want to believe might actually be true.

This is the only logical reason I can find for people whom I know to be intelligent to still support Trump.

Today's readings all discuss how salvation moved from just a chosen group of people (the Hebrews) to all of humanity. This was quite a controversial idea not only when Jesus preached it, but even as Paul made his way through the Roman world. Even Jewish converts tried to restrict who could be Christian to only those who continued to follow Mosaic law (especially physical acts such as circumcision). There's some innate human tendency to want to restrict benefits to others once they have received those benefits themselves. For some reason, they are not willing to allow new people into their privileged group.

I feel that this is an area that American Christians have had an ironically hard time in accepting. Frequently, I see people who claim to be Christian also support the closing of borders to immigrants. Sometimes, they even use references to the "gates of heaven" when doing so. Even though in nearly all cases, they are the descendants of immigrants, they fight against allowing others to reap the same benefits that they have enjoyed. 

For me, the most Christian aspect about America is its acceptance of all people. In fact, quite often the early immigrants were the cast-offs of humanity--exactly the type of people whom Jesus raised above all others. The open welcome of Christianity to all people is a core tenant of our faith. Would that Christians themselves be more open and welcoming to others--especially the poor and downtrodden. 

I actively work at being a pleasant person, and I fail often. It does not help that my default personality is that of an arrogant, angry asshole. Over the years, I feel that my practice at being more pleasant generally has made it easier to be the type of person that I would like to be. However, no matter how far that I believe that I've come, it apparently doesn't take much of a scratch to see the boiling rage beneath my apparently thin wrapping of affability. 

Take driving for example. I've really tried to drive with a higher level of compassion and understanding for what my fellow drivers might have going on that leads them to make poor driving decisions. This is rather easy to do in where we live as, even at the height of traffic congestion, the traffic here is never all that bad. However, a couple of weeks ago, when dealing with the traffic around Detroit--which could take an already long drive and double the time--I found myself shouting out curses and aggressively (almost punitively) driving almost immediately. I was deeply disturbed to see how quickly those older, harsher driving strategies came out.

Sadly, this can happen with games all too easily as well. An otherwise pleasant game can suddenly turn the moment that I feel directly attacked. Part of my issue is that I don't take a proportional response, but rather go all in on a feral attack to make certain that the person not only regrets their decision, but realizes that they never want to take such an action against me again (although, there are some people who thrive on the conflict that my sort of response generates). Often, I will hold the grudge beyond the end of the game session in question if I feel that the perpetrator does not yet fully understand the wrath that they've unleashed.

Still, I'm trying to be better. That raging monster within me is a bit of an embarrassment, and I can use my own fear of embarrassment against myself to help me to some degree. It also helps for me to put myself into the perspective of my "attacker." Often, working at realizing what's motivating such an "attack" goes a long way at defusing my rage and engaging my compassion. 

And yet, don't make me angry; you won't like me when I'm angry.

Thanks to Connor's JV football game (and requirement that he attend the varsity football game) I spent much of the afternoon and evening outside in the stands on one of the most beautiful summer days of this year. The temperature was almost perfect--between the warm sun and the cool breezes, I never felt too hot or too cold despite sitting out there without any kind of jacket. Nor did the sun seem in any way oppressive, as it sometimes can on some cloudless days. 

I did feel a little bad for the teams from North Pole who travelled the long trip all the way down to get absolutely pummeled by our teams. The JV won with a score of 56 to 14. However, our varsity completely ran away with a final score of 66 to 0. Still, I had a great deal of fun yelling out encouragement and cheers.

This does a couple of questions regarding etiquette at football games:

The first is the National Anthem. I am of the opinion that I should always join in singing the National Anthem if I am able to do so--no matter how great of a performance is given by the musician(s) performing it to the crowd. My family, however, was trying to hush me even though I was not singing that loudly (for me, anyway). Seriously, I can really belt it out, and I was nowhere close. Which of us is correct?

The second question deals with the cheers lead by cheerleaders. While certain cheers are nearly impossible for me to follow, my belief is that the cheerleaders are there to ... well ... LEAD us in CHEERS. We are the "cheer followers" and should be repeating the cheers that have clear refrains. Again, my family seems to disagree--as well as some of the people who were sitting around me--as I was often the only one to shout out at the "appropriate" times. Should I be following the lead of our cheerleaders?

I may have been a bit out of line when I was yelling out "bah bah bah" to Sweet Caroline. Connor seemed to think so as he physically covered my mouth at one point. I suppose that he's right--I really should learn the rest of the lyrics.