As today is the anniversary of the attacks made on September 11, 2001, I wanted to share where I was during the attacks and the aftermath.

I was on my prep hour in my portable classroom at Colon Jr./Sr. High School when the planes struck the buildings.  A student of mine knocked on the door.  He told me that I needed to turn on the television because we were being invaded and New York was being bombed.  This particular student was not the most trustworthy of students, but this seemed to be a rather tall tale even for him.  I didn't believe he was serious, and I told him so, but I wasn't able to figure out what he thought he would gain by getting me to to turn on the television.

I calmly explained to the student that it wouldn't be possible for bombers to make it to the United States and that we certainly weren't being invaded.  (Classic example of an adult thinking that he knew more just because he was older.)  I told him to go back to his class, and I turned on the TV as he left.  I punched in the channel for CNN and was immediately mesmerized.  They had just switched back to a live shot because the first tower was collapsing.

I can't fully express what I felt.  I was horrified, as I believe most of us were.  I was also intrigued, like a gawker at a traffic accident, my eyes and mind wanted to see more due to my natural human curiosity.  The savage within me called for immediate war against whomever might have done this.

The bell rang and I forced myself to turn off the television.  An announcement came over the PA requesting that all teachers turn off their TVs and continue school as usual, that the office would keep us updated.  Of course, that made it so most rooms turned on the TVs right away and kept them running.  I wish I could say that I was one of them.  Instead I tried to keep my scheduled lesson plan running.

I regret that.  I feel that I deprived my students from seeing some of their own history that day.  Maybe I at least provided them with a shelter from the news that was otherwise bombarding them that day, but as a teacher of history I feel I did them (and myself) a disservice.  

Union-bashing has become much more rampant in the past few years.  Legislation with innocuous names such as "Right to Work" has been passed to actually undermine the rights of the workers.  Even today, a national holiday that is supposed to show the importance of the working class in America, finds many of the workers its supposed to be celebrating still hard at work with little cause for celebration.

Somehow, corporate politicians have led people to believe that safer working conditions, a living wage, and decent work schedules are un-American.  People have voted away their rights to fair pay, affordable education, and healthcare due to fear-mongering and downright misinformation.  Instead, they keep voting for tax-cuts to corporations and the highest paid citizens, the ability for jobs to be more easily moved overseas, and the legalization of environmentally damaging practices.   Ironically, they do so, usually believing that they are voting in their own best interests, even though the only real benefactors have been the richest 1% (not even 10%) of Americans.

I have stated before that there needs to be a Worker's Bill of Rights.  Without this sort of protection, corporations can buy legislation that tears away the rights of most Americans.  Perhaps this Labor Day, people will remember that simple standards such as the 40 hour work week and breaks in shifts longer than four hours were hard fought rights, but they were not meant to be the end (let alone be whittled away).  Maybe we can even remind those naysayers that America's economy improved under these changes to become the dominant economy in the world.

It was the first English ship to sail around the world.  It was captained by the pirate/privateer Sir Francis Drake who not only raided Spanish ships along the American coasts for the interest of the English crown, but also returned in time to delay the Spanish Armada from attacking England for a year, enough time for the English to prepare itself.

The Uncharted series of video games (a great set of stories in their own right) are focused on a descendant of Sir Drake.  Two of the games even suggest that Sir Drake had a role in finding some of the great hidden cities and treasures of history.

In short, the Golden Hind is one of the ships in history that I have been interested in since at least high school.  I even wrote a short outline of two young time-travelers who stow away on the ship during its famous voyage around the world.  That was even before I read the journal of the Hind's chaplain, Francis Fletcher, for my class on exploration in the Pacific.

So, when I saw a model kit for a miniature version of the Golden Hind while on our vacation, I had to get it.  I just got around to putting it together, and I am ridiculously happy about it.  It wasn't a massive ship, but it was only the second ship to make it around the Earth, and I have a small version of it that I put together.

Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom to judge his people and to distinguish right from wrong.  The Lord blessed Solomon because he asked for this gift and not gifts of power or long life.  Yet didn't Adam and Eve get forced from the Garden of Eden because they ate from the tree that gave them the knowledge of good and evil?

Today's sermon illuminated this supposed conflict and brought the question into our modern society.  The difference is that Solomon was asking for God's guidance in distinguishing right from wrong, while Adam and Eve were looking to create their own distinctions between what is good and what is evil.  It's the same battle that we are currently fighting in our world: Is there an absolute truth?

So many people confuse right and wrong with popular opinion.  They believe that if they convince half the nation that something is right, it makes that action right.  Unfortunately, one does not need to look far into history to see where this idea goes astray with disastrous consequences.  Mob mentality should not decide moral issues.

How then do we know right from wrong?  We ask God.  He showed us the way through His teaching, especially in His time on Earth as a human.  He founded a Church to give people a moral compass, and while the people in the Church have sometimes lost their way, His message of Love and Understanding has stood for thousands of years.

We are granted wisdom when we ask for it.  The problem is that we often don't like what we know is the wise course of action; it often challenges us and it illuminates some of our faults that we would prefer to ignore.   The wisdom of Solomon is there for each of us if we have the strength to look for it.

I just finished watching My Fellow Americans, a comedy from 1996 where two ex-Presidents (one Republican, one Democrat) must work together to help uncover a plot to discredit and kill them.   Played by Jack Lemon and James Garner, these two Presidents can't stand one another, but they not only learn how to work together, but they learn something about the people in the country that they were running as well.

I like this movie for its comedy and its entertaining cast, but mostly for the themes that it has.  One of the most important of these that struck me as I watching the movie today is how much more we accomplish when we work together rather than when we work against one another.  

Politics in America was designed to be divided.  The intention of the founders of this nation was to create a system that required debate and discussion before action could be taken.  Too often in America's history has this intentional division been taken too far.  Too often do the politicians on both sides use rhetoric to demolish the other side rather than use action to prove the positives of their own positions.  This is not a new phenomenon, but it is sad nonetheless.  

This is a nation that needs debate in order to make certain that the government is doing what is best for its citizens, but it needs debates that don't completely alienate the various positions.  We need to start listening to one another again and acknowledge the strengths of the various arguments.  The politicians of our nation are not trying to destroy America, and we need to recognize that.  People are not wrong simply because they support a different political party.  Once we clear those unworthy ideas from the American consciousness, we can make our country (and our world) a better place.

You see, you can learn things from watching movies.

My daughter recently purchased a new computer, putting her on a two-year cycle for upgrading (laptops seem to die sooner than desktops).  My discussion with her about it brought to mind memories of the times when I either bought or received a new computer.  I was having trouble figuring out the actual timing, so I decided to work it out on this post.

First computer: Apple II+
I think that I was in seventh grade (1986-7).  My family got it through my uncle from an older woman who never really used it.  It can a green-scale CRT monitor and a 5 3/4" floppy drive and only a couple of disks.  I remember playing a Donkey Kong-like game with a construction worker removing rivets to trap monsters and Moebius, a ninja-adventure/exploration/fighting game.

Second computer: Commodore 64
I traded the Apple II+ to a friend for his Commodore 64 (he already had a 128) and a tiny color TV (which I still possess) in the summer of 1988.  No one was really using the Apple II+ besides myself, and while my friend was somehow able to make a good deal of money from selling a hardly-used Apple II +, I still think this was one of the best deals I ever made.  I had a large collection of games (most of the copies from friends), but my favorite game was the SSI series with Pool of Radiance.  

Third computer: 386 (Can't remember the brand) mini-tower desktop
My father sent me this computer in March of 1993 to help with my college work (although he also hoped that it would keep me distracted from sex; my daughter was born in December of that year, so he considered that goal a failure).  It used Windows 3.1 as its operating system (although I often had to have my games run in DOS).  I remember being astounded that it had megabytes, MEGAbytes, of RAM and hard drive space.  It did see me through college and reengaged my love of computers.  I remember seeing the 3D polygons of the X-Wing Fighter game and being in awe of how far computer graphics had come.  My favorite game was Betrayal at Krondor, which got me hooked on the writings of Raymond E. Feist. 

Fourth computer: Pentium I (Can't remember the brand) tower desktop
We purchased this computer soon after arriving back in Michigan in the summer of 1996 during a clearance sale at the closing of the office supply store where my sister worked.  This computer would undergo several upgrades over its existence, actually maxing out its motherboard (all with way with a 133 processor).  One of its main features that I liked was how easily its case could be opened to deal with these upgrades.  It ran Windows 95 and was the first computer that I ran Myst and Warcraft on, not to mention my favorite: StarCraft.  I really don't remember what happened to it.

Fifth computer: Pentium IIm Dell Laptop
Back when schools were receiving a decent amount of money and before Michigan went into an economic downslide, the State of Michigan decided to encourage teachers to better use technology by purchasing a computer for every teacher for the 2000/2001 school year (we go ours in November).  Like many good ideas, this one got messed up in the politics.  The computers were purchased through a "lowest bidder program" and most districts missed the part that there were supposed to be the teachers' personal property.  I could at least take my laptop home, but I never bothered with upgrades due to the district's claim that I would have to return it at any time.  By not allowing the teachers to truly own this technology, most teachers didn't really invest time into the devices.  I remember that this one ran the rather buggy Windows 2000 Millennium edition.  I did, however, use this computer to run multiplayer games of StarCraft in my home with some of my fellow teachers who also received similar computers.

Sixth computer: Pentium IV Dell tower desktop
We got this computer about a year after being in Burr Oak for a couple of years about a year after upgrading my Pentium I as high as it could go (2003?).  This was my first time ordering a computer through the Dell site (and during the time that everyone was quoting "Dude, you got a Dell?").   It ran the "new" Windows XP, which is still one of my favorite operating systems.  This was the first computer where I found that my older programs (back from the 386) would no longer run.  I still have the case in my basement (anyone know a good electronic scrap dealer?).

Seventh computer: Intel? Dell laptop
As Janelle started taking classes at Western, we decided that she needed a computer that should could take with her to campus and back.  As we were pretty happy with Dell computers, we decided to go with them again.  I don't know much about this computer as it was Janelle's and I only touched it when she was having problems with it.  It died (apparently due to video card overheating) and some parts of it have found ways into some of her art projects.

Eighth computer: Intel Centrino Dell Laptop
This is my baby, my favorite, and it died on me a few years ago.  I purchased this computer in June of 2005 after I had to return the teaching technology initiative computer back Colon (even though it was supposed to be mine) after taking my current job.  I wanted a computer that I could take back and forth as I was about to live with my sister during the work week and back in Burr Oak on the weekends while my wife finished her degree.  I also wanted a computer that could hold up to my brother's LAN parties.  Again, I went to the Dell website and put in a near-perfect order.  While I held back a bit on the processor and ram, I got the best video card that I could (and would later update the ram), and a 17" screen.  I even special ordered an olive green laptop case/carry-on bag.  I loved this computer and was (and am) depressed when it succumbed to the same problem that my wife's laptop had.  If anyone knows how to fix it with relative ease and small expense, please let me know.

Ninth computer: Intel Duo Core 2 Dell Slim desktop  
After the death of her laptop in 2009, my wife wanted a new computer of her own.  We found a great deal on a Dell computer (with a monitor that of which I am still envious) at Sam's Club (well before we began our boycott of all things Koch brothers).  This is still my wife's main computer.  Unfortunately, we got it just before Windows 7 came out and so are stuck with Vista.  Again, as this is my wife's computer, I usually only deal with it when it is experiencing some sort of problem.  Unfortunately, one of its fans has started to occasionally make a great deal of racket.  My wife is also looking for a little more power now that she is putting a lot of her art online.  She's looking seriously at Macs right now.

Tenth computer: Intel i3 Core inside Toshiba laptop
In March of 2010, my "baby" fried its video card (and still sits next to my bed on the side where I sleep).  We couldn't afford for me to get a top-of-the-line system like the last time, so I picked up a well-rated, but inexpensive Toshiba.  While it has a better processor, its on-board video card can't compete with my "baby."  I still insisted on getting a 17" screen, and we can hook it up to the TV if needed, but it is not my favorite computer to use and has already had a couple of its ports go dead.  However, it did come with Windows 7, which I like nearly as much as XP.

Eleventh computer: Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook 13-inch laptop
At the request of my social studies department head, I joined a technology initiative at my school which provided all participants with a MacBook, iPad, and iPod Touch in the summer of 2010 (yes, not that long after I bought the Toshiba ... had I known ...).  Unlike many of the participants who got their technology through the new bond, mine was provided through a grant from the special ed department whose director specifically worded it so that the equipment became my property (unlike the other administrators, she had learned the lesson from the TTI in 2000).  While I can't stand how small the screen is (and that we got the MacBook rather than the MacBook Pro), this is my main computer for most of my work for school.  I am amazed by how easy it is to use, its track pad technology, and its power consumption.  That said, as it doesn't play PC games ... I probably wouldn't purchase one for myself in the future.

Twelfth computer: AMD Athlon64 X2 Dual Core - Self assembled (w/brother) desktop
Last summer (2013), after hearing me complain about my computer for the thousandth time while playing StarCraft II, my brother gave me a motherboard, processor, new case (which makes it easy to install updates), and a couple of hard drives (it loads off of a small solid state drive).  I have since added a secondary hard drive with a terabyte of space, 8 gigs of ram, and a GeoForce 660 video card.  I have two older, but still LCD monitors hooked up (I hate only using one monitor now).  While I will need to put in a new motherboard and processor at some point in the future, this is a computer with which I am very happy right now.

Today we celebrate the independence of our nation from its colonial master.  We celebrate the separation of our government from the hereditary line of royalty and began the process that put our fate into the hands of elected officials.  This is a day to remember our history and to look to our future.

Oh, and we get to play with various pyrotechnics.

Our Independence festivities are covering a three-day period this year.  Last night we watched the Jackson fireworks with several friends and with various snacks bought from the Polly's store whose parking lot we were using.  Today we played a D&D campaign with a large group of friends and I grilled the traditional hamburgers and  hot dogs for lunch.  Tomorrow nearly all of my family will gather together, I will grill again, and we will watch more fireworks, this time while in a boat on a lake.

As all of us are celebrating, I hope that we take the time to reflect on our country's heritage, present, and possibilities.  We are part of an amazing nation with great potential.  May our nation be a beacon of hope and liberty for the world through the ages.

And may the fireworks be impressive ... and not dangerous.

I started the day with a free raspberry mocha; the car ahead of me paid for my drink, a phenomenon that, according to my wife, occurs kind of often at the Jackson Coffee Company.  I also found yet a fourth route into Ann Arbor to reach my destination.  Today's path proved to be the fastest of the four days.

Our conference started with a discussion by Bob Bain about how we could incorporate what we had learned so far into our actual teaching practices.  Two ideas presented, both similar in nature, struck me as particularly relevant to my own classes.  One was to create a large poster that show various levels in scale for world history (i.e. human, family, neighborhood, city, nation, region, continent, and globe) to which I can refer during the entire course.  This tool is made to help students better understand how large movements in history affect and are affected by smaller movements.  For example, how one man like Napoleon affected his nation, the neighboring nations, and even places around the world which he never personally visited.  Conversely, we can look at how an event like the plague of the 14th century affected Europe differently than the Middle East or even Paris differently than Medina.  The second tool is to do the same thing with time.  In my mind, I would put the dates of the various time divisions (for AP and for the Michigan curriculum) as well as at least one major date in each era as reference points for where the event we were discussing fits in connection to other events around the world.

The second presentation, by Alice Isabelle Sullivan, focused on how church design and construction in Hungary, Moldovia, and Russia were influenced by the fall of Constantinople in 1453.  She did an amazing job with historical scale, starting each section by putting it in its geographical context, narrowing to the overall plans of the churches, focusing on the particular rooms in the church, and even narrowing down to specific details in the art on the church walls.  It was a fascinating presentation on areas that I really did know much about before.  Her last couple of minutes gave us two tools that blew me away: virtual tours on 360cities.net and an animated map of 1000 years of European change.

The last half of today's conference was spent divided in two groups to discuss who we might personally implement want we had learned.  Bob joined our group which immediately changed the dynamic.  Our group followed a guided discussion led by him (which I think I preferred) rather than a discussion among equals.  Much of our discussion then focused on why and how we choose the parts of history that we decide to cover in our classes.  We ended the session with one of our members showing one of his series of videos that he uses to sum up chapters and sections (in the same book we use in our world history classes!) that I plan on making available to my students next year.

It was a great three days with many excellent ideas that I know I will largely forget over the next couple of months.  I will at least use the posters of scale, the big idea problem spaces, the virtual tours, and the videos on my book.

On the way home, I picked up Chinese food from Chelsea.  The perfect end to the week.

In an effort to stay awake through the entire session despite another night without too much sleep (stupid intestinal discomfort), I purchased a large mocha from the Jackson Coffee Company on my way to Ann Arbor.  I have now used a different route to get to my conference and to leave from my conference each of the past three days.  Ann Arbor is confusing enough without all of the construction.

The mocha worked!  That and, while I liked yesterday's presentations, today's presentations were much more what I expected from this conference and had more information that I believe I can directly use in my classes.  I only had to stop myself from daydreaming once.  I also brought and used my iPad to look up more information and images of the information being discussed.  Doing so made me appreciate just how powerful our access to information has become.  I need to find some way to better incorporate this kind of technology into my classroom.

The opening presentation was again from Bob Bain.  He provided us some extremely good gossip about how the state standards for World History were created--he was the chair of the committed that created them.  He also provided a scaffolding framework for helping students to write about history (or writing an argument on any topic for that matter).  One of the attendees correctly commented that the framework alone was worth the price of admission to this conference.  I had one other personal take-away from this presentation: use "Previously on ..." (like a television show) at the beginning of each lesson to remind students of information from previous lessons that will help in their understanding of the next lesson.  These short "Previously on ..." presentations need to focus on meaningful information and provide some sort of conflict to increase student interest.

While all of the presentations were great, the second one, by Jonathan Zwicker, called "From Edo to Tokyo and Back Again" was squarely within my historical interests.  He highlighted the ways that Edo became Tokyo at the end of the Tokugawa period, how it rebuilt itself after the 1923 earthquake and again after the Allied firebombing in 1945, and how it has tried to reclaim its Edo past (while ignoring its militaristic empire) in an effort to establish a national identity.  The presentation showed the value of photo arguments, made me want to read The Great Divergence, and suggested that we watch Rashomon.

The third presentation, by Juan Hernandez, focused on a the role of cities in Latin America under the Spanish Empire, in their revolutions against Spanish rule, in the establishment of their national identities, and in their movements into and out of military dictatorships.  Finally, the fourth presentation, by Ian Trivers, showed the role of cities throughout history, starting with the important question: What makes something a city (and not just a village or human settlement)?  He made several interesting observations about how cities affect human societies and are affected by them.

No rain greeted me on the way back to my car today, and we had sandwiches rather than pizza so my digestive tract should be better tonight.  Tomorrow's conference only has two presentations and then time for us to develop lessons for next year.  I'm still looking forward to it.

Even when considering yesterday's screw up (which I found out today that I was not the only one to make), getting drenched on my three block jog at the end of the conference to get to my Caravan, and whatever's going on with my intestinal system tonight (most likely a reaction to the pizza from lunch, which was good, but greasy), I am glad that I attended today's conference.

The session itself was book-ended by presentations from Bob Bain about the problems with teaching world history to any level of student, but especially to the disinterested high school student.  The middle two sessions were more specific.  The first one, by Eric Schewe, discussed the waqf system in Cairo from about 1200 to when it ended in the 1950s revolution.  Now, if you're thinking, "I don't know what the waqf system is," you are not alone.  Basically, the waqf was a way for a wealthy person or family in an Islamic country to create a charity that would be funded ... well, hopefully forever.  The second presentation, by Kenneth Hall, showed the interdependence and competition between Southeast Asian regions and cities.

There was a LOT of information, the lights were low for a good portion of the session (and all of the middle presentations), and I was fighting sleep ... while sitting in the front row.  I even tried drinking non-mocha coffee to keep my mind from wandering into dreamland.  The two men weren't bad presenters, but one of my take-aways from the conference was that this is what some (or many ... or most) of my students have to deal with.  I need to find better ways to break up my presentations.

Aside from my personal revelation, I found several other interesting concepts that I would like to incorporate in my future teaching:

1. Start each unit, lesson, and day with a (I refuse to use "an") historical problem. Example of historical problems are "Why was Europe able to develop a hegemony in the 19th and 20th centuries?"  or "What makes a great leader?"  While I start my classes with focus questions or readings, they tend to have "correct" answers which my students just wait for me to tell them.  These problems require evidence and critical thinking.

2. End lessons by asking students (perhaps as a journal writing) how what they learned that day supported, extended, or challenged their current beliefs.  This is a good practice for anyone after receiving any piece of information.

3. I need to spend more time helping students learn how to read like historians: Look at who's doing the writing, make connections between readings, don't just read from top to bottom, realize that authority does not equal truth, and learn how to group the documents (don't just read them in the order presented).

There's more, but it's late I need to sleep now so I don't sleep during tomorrow's session.

Hi, I'm Paul.  I've been an idiot for most of my life.

Unfortunately, I had a relapse just today.  In truth, it turns out that I've been slipping for the past month, but today I found myself face-to-face with the consequences.

About a month ago, I was asked if I was interested in attending a three day conference that discusses teaching world history by looking at how cities have both changed and stayed the same over time.  Now, due to a recent Michigan law, I no longer have to attend these sorts of conferences to keep my teaching certificate, but the concept sounded interesting and the conference only cost $45 for the three days (including lunch and a continental breakfast).

I have been planning my first full week of summer break around this conference.  Yesterday, I was to spend getting my writing space ready (the subject of yesterday's post), today through Thursday (the 17th through the 19th) I was to spend at the conference, and Friday I was to run the Savage Tides campaign.  

Now, the conference is at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a place with which I am not well acquainted.  Thankfully, I had the address, my trusty phone, and enough cash to pay for the parking for all three days ($1.20 and hour?  People live their lives this way?).  I programmed my phone but didn't turn it on until Baker Road to save energy and data.  

This is where things got complicated.  My phone informed me that there was an accident ahead and asked if I wanted to switch to alternate route that would save me an estimated twenty minutes.  It gave me just enough warning to get into the left lane before traffic did, as my phone predicted, come to a halt.  While on my detour, however, my phone went a little crazy and did not inform me of the exit that I needed to take until after I had passed it.  Thus, I had to swing all the way around the north side of Ann Arbor and approach my destination from the east.  More construction and confusion ate up more than the twenty minutes that I would have saved.  I also didn't take into account how long parking and finding walking directions to my intended destination would take.  Thus, I was hustling to the classroom where the conference is to take place barely before it was supposed to begin.  

I found the correct classroom only to see no continental breakfast, a far smaller turnout than I expected, and no sign of the colleague who was going to join me.  Something was wrong.  There was a group of no more than ten women in the room sitting in a rough circle.  I decided to open the door anyway.  Doing so, I heard a women, whom I assume was the seminar's leader, say, "As you have read in your packets, this is a closed session."  All eyes fell on me.  I gave an embarrassed look and said, "I'm looking for the conference on cities?"  Yes, I turned my statement into a question in the face of the blank stares in my direction.  One women offered, "Maybe it's downstairs?"

I thanked them and walked into the hall, reaffirming that I had the correct room number.  I then double checked one of the three emails I have received about this conference since Friday.  Yep, I am an idiot.  The conference is June 18-20.  Seriously.  I drove for over an hour (and had a separate but similar "fun" experience on my way back) to barely get to a conference on the wrong day.

The thing is that I've been saying that this conference is the 17th through the 19th since I signed up for it.  I wouldn't have registered if I knew it was going to be on a Friday.  Somehow, my mind has managed to blind me of the correct date through all of the paperwork, discussions, and messages that I have had regarding this conference.  It has really thrown both my day and my week off.

Oh well.  As my brother-in-law said:  Welcome to your forties.