text:
KKK “neighborhood watch” notes found in Fenton

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

FENTON, MO (KTVI) - Residents of a Fenton area neighborhood in Jefferson County are up in arms after the Ku Klux Klan began distributing fliers saying the white supremacist group was forming a neighborhood watch group in the area around Fiedler Court.

It was about 10:30pm Tuesday when witnesses say a white van slowly crept through the apartment complex. Small bags were being thrown out like newspapers, containing a few rocks to weight them down, and flyers with a sketch of a hooded Klansman pointing in a fashion reminiscent of the old “We Want You” recruiting posters of “Uncle Sam.”

“You can sleep knowing the Klan is awake!” the flier announces. It says “Neighborhood Watch” at the top, and asks the reader if there are troubles in the neighborhood. At the bottom it asks the reader to go to the group’s website or call a phone number.

A second version of the flier contains Klan logos and a skull and crossbones. It shouts, “Beware,” it what it calls a warning to criminals.

“It’s just really appalling,” one woman, who asked not to be identified told us.

She and her boyfriend, a biracial couple with four children, say they’re concerned about repercussions of going public against a hate group.

“I was kind of uneasy about it,” the man said. “I have biracial children. It’s just unsettling ya know. I didn’t lose any sleep but at the same time it kind of worries me.”

We called the number on the flier and reached Frank Ancona, a Park Hill, MO man who says he is the Imperial Wizard of the Traditional American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He claims his group received at least a dozen phone calls from people in the Fenton area asking his organization to help fight crime.

Asked if that wasn’t the job of police, he said, “Well, exactly that is the job of the police department, but the police can’t be everywhere all the time. The police need a helping hand. They need the citizens of the community.”

People we spoke to who live in the area unanimously declared their disbelief in the statement that anyone contacted the Klan.

“I’d really like to know where it’s listed in the yellow pages. Under hate? That would be good,” resident Lori Kifer told us.

Residents gathered outside the complex manager’s office Wednesday afternoon, clearly unhappy about the presence of the Klan in their neighborhood.

Kifer was livid, saying, “To think that someone came here in the middle of the night spewing hatred. They don’t even have the guts to do it during the day, to talk to anybody. No I don’t buy it.”

Ancona was unapologetic for showing up, and says law abiding citizens have nothing to fear from his organization. Who does?

“Maybe the drug dealers and the thieves out there,” he said.

Asked if he can’t understand why minorities in particular would be upset by the Klan’s presence, he said, “I don’t understand why they would because we are guaranteed the same rights under the constitution that they are. And so we have every right to do this and we intend to do it.”

He also says his group will conduct their neighborhood watch in the area, though their presence will not be announced by white sheets and pointy hats.

“He could be your pizza delivery guy, your nurse practitioner at the doctor’s office. He could be one of the county sheriffs,” Ancona said.

He went on to allege it could also be an employee in a newsroom. Asked how many members his group had, he declared it a Klan secret, but implying their numbers are in the thousands. Photographs on the group’s website never show more than an couple of dozen members in one spot.

With the flier telling residents they can sleep, we asked on African-American resident in their presence made him feel that way.

“Honestly no. It just makes me bring my pistol a little closer,” he said.

Sheriff’s deputies tell Fox 2 they are investigating what happened, though it does not appear any laws were broken.

As for neighborhood watch groups, deputies tell us those are for neighbors. They say they certainly don’t need any help from the Ku Klux Klan.

KKK fix pic

  • lol

    If the bloods and the crypts put their flier on your door how would you feel? lol personally I wouldn’t give two shits.

  • "Opinionated"

    “The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”
    (Albert Einstein)

  • Tiff

    Regardless….How do you go to bed at night knowing that they are “awake” It is almost like they are saying they are going to do something. It was only done along one street, so it does raise concern either way.

  • Jim Pierce

    We have been dealing with this scum in St. Francois County for a couple of years now. I spoke out against them and was attacked and beaten by elements of this group. CALL and COMPLAIN!! The Imperial Grand Wizard lives in Leadwood Missouri. His name is Frank Ancona!! He is on Facebook and so is his wife, Lisa Ancona!!

  • Tonis

    Anyone have the number that is blurred out especially since fox2 doesn’t believe in free speech and refuses to post certain comments

    • ByeByeToTheRite

      Yep – you’re correct – the far-right racist wackos on here can post any degrading, insulting comments they want about blacks, liberals, socialists, etc. but then let one of us CIVILIZED people use the same tactic and use one harsh word against conservative thugs and WHAM off the board you go censored!

      But this is Fox, after all! Itself with an extreme right-wing agenda to destroy democracy and lower the worker standard of living by handing over all power and money to the privileged classes, like those who OWN Fox, so what do we expect?

      I just come here to see what the enemy is up to! It’s good information!

      • Steven Sweeney

        Dems like you founded this group. First black politicians were all 3 GOP.Emancipation and civil rights were both GOP. Jim crow laws and oppositon to civil rights were both lefty dems. The enemy is you bye bye.

  • Andy Crossett

    First off, stop blaming City of Fenton (which is municipality in St. Louis County) with the acts of some degenerates from out in the country, who are terrorizing residents in Northern Jefferson County. They headline is titillating, but FALSE. Only in the article itself do we find out its not actually occurring in Fenton. But an outlying area near there.

    Nonetheless, shocking and stupid act by a minority of people.

  • BibleVersesForgotten

    just some true christians trying to spread the “love” taught in the bible. Exodus 20.

  • ByeByeToTheRite

    Isn’t this YESTERDAY’S news?

    But oh, that’s right, Fox must remain loyal to the only viewers they have left: the deranged wackos of the extreme far-right, and this story is GREAT to fan the flames of conservative right-wingers and get their limited attention!

    Is the extremist wacky conservative into their guns and religion the only demographic Fox appeals to anymore? Apparently.

    Oh, well, just like with this flyer, at least we know where to find you and learn what sick schemes conservatives are up to next!

Comments are closed.


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data presentation

This is the sort of thing that I should learn to just keep to myself, but here goes.

The just-released issue of Research in the Teaching of English (46.3) has a study I really admire, “Placement of Students into First-Year Writing Courses.” (In the unfortunate custom of academic articles, the PDF is gated, though an abstract is available here.) The researchers attempt to determine empirically whether ACCUPLACER, an automated first-year composition placement system developed by ETS, places students appropriately. Success is defined in part by an individual student’s performance in the first-year composition class that ACCUPLACER has chosen. The study’s authors, following analysis, are skeptical towards ACCUPLACER, which doesn’t surprise me. (ACCUPLACER is based on item-response theory. I’ve been attempting to get some thoughts together on item response theory in writing assessment for awhile now, but it’s slow going.) Interestingly, they find the SAT Writing to be a better predictor of a student’s FYC performance.

This kind of research, which attempts to both determine best practices in composition studies and to empirically justify what we are doing in composition, is the type that I myself am interested in producing. The rising call for better quantitative assessment makes this kind of research necessary, whether we like it or not. I understand and largely agree with skeptical attitudes towards reductive measures of writing proficiency, but we simply cannot afford to ignore the loud calls for greater assessment. We need to be able to justify our pedagogy, and we need to be able to do it at least in part with numbers. We can certainly do so while maintaining a critical and skeptical eye towards those numbers; that is, after all, an appropriately rhetorical consideration of audience. If we don’t perform this kind of assessment ourselves, they’ll find people who will. (OK, sermon over.)

Anyway, I’m just a bit bugged by some of the data presentation here, especially because I dig the study. Check out this correlation matrix.

First, I’m never really sure why publishers don’t just put the 1.0 self-correlations in, rather than dashes, as here. I guess it’s just a stylistic choice, given the redundancy involved, but as an elementary principle I don’t see why you wouldn’t just put the information in there. Second, from an “eyeballing it” standpoint, I’d like at least abbreviations listed along the top, not just reference numbers. Also, I’d really like some notation on the chart that tells us which coefficient of correlation is being used. As these are ordinal scales, the Spearman rank-order coefficient would probably  be most appropriate, but given conventions in psychometrics and educational research, I’m assuming it’s a Pearson R. Would be nice to know. I’m sure people with a better eye for stats can suss it out from the data, but they shouldn’t have to.

As for this, well…. I’m just gonna leave this here. You tell me.

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 Rounding Sharks - Round to the Nearest Hundred

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The rounded number will appear on one of the sharks. Click it quickly, before they get to the goldfish.

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Introduction to Computing: Explorations in Language, Logic, and Machines
Computer Vision: Models, Learning, and Inference
The Quest for Artificial Intelligence: A History of Ideas and Achievements
Computational Linguistics: Models, Resources, Applications
Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents
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Sunday, August 05, 2012

Axelrod calls out Wallace over false claim about blocking military voters

Top Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod on Sunday called out Fox News host Chris Wallace after he repeated a claim made by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney that President Barack Obama was trying to block military voters in Ohio.
In a statement last week, Romney accused Obama of launching a lawsuit to strip military voters of early voting rights in Ohio — a claim that both USA Today and the Obama campaign have said is false.
“Your campaign is suing the state of Ohio for giving members of the military extra time to vote early, to the Monday before the election while other voters are going to have only until Friday,” Wallace told Axelrod on Sunday. “You don’t think that members of the military who are serving this country deserve special consideration to vote?”
“I absolutely do and the way you stated it and the way, frankly, Gov. Romney has stated it is completely false and misleading,” Axelrod shot back. “What that lawsuit calls for is not to deprive the military of the right to vote on the final weekend of the campaign — of course they should have that right. What that suit is about is whether the rest of Ohio should have the same right.”
“And I think it’s shameful that Gov. Romney would hide behind our servicemen and women to try and win a lawsuit to try and deprive other Ohioans of their right to vote,” he added.
Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature last year enacted new voting restrictions that prevented most voters from casting early ballots after the Friday before the election. Members of the military, however, had their rights preserved, giving them until Monday to vote.

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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

[video] Rules of Engagement - Flirting

"In the new season of Rules of Engagement, engaged couple Adam (Oliver Hudson) and Jennifer (Bianca Kajlich) finalize plans for their big day, longtime-married pair Jeff (Patrick Warburton) and Audrey (Megyn Price) explore surrogacy in their journey to have a baby, and bad boy Russell (David Spade) is still on the prowl, often dragging his office assistant Timmy (Adhir Kalyan) into his antics." -- iTunes Store

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Episode Summary
"Flirting" When Jeff's (Patrick Warburton) young and attractive colleague flirts with him at work, Russell (David Spade) wrongfully advises him to playfully engage her. The plan backfires and Jeff finds himself in over his head and in trouble at home with Audrey (Megyn Price). Meanwhile, Russell leaves his cell phone at the home of his one-night-stand and sends his assistant Timmy (Adhir Kalyan) to retrieve it.

the fine print: Downloads posted on the Free iTunes Downloads blog are usually free for ~1 week. After that, you'll have to pay for them.

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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Give a "Hoot" this X-mas!

Owls are also popular this season! We have plenty of Owl themed goodies for those "whoooo" love wearing them!

Owl accessories galore: Vintage earrings, domino pendant, hair pin, funky glass pendant, buttons, shrinky earrings & cellulose bracelet!

We have owls printed on sweet little kiddie dresses!

And even on greeting cards....what a "hoot"!

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viernes, 5 de julio de 2013

Los peores en la brecha salarial por género

Austria, Korea, Norway, the UK and the US are the worst countries for the gender wage gap

A closer look at education reveals unequal returns for men and women. Reuters/Jason Reed

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday dropped this enormous study on the economics of education around the world. Seriously, it’s 440 pages of data tables, charts, and graphics taking a look at the educational trends of the industrialized world. Want to know the proportion of Greece’s population over the age of 55 with at least a secondary education? It’s in there.
We didn’t read through the whole report. But on a skim, the following chart stood out. It shows, very clearly, the difference in economic outcomes for men and women obtaining the same level of education. As seen in the chart, the term “upper secondary or post-secondary non tertiary education” applies to a person with a high school diploma or with vocational training, ready to enter the workforce. What’s clear is that men with this level of education make a lot more money. (Men in Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Spain being an exception.)
On average across OECD countries, a woman can expect a net gain of [$]69,000 over her working life—about [$]30,000 less than a man. The gender gap in private net returns is particularly pronounced in Austria, Korea, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. The difference is largest in Korea, where gross earnings benefits for a man attaining an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education are around [$]250,000, but only [$]71,000 for a woman. The main reasons for this difference lie in differences in social transfers and unemployment costs between the two genders.
The same holds true of men and women holding college degrees. “Tertiary-educated women aged 55-64 can expect to earn 72 percent of what men of a similar age and education level earn,” the report states. Granted, education still is a great investment for women. It’s just that it is still a better one for men.
Private costs and benefits for men and women
Brian Resnick is an online editor at the National Journal.

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UVI Premiers Relayer Multi-Tap Delay Plug-In For Mac & PC

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Call Your Doctor, It’s Time You Had the Talk

I finished the pool therapy a few weeks ago and the physical therapist suggested a course of land therapy because enough improvement hadn’t been made and the pain was still intense.1 I have one more session and she told me today that I really need to call the doctor. That was something we had talked about as a possible outcome. The other was that the pain would get better and that I would be getting stronger.

Obviously, I haven’t improved enough.

So I’m waiting to hear back from the family medicine clinic to find out when I should come in and get it examined. I hope that they’re able to figure it out, fix it, and get this pain to stop. It’s not just making it painful to get around. It hurts all the time. It keeps me from going to sleep, which is making it harder to get in the right amount of sleep, which is making me bitchier and completely exhausted all the time. A lot of the time, I’m putting off things I want to do and not talking to people I want to talk to because I just feel like crap. I don’t want to be miserable around people who make me happy, so I’m avoiding those people, which is probably pushing them away.2

  1. It’s getting worse pain-wise.

  2. And the idea that it’s pushing them away only makes me more miserable, which makes the pain worse.

About Janet Morris

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US: Pace of residential construction expected to slow - TDS

Discussion in 'Fundamental Analysis' started by FXStreet_Team, Apr 19, 2016.

  1. FXStreet_Team

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    Oct 7, 2015
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    Research Team at TDS, suggests that the pace of US residential construction is expected to slow in March as TD looks for housing starts to decline to by 2.6% m/m to 1147k units.

    Key Quotes

    “This forecast presents a downside risk to the market consensus of 1168k, and reflects a giveback from the previous month’s 5.2% monthly advance as well as souring homebuilder sentiment. Permit activity is expected to decrease by 0.6% m/m (market: +2.0% m/m).

    CAD: Bank of Canada Governor Poloz and Senior Deputy Governor Wilkins are due to testify before the House of Commons Finance Committee.”
    For more information, read our latest forex news.

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Posted on 2012/10/20

Here is this week’s Cosmic Vision News show.

More detailed information about the show’s topics may be viewed at

The information on beeswax is available

  1. Explosive Intelligence Blog: IMF Implementing Wanta-Reagan-Mitterand Protocols
  2. Massive Silver Withdrawals at Brinks
  3. New US Treasury Notes: Some Symbolism Explained
  4. Financial Perspectives From The Nibiruan Council
  5. Iran-Israel-Palestine: War (Of Love) Is Declared By The People
  6. Disclosure: National Declassification Centre Releases File of Saucer Technology From Canada
  7. Message From Nibiru: Introduction To People Of Earth From The New Civilization On Nibiru
  8. Auras And Aura Pictures Of Presidential Candidates From Recent Debate
  9. 21OCT: Decision Day – Global Call For Manifestation
  10. BEE HEALTHY: Value of bees, and Pheylonian beeswax products. Coming soon – discount 10% code for CVN and Lightworkers
  11. Closing Remarks – Nidle Webinar

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The web's freshest
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Teen Photosets » Undercover Freak

Undercover Freak

Featuring Mandy Spice
Date May 11th, 2012
Photos 40
Mandy, if we didn't know you, we'd think you were a quiet, shy type of girl. "That's what most people think. Little do they know that I'm an undercover freak! The glasses and my modest outfits throw them off. But get me behind closed doors and I'm probably one of the horniest, most experimental girls you'll ever meet." Well since you like to experiment, what's the kinkiest thing you've ever done before? "Having a three-way with two guys. They were a little iffy about it, but once I got naked and started seducing them, everything fell into place. I'd always fantasized about sucking a cock while I was getting fucked, and it finally came true. I wanted to suck both of their cocks at the same time but they didn't want to be that close, so I blew them one at a time. I wanted to do DP too but they weren't ready for that. I need to find some freaky guys who are down for that!".

What Members are saying about this update...

May 13, 2012
This is a nice photo set. Good ratio of lanscape vs.portrait
orientation. The slut has her eyes open in many of the
shots. And there are more than 2 cumshot photos. Well done.
Please continue paying attention to the details:) It makes a
HUGE difference.

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Teen girls learn
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Teen Photosets » Columbian Cunny

Columbian Cunny

Featuring Sophia
Date May 27th, 2011
Photos 40
You're very sexy, Sophia. And so is your Spanish accent. "Thank you. I have been learning English in school for a long time, but it is still not perfect. I feel a little embarrassed to speak it with an American, because they probably think that I talk funny! I want to move to the U.S. so I'm going to keep practicing English." Do you have a boyfriend who would miss you if you moved? "Yes, he tries to tell me I should not move, and that I should stay and marry him. But I don't want to be like the other girls here who get married so young and don't have any fun. I want to go to the U.S. and make a life for myself, and have lots of fun and lots of boyfriends!" Have you had sex with your boyfriend yet? "Yes, but he is the only one I have had sex with. I am already kind of bored of him.

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June 23, 2013
look at that pierced belly so hot

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Teen Photosets » Get Ready To Cum

Get Ready To Cum

Featuring Staci Silverstone
Date September 25th, 2012
Photos 39
Guys, this is Staci. Not only is she smoking hot, but she has the kind of bubbly, sexual personality that makes her irresistible. She's the teen girl fantasy incarnate. The kind of girl you'd see at a car wash having fun and laughing in a skimpy bathing suit, her top totally soaked and erect nipples standing proud. In fact, she has worked at a car wash before and said it was the most fun job she's ever had. "I love the sun and the suds, and I got great tips!" What else does Staci love? "I love to create these detailed fantasies. I have one about being the sexy librarian getting pulled into the principal's office and being spanked with a hard ruler!" Stay tuned for more action from this fun, little sex bunny! .

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Now this is our idea of an introduction! Pepper, who's 45 and from Texas, is sitting on a couch with her fingers buried inside her pussy. She's working it hard when her guy shows up. "I've been waiting for you," Pepper says. "What took you so long? This 45-year-old pussy is just so hot and ready for you." Turns out that her ass is ready for him, too, because when the action starts, the guy has one finger in her pussy and two in her asshole, and she's enjoying it a lot (his other hand is on her B-cup tits). Then she sucks his cock deep (nice BJ style, Pepper), fucks his cock with her pussy and then takes it where she really wants it: in her ass. So how's that, fellas: an anal debut. Welcome to 40SomethingMag.com, Pepper.

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Hey guys. Jada's hair has been growing for four or five months. It's reached its maximum length, so she's decided to shave it all off! Jada's going all the way with it, too. She trims her armpits and pussy with scissors before breaking out the razor. Then it's time for the hot, soapy lather. We can practically smell the cream on her hot, wet pussy. Jada gets pretty far while shaving in the spread-eagle position, but she knows that her butthole has a little bit of lightly colored fuzz, too. She gets into the doggie-style position and drags her blade across her delicious butthole, ensuring you've got a nice view when you're behind her. We hope you've enjoyed Jada's hairy (and smooth!) pussy this week. Do you like having back-to-back Bush Baby days? Let us know in the comments.

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Lives: Mansfield, Ohio; Occupation: Waitress; Age: 18; Born: June 28; Ht: 5'2"; Wt: 120 pounds; Bras: 34A; Panties: Lace thongs or none; Anal: Yeah..after a rim job; BJs: Always swallow; Diddle: Use my toy a lot. "I could hardly wait till I became legal and could send in my pics for the website," said Nadia. "I love to fuck--I do it every chance I get. I don't have a boyfriend, just a bunch of guys I have sex with. Is that bad? I love sex in every position and I always cum at least once. I'm very loud and I move a lot when I cum. And I squirt! A lot! It usually goes two or three feet. It's definitely not pee 'cause a couple of the guys I've been with tasted it. It's cool and all, but it always makes an awful mess on the bed." .

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Donkey Kong 64

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Donkey Kong 64 is a Platform adventure game released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. It is part of the Donkey Kong series.

The game starts off with a scene showing a gorgeous day, bright blue sky, crisp, clear water, etc. Donkey Kong is working out in his home, music blasting. On the other side of the ocean, a massive towering ship looms in the distance. Inside, the minions of King K.Rool maintain the ship as it glides along the ocean. King K. Rool sits in his throne-like seat, planning on destroying DK Isle with his "Blast-o-matic" Soon, chaos erupts as the Kremlings lose control of the ship, causing it to crash and come face-to-face with DK Isle. To buy himself some time, K.Rool instructs his grunts to capture the other Kongs and steal the hoard of golden bananas. Squawks flies into Donkey Kong's house, interrupting his workout, and warns him of the events. Donkey Kong then visits his uncle, Cranky Kong, for assistance.

After defeating the tutorial levels, Donkey Kong moves out of the jungle and out to the isle, he discovers a green cave attached to the ship that hosts the over-sized, ex-member of K.Rool's army, K.Lumsey. Donkey Kong agrees to find the 8 keys to unlock the cage. K.Lumsey jumps around with excitement, the tremors cause a nearby rock on DK Isle to explode, revealing an entrance to the first level and one of the golden bananas.

Like most adventure/platformer hybrids, the game features an open-world like area where levels are accessed by exploring, learning new abilities, or collecting the right amount of items. Donkey Kong eventually rescues his "family" and in return, they become playable characters and help him find the golden bananas.

Each Kong has their own set of unique abilities:

  • Donkey - Baboon Blast (3 coins), Strong Kong (5 coins), Gorilla Grab (7 coins)
  • Diddy - Chimpy Charge (3 coins), Rocketbarrel Boost (5 coins), Simian Spring (7 coins)
  • Tiny - Mini-Monkey (3 coins), Pony Tail Twirl (5 coins), Monkey Port (7 coins)
  • Lanky - OrangStand (3 coins), Baboon Balloon (5 coins), OrangSprint (7 coins)
  • Chunky - Hunky Chunky (3 coins), Primate Punch (5 coins), Gorilla Gone (7 coins)
  • All - Simian Slam (3 coins), Super Simian Slam (5 coins), Super Duper Simian Slam (7 coins)

  • Donkey - Bongo Blast
  • Diddy - Guitar Gazump
  • Tiny - Saxaphone Slam
  • Lanky - Trombone Tremor
  • Chunky - Triangle Trample

And ranged weapon:

  • Donkey - Coconut Gun
  • Diddy - Peanut Poppers
  • Tiny - Feather Bow
  • Lanky - Grape Shooter
  • Chunky - Pineapple Launcher

Every world has 5 golden bananas each Kong can collect. Some are right out in the open, while others requiring completing several tasks/puzzles. Regular bananas are spread out across the levels, collecting a certain amount will unlock the level's boss. When a boss is defeated, the Kongs collect a key used to open K.Lumsey's cage.

  • Candy Kong
  • Cranky Kong
  • Funky Kong

Worlds & Bosses

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Aug 15 2012

Pass The Chalk Roundup #2

Since the last roundup, I’m happy to report that there is ‘a little’ more balance recently.  Not a lot.  Definitely not enough, but I will point out some things that I approve of in addition to some more criticism, of course.

I want to give a ‘shout out’ to the poor TFA staff member who is in charge of keeping track of my blog posts and reporting them to the higher ups.  I promise that when TFA begins to meet my high expectations, I will stop criticizing them, so your job doesn’t have to be an endless cycle.

Of course I’m not sure that TFA reads this blog or, if they do, takes it seriously at all.  When I see some signs of improvement, I like to think that someone is thinking:  “I hope that he thinks we’re doing better.”  They should ask this, and not because me and my critical voice are so important individually, but because I represent a large portion of the public and also a large group of TFA alumni.  If they can make me happy, they will satisfy a lot of other people as an added benefit.

Let’s start with the recent Friday 5.  I made a comment in my last roundup that I thought it strange that a high school student would be in charge of finding recent things that “made us think.”  I then got slammed by a TFA staffer on Twitter.  He ‘engaged’ with me for a few days before realizing what a great debater I am and then quietly disappearing.  Did he get in trouble for his ‘tone’?  Who knows.  Maybe he’ll be back.  Maybe someone else will pop up.  Maybe he was just the other guy, but with a new handle.  I have nothing against a hard working high school student.  I just questioned if that student had enough background knowledge to determine what sorts of things are worth of putting on the Friday 5.  Maybe the topics are chosen by someone else and the student just writes up the summary.  I did not intend this as a slam on a high school student, though, and I’m sorry if I hurt that student’s feelings, though I doubt I did.  It was just something to criticize me for when the staffer didn’t have any substantive facts to challenge me with.

This recent Friday 5 was pretty interesting to me.  There was a link to the Anthony Cody / Gates Foundation discussion, which is one of the more illuminating debates I have ever read.  The recent installment by Cody is an ‘instant classic’ called Can Schools Defeat Poverty By Ignoring It?  I cannot wait to see how the Gates people respond.  Surely they will say that the answer is yes and that KIPP schools prove it.  But the link to Cody was a definite example of ‘balance’ on the TFA Pass The Chalk Blog.

Then there was something for the ‘reformers’ a video trailer for ‘Won’t Back Down,’ the pro parent-trigger propaganda film ‘inspired’ by true events even though there has never been a successful school turnaround started by a parent trigger ever.

Then something else that I liked, a link to an article about an Olympic gymnast

And finally, we’ve been watching the Olympics and reading triumphant stories about winning athletes. But we also want to salute those who didn’t medal, like gymnast John Orozco, who grew up in the Bronx and overcame the odds to become an Olympian.

I don’t know if this was meant this way, but this surely goes against the StudentsFirst Olympics parody where our education system is an out of shape loser because it doesn’t get a gold medal.  This gymnast did not get a medal, but we are proud of him because he did very well, despite not overcoming all possible obstacles.  I wonder if Michelle Rhee agrees.

Next was a post about retaining teachers based on TNTP’s recent ‘research’ report called ‘The Irreplaceables.’  This report says that this country is retaining the bad teachers and letting the good ones go.  One thing the report says that 40% of teachers with 7 or more years of experience are not as effective as new teachers.  Of course this is not true.  Maybe if ‘effective’ is based on unreliable one-year value-added measures (which it is) it could seem like that.  Here is a great post analyzing this report better than I could ever do it.  I agree that teachers are not feeling respected so they leave the profession.  I also agree that more money would make some teachers want to stay teaching longer.  But to use flawed data to make this point defeats any good ideas that might have been in it.

I suppose I was once an ‘irreplaceable.’  After my fourth year of teaching, I was the teacher of the year at my school.  Then I quit and went to graduate school to become a computer programmer and triple my salary.  Would I have stayed teaching in Houston for $100,000 a year?  Probably.  Would that have significantly ‘saved’ more kids or made my school any better?  Probably not.  I think a problem with retention, especially with TFA, is that people come into the profession expecting to do just two years, so of course they are going to leave after that.  That was the plan.  Merit pay might keep some of them in for longer, but I don’t think that this will help much, and might just hurt.  If I were a new teacher now, I’d certainly be looking for a new job as this pressure to raise test scores, even though those higher test scores come at the expense of anything that makes school relevant to kids, makes teaching at a low-performing school a very unsatisfying job.

There was an Olympic comparison to our education system about how we must all work together like the U.S.A. basketball team.  And the players aren’t just the different people, but the different ideas.  One excerpt said:

Over the last 25 years, we’re playing a similar fits and starts game in education.  We look to one all-star idea at a time—early childhood education, charters, technology in the classroom, or assessments;  these are all important players, but we need them all in the game together.

Notice that ‘early childhood education,’ something that is not just a fad, but something that has been proven to help despite being very very costly is lumped in with fleeting fads like charters, ed tech, and assessments.

And finally there was an article about how TFAs five week training isn’t that bad by Alexander Sidorkin, the Dean of an Ed School in Rhode Island.  The crux of the article is that TFA uses the 5 week time constraint very efficiently.  But he knows that there is little student teaching, and focuses, as TFA does, on the writing lesson plans component.  Yes, I think a lesson plan is important.  But they only focus on this because they don’t provide enough time for actual student teaching.  He admits:

Yes, TFA members teach only about 20 lessons over the course of the five weeks to small classes of 6-15 children.

To me, that is my main critique of the institute, right there.  No amount of lesson planning and getting critique on that lesson plan will overcome this.  Ironically this same professor, four years ago wrote a much more neutral article in which he said about TFA:

TFA can only exist as a supplement to the regular teacher training. Altruistic young people on two year long gigs cannot form the cadre of teaching profession. The spirit of volunteerism goes well with the spirit of private and corporate donations, not so much with taxation. The tax payers’ money will be much better spent on opening access to teaching profession to people from the tough neighborhoods that are in desperate need for qualified teachers.

Well, that’s roundup #2.  Again, I am still finding these posts pretty boring and empty.  I am looking forward to getting an invite from ‘Pass The Chalk’ to do a point / counterpoint thing with someone like Michelle Rhee.

12 Responses

  1. skepticnotcynic

    With regards to your potential invite to debate Rhee publicly, it’s unfortunately not going to happen. They probably wouldn’t even let you do it on Pass the Chalk, which very few people read.

    You make too much sense and are clearly a threat to TFA’s survival. It’s best that they listen to you now before it’s too late.

    As a former TFA corps member, I would love to support TFA as something to be proud of, but I can’t. I’ve lost all confidence in their ability to advance the discussion forward as a credible organization that puts the interests of children first.

    I cannot support their efforts any longer until they stop pimping their zealots (Rhee, the worst, Huffman, Sternberg et al.) and stand with the experienced TFA alums who are working in schools, improving educational outcomes for our neediest students. These teachers and administrators may not bring in the fundraising dollars, but they are the unheard voices who are keeping this organization afloat and somewhat credible.

    Wendy Kopp wake up!

    • Second Career Bronx Teacher

      Amen!!! They don’t reach out to us, they don’t support us in any tangible way despite the fact that they definitely want more people staying longer to minimize the criticism they get. How about a yearly grants geared to us for PD fees or iPads or smart boards or something for us “in the classroom alumnus

      • Terry

        Can all teachers get in on those proposed benefits? Or would it just be for the TFA who stayed more than two but less than five years?

        Why does there have to be a division between
        TFA teachers and non-TFA teachers?

        If TFA was concerned about children, teaching and learning, they would respect and praise ALL teachers, not just the TFA type that goes on to “lead”, or rather, destroy public schools.

  2. Terry

    Rhee will never debate because then her self -appointed reign will be over. She is too busy making paid appearances with her husband preaching about ethics and education and what a farce that is. She was proud of all the teachers she fired in DC including one who she claimed was molesting children when she was very willing to defend one later.

    Read carefully….especially page 42 on. Here are all of the horrific details:

  3. Michael Fiorillo

    How does one “debate” a pathological liar?

  4. skepticnotcynic,0,878305.story

    Sad that TFA continues to champion a bunch of overzealous ego-driven alums, instead of all their alums in schools who do the real work. However, I would expect nothing less from a bunch of ladder climbers who put their own interests ahead of children. Really, what makes some of these alums any different than the Wall Street crowd who ran their companies into the ground – Citigroup, Lehman, Bear Stearns, et al. – not a whole lot. I will say a few on this list are ok, but some should not even be given the time of day.

  5. Hi Gary – I’m the guy you refer to early on in this post, and the guy with whom you’ve been “engaging” on Twitter recently about Pass The Chalk. I told you on Twitter that I think your post above pretty blatantly mischaracterizes several things. You weren’t clear about what I was describing, so at your suggestion, I’m writing to clarify.

    First – my name is David Rosenberg and I manage TFA’s Digital team. These are the folks who create and manage, developed TFANet, produce videos about the amazing work that corps members and alumni are doing across the country (and yes, their struggles), and manage TFA’s national Facebook and Twitter presence, among other things. Personally, I love Teach For Us and have worked hard to ensure that it could be a vibrant community, fundamentally independent of TFA as an organization. In that sense, I guess I had a small role in your ability to use Teach For Us as a platform for your reflections. Contrary to what I expect you might be thinking, I have no regrets about that.

    Here are some of the things you wrote that I think range between unfounded speculation and flat-out falsehoods:

    1. You wrote: “I want to give a ‘shout out’ to the poor TFA staff member who is in charge of keeping track of my blog posts and reporting them to the higher ups.”

    Gary, no one is in charge of keeping track of your blog posts. I know it would feel good if that were true, but sadly, it’s not. Also, there is no “reporting [your posts] to the higher ups.” I don’t mean to offend, but my colleagues have bigger fish to fry than tracking any single person’s every word, though your critiques are clearly relevant and important.

    I scan blogs on Teach For Us regularly for a bunch of reasons. Mostly, I read because I learn a lot about the corps experience and perspectives of alumni like you, and that helps me ground my work. I also read because I care about Teach For Us being a vibrant community of people who are living (and have lived) the corps experience. In the case of your recent posts, I read because you were opining on my team’s work creating and managing Pass The Chalk.

    2. About the Friday Five, you wrote: “I then got slammed by a TFA staffer on Twitter. He ‘engaged’ with me for a few days before realizing what a great debater I am and then quietly disappearing. Did he get in trouble for his ‘tone’? Who knows. Maybe he’ll be back. Maybe someone else will pop up. Maybe he was just the other guy, but with a new handle.”

    Gary, a quick review of Twitter will remind you that our “debate” ended with you saying, “I think your [tweet] was a bit snarky so I responded with a little of my own.” My tweet was serious – I was asking you to clarify what kind of tests would help all of us know if students were succeeding, if not standardized tests. You never responded.

    You also ask “Did he get in trouble for his ‘tone’?” Answer: no. As noted above, TFA’s leadership group has more important things to do than worry about my tweet behavior. More important, an early PTC post that you critiqued highlighted how important we at TFA think it is for each individual in this broad movement to stand up and say what s/he feels, no matter what it is. And I did. And that is cool. I understand that that contradicts your preferred narrative about TFA, but it’s the truth.

    You also speculate “maybe he was just the other guy, but with a new handle.” I’m not even sure what this means, but if you’re insinuating that I’d start tweeting to you under a pseudonym – well, that’s just silly, Gary, and it’s insulting to both me and your readers. You know full well to whom you’ve been talking, and I’m easily findable on Twitter (@davidr1019).

    3. You wrote: “[Talking about the HS grad intern] was just something to criticize me for when the staffer didn’t have any substantive facts to challenge me with.” This is self-serving at best, a fallacy at worst. Your (petty) critique was that TFA tasked a high school intern with compiling the Friday Five. I called you out for making that an issue. That’s substantive. More important – our dialogue then went on to how we could measure student success without standardized tests. You left me hanging.

    4. You wrote: “I don’t know if this was meant this way, but this surely goes against the StudentsFirst Olympics parody where our education system is an out of shape loser because it doesn’t get a gold medal.” This one is odd. Personally, I was embarrassed by the StudentsFirst ad. I thought it was shoddy and insulting and a pretty blatant PR ploy to draw attention to a legitimately important issue (I guess on that front, it worked). But the logic behind the Friday Five post was pretty simple – it was an education-related story about an Olympic athlete overcoming big odds. Period. Now, your statement is pretty innocuous – it’s just idle, inaccurate speculation. I just don’t understand why you engage in such idle, random speculation in the first place.

    5. You wrote: “I am still finding these posts pretty boring and empty. I am looking forward to getting an invite from ‘Pass The Chalk’ to do a point / counterpoint thing with someone like Michelle Rhee.” This isn’t a clarification, but a series of observations, because I’m confused. You keep saying bad stuff about Pass The Chalk – it’s boring, it’s empty, it’s not getting any traffic, etc. If that’s the case, I think it’s odd that you are so obsessed with it, and so desperate to be included in it. You could be talking about actual issues, like why you think the fact that Alexander Sidorkin was right about the value of TFA’s training Institute four years ago, but why you think he’s wrong now that he’s been there to observe it (the dude learned something and changed his perspective – isn’t that cool?). You could be talking about what works for the low-income students at Stuyvesant High School, and how we all might apply those lessons in other contexts.

    Gary, I have a ton of respect for the work you did in Houston as a corps member and all you are doing in the classroom today. I also recognize that you make a lot of important points about TFA and the broader “education reform” movement. I’m merely suggesting that you stop writing random, inaccurate speculation (especially about me and my colleagues), even if you think these are “jokes.” You’re publishing inaccuracies and detracting from debate on the real issues.

    Finally – I don’t generally comment on blog posts (anywhere) and don’t intend to get into a big debate with you here. You can find me on Twitter and pretty easily on email if you want, and I extend the invitation to other commenters as well.

    • Terry

      Pass the chalk is still a pr ploy by TFA to give the illusion that TFA actually cares about opinions. Can anyone enter? Can anyone post? Or is it an elite club? TFA has become a scab temp agency taking the jobs of certified teachers who are committed to a lifetime of teaching and learning.

    • Gary Rubinstein

      Hi David,

      I appreciate the comment. Really, the thing about the ‘guy who has to report on my posts’ was a joke too. Not referring to you at all. Just a funny image of a guy who sits around monitoring my site. My belief is that they don’t need a guy like that since most of the higher ups read my blog on their own. I actually know (I can’t reveal my source) that many TFA staffers look forward to reading my blog since it echos some of the issues they have with the organization.

      Now, if TFA higher ups are not reading this blog or are not having someone summarize what it says, then they are foolish since I am giving them, for free, advice that they would have to pay consultants tens of thousands of dollars for. If they are so smug that they don’t take what I say seriously, that would explain why the organization has been so slow to evolve.

      I can see that my ‘style’ especially with some of my jokes and my ‘false-bravado’ used to cover up my extreme insecurity can easily be misread.

      The olympics thing was more of something I found ironic (praising ‘losing’ vs. Rhee’s saying losing is bad), not something that was calculated by anyone in particular.

      As far as our Twitter conversation, and anyone can see it if they want, I said that my ‘solutions’ wouldn’t raise test scores. You, then ‘retweeted’ that, somewhat out of context, like some kind of ‘gotcha’, which I did not appreciate.

      I then said it would be measured by other assessments, which should have resolved the issue.
      You then wrote back, “such as …” which I did not think was necessary since we all know what other types of assessments were so I wrote “you are aware there are other assessments besides standardized tests, right?” and then you accused me of ‘snark’ and I explained why I might have been a little annoyed.

      Twitter is a tough place to have a meaningful conversation. Perhaps one day we can have a lengthy chat in person at the TFA office. I’ll bring a witness, though. ; ) <– this emoticon is how you will know that I am making a joke from now on.

      • Maybe English needs to revitalize the sarcasm mark. People seem to often miss it.

        • You use “this will take forever” as an exucse to not address the totality of the problem and instead purge teachers.I want it to be done effectively, in a way that will – yes — help children.I call projection when you say, “you, sadly, are not going to open your mind to any constructive change.” I want bad teachers “gone” too, but know that getting rid of that minority won’t address the most vexing problems in education, which you brush off as too time-consuming and difficult to bother with, when you can get the immediate relief of firing teachers. It’s easy to look down imperiously at teachers, especially the embarrassing “bad” ones who may be great with the kids, but who don’t travel in the same circle as in group. Solving the real problems in education is much more complex than sending supposed good teachers to one side and bad teachers to the other, but it sure is gratifying to feel superior isn’t it? Too bad it doesn’t take the place of facing the real problems in education.It’s been quite informative getting a sense of the entrenched mindset of a reformer. Thanks

    • skepticnotcynic

      I suppose when you look back on your educational experience in K-12 education, standardized test scores pop out as being influential or highly influential in what made you the person you are today. With the exception of ACT/SAT/GRE/LSAT/MCAT/GMAT scores, I don’t think anyone who is successful in life would highlight standardized test scores as being important to their success in life. Even this is a stretch, once you actually start working in the real world.

      If you did teach, I hope you didn’t drill test-prep all day to raise your student’s test scores, because I know that’s not what your teachers did where you went to school. Our poor and minority students get this type of instruction daily, and TFA is not helping the cause by highlighting their success around raising the already low-bar state exam test scores. We should not be celebrating this type of faux achievement.

      I grew up in a state where passing a state exam was not a requirement for promotion, yet we have some of the highest ACT/SAT state averages in the country. Admittedly, this is due to our demographics; however, we are not helping students elevate out of poverty by overemphasizing the importance of state exams and holding teachers accountable for their student’s test scores. Last time I checked, the students were taking the exams, not the teachers.

      The more we focus on these exams, the more we lose the best teachers in our neediest schools (trust me, I’ve witnessed this first hand). The unintended consequences of the reformer’s approach to closing the achievement gap is reverberating throughout the country and it needs to stop.

      Let’s focus on what really makes our schools and teachers great. The discussion must shift to high-quality teacher development and rigorous standards for entering the profession. This would include much higher pay and better working conditions for the teachers in the trenches who are contributing to actually improving the country’s educational system, not those on the sidelines cheerleading and promoting bad policy from the comfort of their offices.

      Shaming and pitting teachers against one another with dangling carrots is not a recipe for success. The profession will become attractive again when teachers are given the autonomy and support to achieve mastery. This will then given them a purpose to be great again when they joined the profession.

      Unfortunately, it usually comes back to the external factors that make teaching unattractive, not the students, but the bad policy, central office bureaucracy and the poorly planned initiatives that are driven from the top-down. Please site a historical example where top-down education initiatives ever worked to raise student achievement?

      Short-term fixes and band aids will never address the fundamental problems this country faces when it comes to improving education. Let’s strive to make teaching a respected and competitive profession again by learning from countries like Finland, South Korea, and Singapore, where standardized test scores are not tied to the evaluation of schools and teachers, yet they allegedly have the best educational systems in the world.

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Suicide: Offering Help to Those Feeling Hopeless, and Accepting Our Limitations – a guest post by Emily Ostrowski

This article comes from friend and co-worker Emily Ostrowski. Emily is a suicide prevention counselor working with an organization that helps youth dealing with suicidal ideation. I think you’ll find what she’s offered here both helpful and moving.

In Infinite Jest, renowned author David Foster Wallace, who tragically took his own life in 2008, compares suicide to a trapped person jumping out of a burning building. Wallace writes, “Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames.” He goes on to note that, “Nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.”

That idea of the hapless bystander unable to help or understand is one I’ve struggled with ever since volunteering as a suicide prevention counselor this past April.

For reasons of anonymity I can’t divulge the name of the organization, but I can say that I interact mainly with youths and young adults dealing with, among other things, suicidal ideation. Not surprisingly many of these young people come from less than ideal backgrounds. They aren’t being supported or accepted by parents, teachers or peers. They struggle with thoughts of guilt, inferiority, and intense isolation. Often they tell me stories of abuse or self-harm, or other secrets they only feel comfortable divulging to a faceless stranger. Many of these conversations are heartbreaking. Some are downright terrifying, and leave me feeling lost and useless.

In fact, for me, one of the most humbling and difficult aspects of being a suicide prevention counselor is accepting the limitations of what I can actually do for those that are struggling. I can’t right the wrongs of their life. I can’t make their parents pay attention to them, or erase past abuse. I can’t cure them of any mental illness, and I can’t even guarantee anything I do will stop them from killing themselves. In short, I can’t be their savior.

While these limitations are undoubtedly discouraging, knowing and accepting them has helped me to focus all my energies on the things I can do to help. I can offer practical solutions, like encouraging the youth to seek counseling and/or medical treatment and help them find providers in their area. I can also get them in contact with shelters and community centers, any place that can offer them a safe space, warm bed and real, live people waiting and wanting to help them as best they can. These options are great, and often necessary to foster improved mental and emotional health for the youth. The downside is, I can’t ever be sure they follow through with any of these referrals, either because external circumstances get in their way, or because they just are uncomfortable or unwilling to reach out in these ways.

Really then, the most crucial support I can offer, the kind I have absolute control over during the brief amount of time I speak with these young people, is that of compassion and validation. Like Wallace says, I can’t completely understand the despair they feel, but I can acknowledge their pain. I can listen, without judgement and without ever telling them what to do. I can tell them I’m sorry for all they’ve had to go through. I can tell them how strong they are, for continuing to fight, and for seeking help. It might sound trite, but if even just for a little while I can make them feel less alone, less isolated, if for even just a second they feel a sense of hope that things don’t have to always be so painful, it might nudge them off the path of suicide, back on a path towards life.

Now, I’d never be so arrogant or simplistic as to say that all suicidal people need are some kind words or someone to lean on and they’ll be saved. Nor am I suggesting that anyone who has committed suicide did so because they didn’t have loving, supportive people around them. In many cases, they did, which makes it all the more heartbreaking and difficult to comprehend. When serious mental illness is at play, no one word or action can fix everything, and no one person can be anyone else’s savior. What I do believe though, is that in our limited, human capacity, compassion without judgement is often the greatest gift we can offer those who are struggling with suicidal depression. We may not be able to understand their pain, or why they’d ever want to end their lives, but we can sympathetically acknowledge the immensity of their suffering.

After all, most people, even those who are suicidal, don’t necessarily want to die, they’re just trying to find their way out of the flames.

Emily is the Administrative Assistant at Camas Friends Church, and a postbac psychology student and research assistant preparing for graduate school. She has also been volunteering as a suicide prevention counselor since April 2013.

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Wess the William R. Roger Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC., PhD in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, served as a "released minister" at Camas Friends Church, and father of three. He enjoys sketchnoting, sharing conversation over coffee with a friend, listening to vinyl and writing creative nonfiction.


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It's time once again to soothe the festering wounds of the weekend by slathering ourselves in the miraculous, healing unguent of the box office numbers:

(Also: SANJAYA 4-EVER, motherfuckers!)

1. Wild Hogs—$38 million
Buena Vista's marketing department really should have trusted John Travolta's instincts earlier in the campaign for Wild Hogs. A senior VP, relieved by Hogs' big opening, admitted to Box Office Mojo that "the tracking services had us at best in the mid-$20 million range." Had Travolta's groundbreaking idea to go on daytime talk shows to reenact some of the poignant scenes in which its disaffected protagonists finally throw off the shackles of their dishonest, suburban breeder lives and unleash the leather-daddy freaks within been implemented weeks ago, the movie might have cleared the $50 million barrier.

2. Zodiac—$13.1 million
As he reviews Zodiac's box office returns this morning, notoriously delicate thespian Jake Gyllenhaal is fighting back the tears threatening to erupt from his singularly dreamy eyes; during his darkest moments on David Fincher's sensitive-actor-pummeling shoot, he'd told himself that the pain of watching scores of takes wiped out by a single press of the director's delete key would all be worth it when the film opened at $20 million. With this middling debut in the low teens, Gyllenhaal can't help but feel that all of his suffering was for naught.

3. Ghost Rider—$11.5 million
Still pumped by Ghost Rider's success, Nicolas Cage has instructed his agents that he'll only consider material that will allow him to light his head on fire while doing an extended Elvis impression. This, of course, temporarily limits his projects to Rider sequels or sensationalist biopics focusing on the drug-abusing misadventures of The King's troubled, final days.

4. Bridge to Terabithia—$8.587 million
We officially apologize for never having read Bridge to Terabithia as a child. But we have a good excuse: We were raised in a cult based entirely on the teachings of The Chronicles of Narnia's messianic Lion (some refer to it as "Catholic school"), a stifling environment where no other children's literature was allowed.

8. Black Snake Moan—$4.016 million
To celebrate Moan's eighth place finish (really, that's not so bad for a movie about Sam Jackson chaining a white chick to a radiator), enjoy these videos of Christina Ricci's fine nude work in the film.


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Saturday, October 9, 2010

Blazers hang on to beat Raiders

Daily News Sports Editor
Something had to give Friday night at Interior Savings Centre.
It turned out to be the Prince Albert Raiders.
The Kamloops Blazers, who hadn’t won a WHL game since opening night, ended a four-game losing streak, beating the Raiders 4-3 before an announced crowd of 4,003.
The Raiders, who opened the season with three losses, came in riding a three-game winning streak.
The visitors (3-4-0-0) got off to a solid start, too, as they had three quality scoring chances in the game’s first five minutes. But goaltender Jeff Bosch, who was making his first home start, had the answers to Prince Albert’s questions.
Jon Groenheyde had started four of Kamloops’ first five games, but head coach Guy Charron switched to Bosch in the hopes of finding some timely saves. That is exactly what he got from Bosch, who was acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Sept. 17.
“We got (key saves) tonight. There’s no doubt,” Charron said. “You’re not going to start on all cylinders every night. He made the saves when we needed them in the first five minutes.”
Those early saves were especially important, Charron said, because “with our lack of scoring, if we put ourselves behind, how much of a mountain is it to climb?”
Sparked by those saves — Bosch stopped Todd Fiddler off a 2-on-1, got a glove on a Justin Maylan shot after a Blazers turnover, and stood his ground when Sebastian Svendsen broke in off the right side — and some undisciplined play by the visitors, the Blazers (2-3-0-1) began to take over near the midway mark of the first period.
“I really wanted to bounce back after my first game,” Bosch said, referring to a 6-1 loss to the Bruins in Chilliwack a week ago, “and I thought I did that tonight. . . . I was happy with my effort and with the whole team’s effort.”
After Bosch’s early saves, the Blazers owned this game for much of the next 40 minutes.
The home team’s power play, which was just 2-for-30 when the night started, counted three times on eight opportunities, with the Raiders going 1-for-3.
The key to the Blazers’ power play was simple — starting with defenceman Bronson Maschmeyer, they got pucks to the net. And there were forwards there causing problems for goaltender Eric Williams, a 17-year-old from Langley who was making his second WHL start.
“When we’re in a slump, we just want to get it on net and try to crash the night,” said Maschmeyer, who had two assists and would have had a third if they awarded that many on goals. “They’re not always going to be nice. We tried to just get some dirty goals and it seemed to work. Before, we weren’t necessarily getting guys to the net and creating havoc.”
In earlier games, the Blazers found they were having a lot of attempts blocked because they were trying to be too fine.
“Sometimes when you try to really line up the shot it takes that extra second and (opposing players) were getting in the lane,” Maschmeyer explained. “Against Chilliwack and Prince George, we were getting a lot of shots blocked.
“Tonight, whenever I saw an opening, I just tried a wrist shot and just tried to get it on net.”
Right-winger JT Barnett opened the scoring on the Kamloops PP at 8:42 of the first period, scoring off a Maschmeyer shot that got through, and defenceman Tyler Hansen made it 2-0 just five minutes later.
Prince Albert got a PP goal from right-winger Brandon Herrod 32 seconds into the second period, but Kamloops centre Chase Schaber restored the two-goal lead at 13:29 and left-winger Brendan Ranford made it 4-1 at 19:02.
The Blazers looked to be home and cooled out, only to have the Raiders mount a comeback on goals from centre Mike Winther — it was the first WHL goal for the sixth overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft — at 9:52.
And after centre Jonathan Parker got the Raiders to within 4-3 at 13:01, the crowd got a bit antsy.
But the Blazers weathered the storm.
“We can’t have those kind of breakdowns,” Charron said, alluding to poor defensive coverage on the Raiders’ second goal and a failure to box out, thus allowing a tap-in off a rebound, on the third score.
“Hopefully we learn from those things and get better,” he said.
This was Game 1 in a six-game road swing for the Raiders, who will visit each B.C. Division — they meet the Rockets in Kelowna tonight — and wrap it up a week from tonight against the Rebels in Red Deer.
The Blazers are in Vancouver tonight with the Giants playing here Monday. Faceoff at the ISC is scheduled for 2 p.m.
JUST NOTES: Referees Ryan Bonnett and Sean Raphael gave the Raiders 13 of 21 minors. . . . Bosch finished with 29 saves. Williams stopped 41 shots. . . . Kamloops RW Dylan Willick was unsuccessful on a second-period penalty shot attempt, deking to the backhand and putting the puck over the net. . . . If you were wondering, the Raiders left Prince Albert on Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. PT. They arrived in Kamloops around midnight. . . . The Raiders last were in Kamloops on Oct. 13, 2008, when they beat the Blazers, 3-2. Last season, the Blazers lost 5-2 in Prince Albert. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Ranford: heart-and-soul guy; 2. Maschmeyer: got the PP going; 3. Bosch: made the timely saves. . . . Ranford’s goal was his 100th WHL point. It came in his 147th game.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Wednesday . . .

Kevin Saurette (Regina, 1997-99) signed a one-year contract with Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He had 16 goals and 33 assists in 48 games for Eispiraten Crimmitschau (Germany Oberliga) this season. . . .
F Robin Figren (Calgary, Edmonton, 2006-08) signed a two-year contract with Linköping (Sweden Elitserien). He had 14 goals and 17 assists in 76 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) this season. Linköping GM Johan Hemlin: "It's great that Robin chose Linköping. He is an exciting forward who will be good for us."
JUST NOTES: F Tyler Pitlick of the Medicine Hat Tigers, who hasn’t skated in six weeks, is due to return to the ice today. He has been out with a broken ankle. . . . The QMJHL has fined Patrick Roy, the GM and head coach of the Quebec Remparts, for “inappropriate comments.” This comes after Martin Mondou, the Shawinigan Cataractes’ GM, complained about security at the rink in Quebec City after fans dumped beer and assorted other stuff on his players. Roy responded by saying that Mondou “has a brain the size of a pea.” . . .
D Alex Petrovic signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Florida Panthers last week. reports that his AHL salary will be US$67,500 per season, with NHL salaries of $760,000, $815,000 and $900,000. The signing bonus was $270,000, payable over three years. . . . Petrovic was the 36th overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft. . . . F Tyler Johnson of the Spokane Chiefs has been suspended by the WHL for the first game of the Western Conference final. That’s for a kneeing major he incurred in Game 6 of the conference semfinal against the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday. The Chiefs won that game 5-4 in OT. Johnson was ejected at 18:31 of the first period for a hit on Tri-City F Brendan Shinnimin, who returned to the bench but didn’t play again. The Chiefs open the conference final in Portland against the Winterhawks on Friday. Johnson, the WHL’s second-leading scorer in the regular season, has nine points in nine playoff games this spring. He missed the last two games of the Chiefs’ first-round 4-1 series victory over the Chilliwack Bruins with a concussion. . .
Kevin Dickie, who did a stint as head coach of the Saskatoon Blades (2000-03), is the new athletic director at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S. He had been the hockey coach at Acadia before joining the Blades. Most recently, Dickie was the athletic director at the U of New Brunswick in Fredericton. . . . Kris Mallette (Kelowna, Moose Jaw, 1996-2000) is the new head coach of the junior B North Okanagan Knights, who play in the Kootenay International junior league out of Armstrong, B.C. Mallette, 32, was an assistant coach and replaces Sylvan Leone. Mallette is a native of Kelowna. . . . Nathan Lieuwen of the Kootenay Ice is the CHL’s goaltender of the week. He was 2-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .965 save percentage last week.
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text:
Item Information for EN 7.241

Call Number: EN 7.241
Full Title: Pete Seeger: If I had a hammer
User Format: CD
Copyright Date: 1998
Program length: N/A
Summary: Prolific composer, ubiquitous performer, traditional folk flame-keeper and -thrower.
Language: English
Contents: Arrange And Rearrange
Banks of Marble
Bourgeois Blues
Casey Jones (The Union Scab)
Crow on the Cradle
He Lies in the American Land
Hold On (Hand on the Plow)
If I Had a Hammer
If I Had a Hammer
Joe Hill
Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream
Oh, Had I a Golden Thread
River of my People
Solidarity Forever
Step By Step
Study War No More
Talking Atom
Talking Union
Tomorrow is a Highway
Turn, Turn, Turn
Union Maid
We Shall Overcome
We'll All Be A-Doubling
Well May the World Go
Where Have All the Flowers Gone
Which Side Are You On?
Authors: Seeger, Pete 1919


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A Talk About Inclusion In Gaming

Here’s a little spotlight on a great video from the folks at The Dice Tower chatting about inclusion in gaming. It’s a worthwhile subject for discussion and Suzanne Sheldon and Mandi Hutchinson, the video’s hosts, cover it exceptionally well.

The general takeaway starts with good news: the tabletop gaming hobby is getting more inclusive and that’s a good thing. Conventions, for example, are significantly more diverse than they were just a decade ago.

Let me share a little anecdote. Fourteen years ago, I was working at Neutral Ground in New York City, the largest gaming store in the country at the time. Neutral had what was was essentially a gymnasium-sized space in the back of the store for its customers to play games, run tournaments, and socialize. On any given night, there would be 50 to 200 people playing until closing time at 11pm. To my memory, out of all of those gamers, there was normally maybe one girl. There were probably a few more, every so often, along with the occasional random female customer, but in 2002, this giant store had a very small population of women regulars. Flash-forward to 2016, the place where I play now, Next-Gen Games on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, is packed to the gills with an even split of male and female players. That’s a big change in a short amount of time. It’s positive news.

How gaming used to be… (also I miss the show Freaks & Geeks)

However, that doesn’t mean all or even most of the work of making our hobby inclusive is done. As the video goes on to discuss, there are steps we can take to keep opening that door allow more diverse groups to partake in the activity we love.

Women, people of color, and other groups still find some friction feeling accepted in the gaming community. Both women in the video share their own stories of this and you should watch to see what they’re talking about.

The main issue with this problem is about the “otherness” these groups feel. For a myriad of reasons, women and minority groups may feel like they are “other” or not a part of or welcome in our flock. Reducing that otherness brings them into the fold and creating that otherness (intentionally or unintentionally) drives them back out.

So what should we do? Or perhaps, I should start with why we should do it?

I hope that the reason why we need to make all feel welcome at our gaming table is pretty obvious, but just in case you need convincing, I’ll say this: whatever it is that fulfills you in this our wonderful hobby should be accessible to everyone.

Bring everyone to the table.

If you game because it’s fun, because it offers stress relief, or whatever reason you choose, you should make sure that same joy is there for anyone who might want to experience it. No one–you, me, anyone–can “own” that experience. If any of us become even accidental gatekeepers, we are doing something wrong. “Othering” people puts walls between the things we love to do and the people who might love to do it.

Moreover as my friend and game designer Jay Africa once told me:

“Nowadays, gaming also reflects on our society, much as literature and music does. It’s important to reflect all aspects of society, not only because it provides ownership, but also because it allows us to broaden our own horizons. It allows us to expand our cultural awareness in ways that we might not have access to otherwise. It provides us with opportunities to understand one another in potentially active ways, rather than the passive ways in which we absorb text or recordings.”

Inclusion doesn’t mean adding Vin Diesel to your table, but it doesn’t NOT mean adding him to your table.

So how do we work towards it? Well, Suzanne and Mandi do a lot to explain that in the video. Partially, it’s about treating people equally.

For example, Mandi tells the story of one man at a gaming table who felt the need to explain how the game worked to her every turn, but didn’t explain to any of the other players. This is actually something I struggle with. As someone who is legitimately paid to explain games, I often have to remember to turn that off in casual play so I can let people have their own play experience. I can see how a woman or a person of color might assume I’m judging or “othering” them to the game community because of how I perceive them. So what am I doing about it? I’m working to be better. That’s really what anyone is being asked to do.

Game designers and artists have a role here, too. Diverse characters, especially playable ones, help to show that all are welcome. Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder have both done great jobs of depicting their human characters in a wide spectrum of skin colors, genders, and beyond. Pathfinder even introduced a transgender character as one of their “iconics” in 2014.

Mandi and Suzanne point out other great examples like Dead of Winter that offer a wide base of playable options. When all types of players can “see themselves,” it chips away at that otherness. Also, as Jay pointed out, this starts to educate and expand the minds for all players. While diverse playable characters are the current trend, that just means we have to keep pushing so it doesn’t fall back into familiar tropes. Designers, you know what to do!

Finally, brick-and-mortar stores, gaming conventions, and tabletop clubs have their part to play. Keeping the doors literally and figuratively open to all people starts with the leaders and organizers of these groups. As Geek & Sundry’s own Teri Litorco wrote in her article for The Mary Sue, establishing and enforcing policies regarding harassment and bullying is an important start. The Dungeons & Dragons’ organized play program Adventurer’s League has some great policies to this effect.

You don’t need to be leading these groups to do good in these spaces either. Lead by example for your fellow players and engage in conversation with the established leadership about these issues. If they don’t listen, take your business elsewhere. I’ve changed my home comic book store before because the shop regularly treated women customers like they didn’t know their Batmen from their Spider-Men. Being new to comics is okay, but assuming all women are is not. Switching shops gives my money to a more inclusive business.

Thanks to Mandi and Suzanne for making this video and to The Dice Tower for putting it out into the world. Don’t be afraid to check out the work of both these women and Dice Tower as they all have a lot of great gaming content for you to enjoy. Also, thank you for reading, since sometimes these subjects can feel a little heavy. Geek & Sundry and Team Hooman pride themselves on being inclusive and diverse, so every now and again a little check in on those things is necessary.

Tell us how you try and make the hobby more inclusive in the comments, or just why you think its important. Speaking of comments, you might want to skip the ones on that YouTube video. Yikes.

Image Credits: D&D/Wizards of the Coast, Freaks and Geeks/NBC, Stranger Things/Netflix, and Community/NBC/Amazon

Critical Role Fan Art Gallery – A Journey of Discovery

Critical Role Fan Art Gallery – A Journey of Discovery

Critical Role

Critical Role: Episode 81 – What Lies Beneath The Surface

D&D Rings In The New Year With A New (Experimental) Class: The Artificer

D&D Rings In The New Year With A New (Experimental) Class: The Artificer


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Saturday, December 5, 2015

A New Portrait

I love the portrait that I use as my profile picture on blogs and other social media. It was drawn by my eldest grandchild about eight years ago.

When I was going through some family photos recently I found a picture I took in her younger brother's classroom in 2012.  His teacher had obvioulsy set the same assignment for her students. What I had photographed was a new and different portrait drawn by my grandson.

1 comment:

Sharon said...

How wonderful! Wondering what your granddaughter things of having her drawing such a publicly recognised image? :)

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Remembering My Father

Just in time for Memorial Day, my cousin has surprised me with a scan of a long-hidden-away postcard written by my father during his service in World War II. I had no idea any of his letters and cards had been saved. I had not seen a single one until just yesterday.

Below is the card, and also a photo my cousin scanned and sent. Click on the postcard image to pop it out larger and make the text more legible. Pay especial attention to the bit about six pounds of coal per day and sleeping in his clothes to stay warm. Clearly he wasn't bunked in at the Hilton.

The card is dated 6 Dec 1943. Notice the censor's stamp at the upper left.

I've typed the words on the card in case you find the cursive difficult:

Dear Mother and Father

Haven't heard from home for so long I sometimes wonder if there is any body left at home to write. Things aren't to bad here except the lantern in our tent has gone on the blinks and that keeps us in the dark. The weather is holding out fine seeing that the mud is only ankle deep. His majesty allows us 6 lbs. of coal per man per 24 hrs. so it is very convenient for me in that I don't have to dress or undress as I am forced to sleep with my clothes on. I'm beginning to think General Sherman was right when he said "War is hell".

Your Loving Son,

George Gennick

Today is Memorial Day. Pause a moment to reflect on the sacrifices made to keep our nation secure. Because many did not make it home again. Those who did not return paid a price that we can never pay back. But we can remember them, and through that memory honor the price that was paid on our behalf.