text:
The Advantage

Posted by – February 4, 2009

UPDATE: We have ditched this idea in favour of this one! I spent January looking into the various story ideas, and the ones that I’ve found the most compelling are Play’n and Stack Overflow. The Alleyologist definitely has potential as a future project, and most of the ideas in Stack Overflow can work in the cognitive talents of the Play’n idea which I’ve renamed The Advantage.

The Advantage is about an infant developmental toy that really works, spawning the most talented youth subculture humanity’s ever seen. Will they want to fit into society — or reshape it in their image?

I’m imagining the majority of the story will focus on the Advantaged as young adults, but I wanted to get a good throughline on the originating event so I wrote up a bit of background for the toy:

A new infant developmental toy is released called Play’n Advantage. It’s a white, slightly gelatinous square, that, as the baby plays with it, forms itself into the ideal toy for the child: one that stimulates either the cognitive, empathic or fine motor skills. Unlike a lot of similar products, it has the backing of credible scientific testing, and it’s this, along with the tantalizing possibility of uncovering and developing their baby’s nascent talent, that allow people to ignore the slightly creepy texture of it.

It becomes the toy-du-jour, causing near riots of short-tempered, sleep-deprived parents in the malls in the weeks leading up to Christmas 2015. And the babies really seem to like it. Some cuddle with it, and it forms a roughly anamorphic teddy-bear shape. Some poke and prod it inquisitively, and it becomes a set of interlocking blocks. Others roll and throw it, giving it a slightly off kilter ball form.

They’re baby’s favourite toy, until they start melting.

AdvantageCorp issues a recall, claiming inadequate testing of the adaptive plastic used in the manufacturing process. Parents organize a class lawsuit amidst rumours of babies ingesting the plastic, and AdvantageCorp settles for a huge payment to the thousands of parents that bankrupts it in the process. Upon return of the remnants of the toy, the parents receive a large cheque and their baby receives an injection to counteract any reaction to the plastic. Just another example of corporate negligence, but at least this one was punished.

It’s not until many months later that the babies start to test off the charts. It starts anecdotally, on the chatrooms started for the lawsuit. At first it seems like the stories of “look what little Billy did” were just the typical parent stuff. But together, the videos of babies unlocking gates, opening baby-proofed bottles, speaking before they should… The pediatricians confirm it: the babies have accelerated development in the areas targeted by their toy.

The ex-executives at AdvantageCorp are not available for comment — they have disappeared as completely as their toys. Speculation is that identifying themselves would open them up for future liability, should the tide turn again and they go back from heroes to zeros. Who knows what the long-term effects will be, after all.

Twenty five years later, we find out.

I told Susan about this, and she mentioned that the melted toy could leave white marks on the hands of the babies to strengthen the lawsuit outrage — and it’d also allow them to recognize each other as adults. Any other brainstormy ideas or responses, add em below!

26 Comments on The Advantage

  1. Tate says:

    Cool–dig the world building and the set up. Lots o possibilities, would like to know what happens ’25 years later’.

    One idea that might be of interest could be the British 7-Up! series, which sounds pretty awesome.

    “The Up Series consists of a series of documentary films that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. The children were selected to represent the range of socio-economic backgrounds in Britain at that time, with the explicit assumption that each child’s social class predetermines their future. Every seven years, the director, Michael Apted, films new material from as many of the fourteen as he can get to participate. Filming for the next installment in the series, 56 Up, is expected in late 2011 or early 2012.”!

    If you haven’t run into it already, it’d be great as research, but might also work if you wanted to take a more doc-style approach to shooting and writing. You could see where an enterprising doc series-maker might do the same thing as the Brits in 2020, and check in with the kids every five years. Just an idea.

  2. Jim says:

    Hey Tate — great minds think alike:
    I’m up to 35 Up at the moment.

  3. Craig says:

    shaping up nicely, although the amount of exposition to explain all this stuff terrifies me…

  4. Tate says:

    Hrg. Totally missed that. I should really read back comments before posting.

    To atone, here’s an offtrack article on nanos:

    Still, the approach is worth considering, especially if some cameras available are more video / less 24p HD.

    Exposition could be challenging, but I’m sure you can write around it, make it fun or dramatic. Maybe do some ‘original 2015 commercials’ for the products, include them in the film somewhere?

  5. Flick says:

    Most definitely, some of those parents will be leery of getting the injection to “counteract” the toy’s effects, or maybe they’re on an ashram, off the grid, when the recall happens.

    So you get:

    – Kids who do the recall and get the injection
    – Kids who reject the injection
    Kids who keep playing with the toys until they come back to civilization, then
    – accept or
    – reject the injection.

    Each, of course, with different consequences. And even some kids who try a “Cure” or whatever. Plot-driven? Naaaah…

    This STILL reminds me, even more perhaps, of Childhood’s End

    I think the scene in that book i remember most (unless I’m confusing it with another book) is when the aliens decide to end bullfights: they’re cruel, you know. So when the big bullfight happens in Madrid, they project the Bull’s pain into all the spectators just before the kill.

    Bullfights stop immediately.

    And then there’s the Midwich Cuckoo’s, which was filmed as Village of the Damned (which, btw, seems like entirely the wrong title, having read the book). One day, the inhabitants of a small town fall asleep spontaneously. Anyone trying to approach the town also falls asleep. As the government grows alarmed, trying to penetrate the mysterious sleep zone, everyone snaps awake.

    No one learns anything more about the incident, until, a few months later… all the women of the town discover, one by one, that they’re pregnant. Of course, the younger teenagers don’t tell anyone, don’t know what pregnant means exactly (it’s the 1950’s) – and the older women don’t know who the father is. All this means the information comes out slowly, much too slowly, and then it’s too late to do anything but have the children.

    So there’s this odd generation of kids in the town, who of course begin to develop strange powers…

    And another book, children of the thunder, by John Brunner. If I tell you why it’s relevant, I’d spoil it somehow, but it IS about a dystopian, fascist future in britain and a generation of kids with odd powers as well.

  6. Dave says:

    ‘rocky’s boots’ was my favorite computer game back in 1983 and a great introduction to logic circuits. why i’m posting that to this thread is the bizarre direction the game designer went afterwards, putting together a virtual reality projects for nasa, designing a nano manipulator, and starting a company that mysteriously disappeared after getting bought out by mattel for $4.3 billion…

    apple ][ emulator:

    disk image:

  7. Sean says:

    Dave, one game I remember fondly is Robot Odyssey which looks like it was based on Rocky’s boots. You had to escape from a world of robots by putting together logic circuits. I’m going to download it for my seven year old son to play.

    Instead of the Play’n Advantage toy melting, perhaps it could dry out and then start to crumble. That might be more believable than melting.

  8. Joe says:

    You could handle the frontloaded exposition in a couple of minutes with a “vintage” commercial/news item a la ROBOCOP. Alternately make it a contemporary documentary piece using the vintage commercial — in effect you’d give the audience all they needed before the credits were done.

  9. Jim says:

    Flick: just got out Midwich. It was time for another Windham, anyway! I actually usually stay away from similar stories when I’m writing, but this is the first time I’ve tried a transparent writing process, and it’s been useful.

    Dave: That game was the first easter egg, interesting. I wonder if the Play’n Advantage has an easter egg? Hmm… :
    “as if the electricity was liquid orange fire flowing through transparent pipes.”

    I love when lyricism pops out of technical manuals.

    There is something so weird about his personal website, from the awkward picture on the front page to the bugs bunny ripoff giving the thumbs up to 4.3 billion:

    Hey Sean, crumbling is a good idea. Melting is creepier, though.

    Joe, that’s true. But I’ll probably weave it into the narrative so the audience is finding out stuff about the original release through the whole thing. I’m not as worried about the amount of exposition as Craig is — I’ll make sure it isn’t too heavy.

  10. Flick says:

    1. The Kraken Wakes is one of my all-time faves by Windham or anyone. Just the wisecracking husband-wife banter is worth the whole read (hint to Jim: wisecracking banter, please). Aliens drop from space right into the ocean, bypassing humanity completely, until their industrial processes start messing up the biosphere…

    2. Right now I’m using Syd Field’s screenwriting workshop DVD to write a new script (East Vancouver Terrorist Comedy, working title). It’s amusing for his monotone LA accent, and his relentless pedantry. And when it comes down to it, his 3-act structure just amounts to “Write the movie, dammit!”

    All the turning points, etc … every scene should be a turning point of some kind, and the fact he names “plot point 1 + 2,” “mid-point scene,” “pinch 1 + 2″ etc really turns out to be a trick to get you to write the script in bite-size chunks, and think about every scene as an actual script pivot.

    Anyway, it’s been useful, I holed up in a Whistler house-sit for a week with a bunch of movies to inspire (Munich, Ripping Yarns, etc), watched some Syd and followed his exercises. Before I knew it, I had characters, scenes, structure and a plan.

    3. And everyone here should watch “Free Radicals” as a fucking awesome, hip, hot, interweaving multi-plot art movie. Just saw it last month – yowza!

    4. Joe, I’ve noticed, btw, that some people lately seem to be down on NEWS ON THE MARCH! type interventions into narrative. Like it’s a device they don’t like, for some reason. It’s in danger of falling out of fashion. I got that as feedback from the Indie Writer’s Deathmatch, for instance, but I can’t cite any specifics at the moment. I DISAGREE! I love the intrusion of news, because you get to see the wider-world reaction without dragging major new characters in, and you can throw the audience off by having errors in the news report, or comment on the news in other ways, like distant social dangers to the main characters, ostracism, villagers with pitchforks etc.

    5. Sean, i like the melting… what if it melts because the kids start eating them?? Blue-red foam sizzling from little Jenny’s mouth and nose would certainly make a cinematic pop, and would make everything more sinister – unless we SEE the children in danger, we might not feel the parent’s panic, and we might too easily chortle “Those foolish authorities! Why are they so panicky about their children’s safety? WE know the toys are good, ‘cos we saw the trailer.”

    6. Do the toy-makers trigger this change, whatever it is, via their website / tv show, or is it something they didn’t foresee?

    7. The disappearing toy-makers reminds me of Union Carbide and Bhopal. The CEO of U.C. disappeared when he got out on bail in India:

  11. Sean says:

    ya, i admit the melting is more appealing.

    just as the toy takes time (how long? a few days?) to take shape depending on the child, perhaps it loses shape (melts) over a few weeks, turning into a blob, and the blob separates into smaller blobs. i guess they’ll be some limits on what we can do, depending on what special effects we can muster.

  12. Anthony says:

    lovely back story jim.
    i see craig’s fear, and i say exposition smexposition.
    just kidding.
    i would imagine at one point even maybe a digital video news story (documentary) came out in 2016 or 17 on the recall and maybe even the stories of advanced children.
    i am very curious to see what these advantaged children are doing as adults.
    is the backstory (the toy) revealed early or late in the film?
    in 2015 wouldn’t only the privileged kids be getting the hottest toy on the market?
    don’t they already have an advantage?
    does this advantage grow as they do?
    do the advantaged adults become great manipulators?
    wow, my mind went off.
    one thing i wanna say before i end this brain to fingers spasm is maybe what happens to the toy (melt, crumble, evaporate, solidify) could be discussed with a special effects and/or CGI person(s). what’s cool and costlessly?
    and with my second stupid word i shall sign off.
    see y’all who’s coming on sunday.

  13. Tate says:

    Hey Jim–had a fun conversation about the Advantaged with my girlfriend, who’s not a sci-fi buff, and she really liked the idea. She had tonnes of questions about ‘how does the toy work’ and ‘what does that mean to the kids’. We kicked around a bunch of ideas, and ended up with a pile of questions that could affect the characters in 2040. Maybe there’s a helpful idea, character, or concept in here somewhere:

    How ‘off-the-charts’ does the toy make the Advantaged? Are we talking kids that go from 120 IQ to 180? Or 280? Do they have 20 programming languages down by the time they’re 15? Do they run the 100 m in 5 seconds?

    If the kids are really enhanced, does that mean they’re the ones who are done PhDs at 13, and running multimillion dollar research projects by 19? Do they excel in just one specific area? Does their maturity match their intellect/creative/skills, or is it still dictated by regular social development?

    I think you mentioned the toy specifically enhancing the kids in the way they most played with the toy–care giving, puzzle solving, etc. What other shapes or forms could the original toy take on? Kids might use it as swords, clubs, dolls, tools, drums. What other ways could the toy be used in its original form? Did it have limits? Do you want to deal with the idea of weapons and resulting super-ninjas?

    I really dig the idea of a Mark of some kind on some of the Advantaged. Is it visible on all of them? Whether it is visible or not could be a contentious point among them–those who have the mark would clearly have harder lives than those that don’t–like the ‘monster’ angst among certain X-Men who had obvious physical mutations.

    What percentage of the population was affected by the Advantage? During the Cabbage Patch/Elmo crazes, there were huge numbers of kids that had those dolls–probably half the kids in school. Or are the Advantaged just kids that ingested the toy?

    If the toy was a thing that anyone could use to play with–might adults play with it? Would it affect them differently?

    How about an older child/young adult with a learning disability or Down’s Syndrome who played with it? An autistic? Someone that was already into puberty? Would it affect them similarly? Affect their disorder, or not? What kind of character would that result in? Some of the scariest characters in comics or sci-fi were those who had enormous power, but lacked the maturity or reason to control it.

    What happens to an adult that plays with the toy as a, um, pliable love doll or apparatus? Would that be possible? What kind of ‘advantage’ would that result in?

    Anyhow–just some ideas for rumination. Hope it sparks something for ya. See you guys on Sunday.

  14. Jim says:

    Wow, wicked stuff guys. Really great questions you’ve posed.

    Some random things I thought as I read through it…

    -Banter, check. (I think if you took out the banter out of my five books you’d be left with two.)

    -re melting or whathaveyou — definitely will be having a conversation soon with the SFX people and finding out what would be most visually engaging and nobudget viable without sliding into the cheese.

    -I’ll be staying away from action/weapons stuff (though I do dig it, and it might be fun to do a PSA of how Advantaged kids aren’t “magic” or “supernatural”). These kids are gifted, not superpowered. It’s all within the realm of human potential.

    -adults’ brains aren’t soft enough for the toys to take effect. So this means the actual scientists who invented it are forever denied access to this Advantage, and they might resent the kids as a result.

  15. Sean says:

    Jim and I had a conversation off-line. I suggested that perhaps non-advantaged took various medications to keep up with the advantaged.

    Another thought I had yesterday that could add humour, is to have some characters participating in trial drug tests (to earn extra cash), and to have them experience unusual or extreme side effects.

  16. Sean says:

    Tate – oh ya, this reminded me of your question “Do they have 20 programming languages down by the time they’re 15?”
    (Nine-year old whiz-kid writes iPhone application – he can program in six languages)

  17. Dave says:

    Discussing ‘The Advantaged’ while filming and playing out some possible scenes at the shoot down at Anthony’s today gave me a weird flashback to the academic program I was sent to from grades 8 to 11: the “academically gifted” program at Earl Haig secondary school. There was a definite sense of shared alienation there that many of my classmates had; a combination of intense parental pressure, social ineptitude on our part, and mild scorn from the normal students for getting better school trips and free bus tickets if we lived out of the school zone.

    In the younger grades there was a sense that we were in Dr. Xavier’s academy, but by the time I left early in grade 12 and switched into a much less elitist alternative school I was just glad to get out of there and integrate with the regular non-gifted world and just maybe get laid in the process. One of my classmates Ilan – a prototypical computer geek like me, but much more sociable – scored in excess of 98% on his high school transcript, and had this weird habit of writing down odd numbers and license plate combinations in a little notebook he carried around with him.

    I lost touch with him when I switched out to attend an alternative high school, hoping the mood would be less severe, and he got scooped up by Cambridge. Now he apparently works for the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo on ‘Relocalising Disaster Risk Reduction for Urban Resilience'; check it out:

    This flashback paralleled the debate between the two characters in the kitchen scene. If you’re advantaged, do you want to be around other people like you, or just learn how to mix? An informal survey of the dozen or so people I’m still in touch with from that era leads me to believe that it’s a deadly trade-off, akin to the dilemma posed in the Radiolab episode ‘The Frowners':

  18. Sean says:

    Gattaca wasn’t a big success when it came out, but throughout my life it’s one of those movies whose imagery I’ve thought about again and again. I could never remember the name of the movie (until now, when I look through a list of 90s scifi movies). It’s set in the ‘not to distant future’, and I like the sets (and story) in the same way the Blade Runner sets are memorable. Maybe it could give us ideas of how to depict the future in a believable way. Of course, the story parallels The Advantage, with genetically engineered humans having an advantage over inferior faith births (“valids” and “in-valids”). The valids have access to better jobs and the in-valids are assigned menial work.

  19. Flick says:

    Heheh – Sean, my only real problem with Gattaca was the sob-story Ethan Hawke character never really moved me. The beautiful Hollywood actor lost the genetic lottery? Please. And his hellish fate is that he can’t go to outer space, as he yearned to do for so long in his childhood dream? Boohoo.

    I really dug the suits, though. Fashion Fascists.

    We all know what would really happen if genetics played too close a role in life destiny – it’s called Nazi Germany, or the old South, or something more obvious like that. Brave New World is closer to it, and in that story there’s irradiating of embryos and drugging of foetuses etc to ensure nobody smart accidentally ends up in the lower classes.

    I’ve heard Chomsky say that there’s language innately programmed into our brains. For instance, a chinese baby brought up in north america would be indistinguishable from a european baby on the telephone: the physical apparatus for reproducing language is identical in every human, therefore some part of culture is physically / genetically / preprogrammed prior to socialization. He goes on to suggest that morality is somehow hardwired as well, which he thinks is good because at some point (so the unspoken part goes) we’ll discover that the natural human morality is what Chomsky believes already, i.e. science will prove that he’s morally superior.

    The obvious danger of a scientific morality is evident in the nature / nurture debate over criminality or homosexuality. If it’s nature, we can select against it; if it’s nurture, we can scientifically cultivate for / against it.

    Anyway, i think all that stuff is more interesting / sinister than poor widdle Ethan Hawke’s dream of going to spacie-wace.

    And come on, we don’t need genetic coding to deny inferior beings the right to go into space:

    “An applicant’s personality should be characterised by high motivation, flexibility, gregariousness, empathy with fellow workers, low level of or disposition towards aggressiveness, and emotional stability.?”

    Gregariousness? Oh brother.

    PS – since nobody’s said it yet:

    Ender’s Game.

    Genius kids hand-picked for video-game interstellar war against bugs! And it’s more violent and suspenseful than The Last Starfighter! Woohoo! To bad they didn’t have The Advantage!

  20. Dave says:

    There’s a section in Cory Doctorow’s ‘Eastern Standard Tribe’ that describes the development by a ‘user-experience guy’ of a futuristic children’s toy, something which might inspire a scene about the development of the Play’n Advantage toy itself:

  21. Dave says:

    some other links of potential interest:

    the tuskegee experiment, which led to the creation of ethics review committees in scientific studies:

    howard gardner’s multiple intelligences theory; quite popular in my teacher’s college program, but not really backed up by any cognitive neuroscience studies:

    u of t psych department, always worth poking around to see what kind of research is going on; located in the basement of the sid smith building south of robarts library at 100 st. george:

    york’s neuroscience dept, full of fascinating lab equipment:

  22. Jim says:

    Just read Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckooos. It’s a little too talky, and misses the chance for building up any kind of suspense for what the Children will do, but it gives them a reason for their strangeness rather than mystical spookiness (they’re a collective intelligence) but I was especially interested in how he would end it — this is a big issue with world-changing plot twists. He went with the “blow-em-up” ending, but with a bittersweet twist — making the Children likable just pages before and had their beloved, trusted teacher do it. As the reader, you’re pretty sure annihilating them’s the only way to go, but awwwww…. So, the lesson I guess is that if you’re going to go with a stock ending, complexify it somehow.

  23. Flick says:

    Awwww… and the suspense is, will they SUCCEED in annihilating them?

    I still think my favourite part is the set-up. The human chain of soldiers etc trying to rescue the mikman, asleep just inside the sleep zone.

    The rest of the book is a blur.

  24. Sean says:

    I was thinking, if the Advantaged have the markings on their hands, it would make it easier for the audience to follow along.

  25. Dave says:

    since there’s somewhat of a parallel between the stimulated cognitive, empathic or fine motor skills of the advantaged kids and howard bloom’s ‘taxonomy of educational objectives’ domains of the cognitive, affective, psychomotor, i was thinking that the ‘bloom’s rose’ image on the link below might make for a nice graphic on the packaging of the ‘play’n advantage toy:

Leave a Reply


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

WARC-Type: response

text:
Monday, September 26, 2005

Hey Brogden, pass me the stapler.

I stand before you today as a mere shell of the man I was yesterday morning. Life seems pointless. Everything is black and murky.

Oh the humanity!!!!

Parramatta choked again. Aaaaaaggggggghhhhhhh!

Pass me the stapler John, I'm in self harming mode. I may even eat paste and run with scissors!

No comments:

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-147-3-28.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2018-09
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for February 2018
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Truncated: length

text:
Implementing Cisco IP Routing (ROUTE v2.0)

Provide your email. When the exam is released , we will inform you at the first time.

998 Q&As (Questions & Answers)

Vendor: Cisco
Certifications: CCDP
Exam Name: Implementing Cisco IP Routing (ROUTE v2.0)
Exam Code: 300-101
Total Questions: 998 Q&As
Last Updated: 2016-10-08
Note: We Will send Email Of PDF Within 8 hours after Payment Successfully .

Real Cisco 300-101 Guide: Cisco 300-101 Exam for CCDP, Cisco 300-101 Exam Collection Is Your Best Choice.

Mrs Tong Xin Hao eyes and a clear war, when the autumn Duqi lips, look disgusted look, but no Cisco 300-101 Exam Paper the slightest panic.. 1K0-002 - Then hearts delight For these three oncoming bullets, while He Xu 's eyes flicker, all of a sudden Cisco 300-101 Certification Exams it will 000-607 orbit are clearly visible, and then, among the different Cisco 300-101 Vce & PDF brain waves while the flow of patients began to explore things unfold, then the three bullets from 300-101 Practice Test a very dynamic becomes extremely quiet. Plainly, Father 's thinking is still very traditional. CMS7 - Wolf to help people 000-965 - it is not impossible Difficult to Cisco Implementing Cisco IP Routing (ROUTE v2.0) Exam Guide stabilize at this irritable mood, with an unstable atmosphere stood up and said: HP0-702 eating, I'm full Cisco 300-101 Questions And Answers.
Momobizai, snappily saw SD0-401 a, as one looks like it is a hell ? Simple Cisco 300-101 Study Guide Book non- dancing down from the tree, Yunxuan instant hear fellow women around the inhaled air down Cisco 300-101 Exam Q&As the sound, curled his lip, look to simple non- jump a tree only Cisco 300-101 Brain Dumps, so Shuashuai As to what ?. This is some great Cisco 300-101 Certification Material truth that every student knows, so 000-341 He Xu is quietly listening to the words, no one urging Xu He quickly demonstrated his Cisco 300-101 Real Questions Answers technique. Lan Zhang Jing, who hastily propped up and walked to the house. So it no thought into 300-101 PDF it at will, but plans to keep up with changes, who would have thought that Cisco 300-101 Exam Questions old pig in Beijing emperor abdicated so quickly, but also to enrich the new Cisco 300-101 Online Exam breeding harem, really broke a surprise.

Cisco 300-101 Guide, Cisco 300-101 Exam Collection, Cisco 300-101 Exam, 300-101 Exam Paper PDF, Cisco 300-101 Tests, Cisco 300-101 Practice Exam

Zhang Da Lielie the instrument of appointment torn smashes scolded his son of a bitch, etc. At Cisco 300-101 Doc that time the municipal leaders are bruised and battered. Ji haoyue hand covering the Cisco 300-101 PDF Download moon sunny hands, she shook her head, indicating that she will not be the heart of Cisco 300-101 Exam Practice PDF the anger manifested, then look to Yunxuan tone light, said: original 650-294 Ya child is small unitary, look very similar Cisco 300-101 Dumps touches and elegant children too !. Do not be so Xuanhu, listening to people blame infiltration. Shallow, how is 190-801 ? Ming Tian Hao see is Europe shallow Cisco 300-101 Cert Exam when a moment of surprise. HP2-B51 Name on the Cisco 300-101 Practice lips, and the next scene, let sun all Cisco 300-101 Exam Tests words are painful Terrier in the throat inside.
You called 3M0-300 He Xu, a lot of people are so called 3M0-300. I remember sitting on just HP0-P13 this 300-101 PDF table, obviously nothing.. Death, Wang, you tell 650-667, why did he choose this time on 650-987 start, originally, there are more opportunities will allow you to start ah. Listening ear of the Cisco 300-101 Actual Test wedding march, along the line of sight watching relatives sold out, the wedding continued inappropriate, do not continue to Cisco 300-101 Practice Test have inappropriate, how to do ?Mu Xinyu hope and urgent eyes, longing and fear that the expression is riveted Su Xiaoqing response. 000-M46 - you go to a busy Cisco 300-101 Exam Questions Vce bar's arrival,ST0-47X, making the original is not very well-off Cisco 300-101 PDF Download life at this time is even more troubled Cisco 300-101 Real Exam the Tang Hong.


text:
Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Today, a year ago, I woke up in the depths of despair. The first self-pay cycle had failed and I just couldn't see us continuing to throw money down the drain for a shot at parenthood. I was lost, sad, angry, frustrated. I had spent months researching procedures, clinics and stats, reading forums and coming up with a plan, only for it to end in failure. Sure, my Endo surgery was successful and I had quality of life back, but still no baby.

I know one failed IVF/ICSI is nothing compared to what so many go through, yet I saw it as a sign that it would never work for us. I was thinking, "How do I pick up the pieces today only to be crushed by another failure a month or two from now?" What would be the point of torturing ourselves with failed cycle after failed cycle?

It all felt hopeless. I just couldn't see a way forward. My Dh wasn't keen on using donor sperm, even though he had relented. Adoption is too expensive, and our age would count against us. Yet I couldn't imagine my future without children in it.

I listened to a lot of Annie Lennox, specifically, "Songs of Mass Destruction" while my husband traveled internationally. The time alone was a blessing. I could lose myself in the despair without him witnessing the downward spiral. I could sob and feel sorry for myself without increasing his guilt. My days were spent trying to come to terms with our childless future while trying to keep it together at work.

The frozen lake near our house, the weeping willows surrounding it, and the stillness of late winter mirrored my state of mind. I was stuck in a perpetual winter.

Then my clinic offered to enroll us in a grant program. I couldn't believe we qualified to get a portion of the next IVF/ICSI cycle covered, but we did. The grant covered enough of the cycle to enable us to try one more time. Just one.more.time, with feeling. I was in a daze. Cycle #2 started just two days after the previous BFN. My husband was still out of the country. I just jumped in, blindly, as soon as my progestorone level normalized.

I was still numb when I went to buy the second cycle's meds. I didn't think it would work, but there was no other viable option on the road to parenthood. One foot in front of the other: inject Lupron and Gonal-F, ultrasound, repeat. I tried not to think too much, and just do.

And then I peed on a stick and was dumbstruck. I POAS again and again and again until there was no denying the second line. It was so early, I thought it was the trigger showing up, but then it got darker and darker instead of disappearing. Disbelief. Even after beta number one, two and three, I didn't dare hope that I could actually end up with a real, live, perfect baby of our own. The ultrasound showed three sacs, and later three heartbeats. Triplets.

It scared me. High risk. So many things could go wrong. The more I read about the risks, the more petrified I became.

Yet, here I am, with three real.live.healthy.babies. Despite the odds, despite my disbelief, despite the risks, despite preeclampsia and HELLP Syndrome, despite their prematurity. I know I played roulette and won.

I'm incredibly thankful they made it, I made it, we made it. I know how rare it is to have a happy ending (or in our case, this happy beginning), to have this abundance, this instant family. I cherish my children. Always.

Although I do not wish a high risk pregnancy on anyone - and know of too many tragic outcomes - I do wish for everyone struggling with infertility to have the family they dream of.

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Survival guide: things I couldn't live without

Expecting parents ask this question on Triplet Connection all the time. I hope this post helps parents-to-be, specifically those with multiples. When I was pregnant, I fashioned my own list of things to register for based on the information I found on blogs and forums, but I wished that someone could have done this legwork for me.

I'll be adding to this post as I think of more can't-live-without items.

Triple Decker stroller. We use the Graco Safeseat infant carriers that click into the frame and it's worked very well to not load/unload 3 babies in and out of the car seats in cold weather.

3 Boppy pillows

3 Boppy covers

12+ Dr Brown's bottles (we bought the glass version and they've worked beautifully). We initially used Munchkin's glass bottles and love them too, but with 3 reflux babies, it was more important to switch to bottles with an internal vent. Read the post about glass bottles.

Bottle brush (we use Munchkin brand)

3 Munchkin drying racks

Crockpot or electric kettle to always have hot water on hand to warm bottles

24+ burp cloths. A friend bought more than two dozen "old style" cloth diapers for us to use as burp cloths since they're more absorbent than the commercially available muslin burp cloths. They're like hand towels, but square, and work beautifully. We go through *all* of them! It's handy to have enough to not do laundry every day, and to keep 3 in a diaper bag. We always have a clean one on the changing pad as an easily removable "cover" in the event that a baby pees while we're in the midst of a diaper change. It prevents urine from reaching their clothes in an "accident."

Bibs. We go through dozens of bibs with our refluxers. I like the Koala Baby bibs from Babies R Us as they're more absorbent than others we've tried.

3 Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe Blankets. I've heard good things about Miracle Blankets too. Alternatively, buy any 60x60 blanket large enough to swaddle securely. At 4 months, we do not swaddle the babies for naps and nighttime sleeping anymore, but it still works wonders when they're fussy. I know of many parents who swaddle their babies until 9+ months of age.

Swing(s). We have 3, but have only used 2. You could get away with 1.

Baby Björn or Moby Wrap. We have 3 Baby Björns, but only use 1.

3 Bouncy seats. We have used all 3, all the time, from the time that they could hold their heads up.

3 Cribs. Initially, you could get away with 1, or a Pack 'n Play. Our babies have slept in separate cribs at night from day 1, but we had them co-sleep in one crib for naps until they were about 3 months actual.

3 Bumbo seats. Our babies will start using these in the next few weeks. We've tried them, but at 4 months (2 months adjusted), the babies still tire easily.

Playmat(s). Get different mats with different toys to prevent them from getting bored.

Crib sheets. We have 6, but I'm going to buy more. We have crib sheet savers, but haven't used them yet.

Sleep & play suits with zippers. One caveat, these won't work if your babies come home on monitors. Fortunately, ours didn't use monitors and LIVE in these outfits. It's faster for diaper changes, especially the middle-of-the-night ones. Refluxing babies hate wearing anything with a waist band, so even though they have tons of cute outfits, they hardly get to wear them. Constantly chasing down 6 little socks gets old fast too.

Gripe water. This has made a HUGE difference. Even though the babies are on prescription meds for reflux, I see a marked difference every time I stop giving them gripe water.

Hospital-grade breast pump. I've used Medela Pump in Style Advanced (portable) and Medela Symphony (at the NICU) and both are very efficient. Unfortunately, my first Medela PISA broke after a month, which is the absolute worst fear of anyone who is exclusively pumping. Fortunately, Medela has terrific customer service and replaced it immediately by overnighting it to me. No problems since.

3 sets of breast shields so you don't have to wash pumping parts in the middle of the night. Many moms just rinse them and place them in a container in the fridge and wash them once daily. I prefer to wash them after each use, but that's just me. Having 3 sets allows me to toss them in the hot, soapy water after use and deal with washing them when the babies are napping.

Extra 8 oz Medela collection bottles (you could use a different brand too; anything with a standard opening fits on the Medela equipment). Glass is too heavy, though, but the glass bottles do fit if you've run out of clean collection bottles!

Hands-free pumping bra. You can buy one, or create one yourself by cutting holes in an old sports bra.


text:
Tuesday, December 30, 2014

2015 New Years Resolutions {Linky Party}

Wow!  I can't believe I'm even thinking about 2015!  Where has the time gone?

Today I am linking up with Mrs. Miracle's Music Room and posting my New Year's resolutions for 2015.  I love how Aileen has given examples of five different parts of my life to reflect upon for change.  Here are my resolutions below:

My Personal Resolution is to spend more time with my family.  I think many people say this each year, but I really need to do this.  It seems as if my husband and I are going different directions every day and only meet late at night when we are so tired from our busy days.  After school, I am taking our daughter to her after school activities, and he is usually still at his school with after school activities.  My days seem so monotonous at this point, and I know that is how life is sometimes, but we definitely need to figure out how to spend more time together.  So, that is definitely a BIG resolution.

My Professional Resolution is to take the PLT and pass!  I knew that I needed to take the PLT but didn't realize it had to be done so soon.  I checked my licensure status today and realized that it expires in June.  If I don't pass this spring, I can't renew my teaching license.  So, this must be done!  (On a side note, I tried to look into it this afternoon on the ETS website, and the site was down.  I guess that was Karma or fate's way of saying don't worry about it just yet....)

My Classroom Resolution is to repair the Orff instruments.  When I took the job last year, I was so excited to see all of the Orff instruments.  However, only one (out of 10 or so) works properly.  The rest of them have melted rubber parts and are useless at this point.  No sound at all. :(  But, my principal asked me what I needed, and all of the parts were ordered to fix them.  I just haven't spent the time to fix them.  It seems like such a big task that I just keep putting it off.  If I will work on one every few weeks, I should be able to do it.

My Blog/TpT Resolution is to blog bimonthly and create at least two new products a month.  Sometimes my life is so crazy, I just can't seem to find time to blog or create products.  I was really hoping to do some of this over Christmas, but I was so worn out after the first semester of school, that I needed to take a break.  Maybe I can get something created in the next few days.  And, I'm blogging now, so that's a start!

My Just for Me Resolution is to lose weight!  I know~so cliche.  But, I need to do it NOW!  I have always struggled with my weight.  I have gained so much in the past few years, and I would love.to.lose.a.lot.  I won't go in to details, but it's definitely a must!

Now that I've made some resolutions, I think I will print out the above image and post it in my classroom and somewhere at home, too, so that I can remember them.  What a great first use of the new laminator I got for Christmas!

Thanks Aileen for such a great linky party and creating a cute image, too!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Do you use Bloglovin?

I have started using bloglovin to keep up with reading all of the blogs that I follow.  If you want to follow me, you can search for me!  Thanks!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Cyber Sale Linky Party

Can you believe there are only a few weeks before Christmas?!?!  I only have three more weeks until another break!  Woo hoo!  I have really enjoyed these few days to spend with family and also create new resources.  I can only imagine what I will be able to accomplish with two weeks off!

Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a CyberMonday sale from Dec. 1-2.  You can check out all of the great products out there and get 28% off by using their code TPTCYBER.  Thanks to the 3am Teacher for the cybersale banner!

But before you start shopping, I am linking up with Amy Abbott from Music a la Abbott to learn about what other products are out there that I might want to put in my shopping cart for Monday!

I will first tell you one of my products that I think you should purchase, and then I will tell you about 2 more products that I already have in my shopping cart ready to go!

I just finished making my Nutcracker Ballet Scavenger Hunt.  It is similar to a write the room activity.  Students will have a worksheet and will walk around the room in search of the pictures that I have posted throughout my room to review the Nutcracker.  It's always great when I can give the students a worksheet and let them work on their own!  If you are teaching your students about the Nutcracker Ballet this season, you might want to purchase this!

One item I will be purchasing is from another South Carolina music teacher, Sally Utley.  This is another Write the Room activity but for Instruments of the Orchestra.  This looks amazing, and Sally has thought of many different options for this activity.

And last, I will be purchasing this cute Body Percussion Clip Art set from Dancing Crayon Designs.  I have been eyeing this for a while to use to create some more activities for my students.  Why not purchase while it's 28% off?

Don't forget to check out Amy's link party for more ideas from some great music teachers!  And leave a comment to tell me what you will be purchasing, or what you think I should purchase, too!  Thanks!

Monday, November 24, 2014

Five Favorite Pins of November

Today, I'm linking up with Aileen Miracle at Mrs. Miracle's Room to share my Five Favorite Pins.  After reading my favorite pins, make sure to scroll back up to the top to click on this link to see all of the other pins posted by some pretty amazing music teachers out there!

My first one came just in time for Thanksgiving break!  I am definitely guilty of taking home too much work every weekend and then not doing any of it!  And, apparently, Pitch Hill and I were thinking the same thing!  Ha!

My second pin is about vocal exploration using the book, The Squiggle by Carole Lexa Schaefer.  I start each Kindergarten and 1st grade class off with a vocal exploration, and this would be great for my students!  I've thought about using WikiSticks and pipe cleaners, but never thought about a jump rope.

My third pin is great for classroom management.  Who doesn't love Mr. or Mrs. Potatohead?!  This looks so easy to make and would be very easy for students to understand!

My fourth pin has several winter activities involved in one blog post!  Meter, form, ice skating, and a snow ball fight thrown in there!  I tried some of this last year, but I will definitely revisit this again after Thanksgiving break!

And, my last pin is a a cute idea for listening to and identifying different sounds.  These could be made with plastic eggs or 35 mm cases if you can still find those....  My daughter's church choir teacher was using them this past week.  I found it interesting that she had some after I had just pinned this myself.  It's also a great idea for a substitute, too!

Thanks for reading!  You can follow me on pinterest, too!  Click the link below!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

13 Nights of Treats and Frights

Good evening everyone!  I am so excited to tell you about an event I'm participating in called 13 Nights of Treats and Frights.  In the next 13 days, there will be 29 opportunities for you to get a FREE product and also purchase another product at 50% off if you want to.  Did I say 29 OPPORTUNITIES?!?!  That's, like, WOW!  You could potentially have enough products to use one each day for the month for October and then into November!  Not all of the 29 Freebies will be Halloween related.  There will be some fall products and maybe even a football product or two for you sports fans!

Each day, you will want to visit my Facebook page, and I will direct you to the next Facebook page or TpT store to find the FREEBIE and 50% off product.  I will plan to do this in the evening for the next day's resources.

Here is a list of all of the amazing teachers that are hosting this event and the dates they will be posting their freebie.  You will want to search for "13Nights" to find the freebies and 50% off products.  Each teacher will only have their products listed for 1 day, so you will want to check each day!

And, while you're on each teacher's TpT store and Facebook page, make sure you follow them to learn about more opportunities throughout the year!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

WOW!  This first month of school has been a whirlwind!  I had every intention of trying to blog at least once a week, but it hasn't happened.  Let me first preface this blog with - IT'S A LONG ONE!  But, it's been a while, and I have a lot to say!  I think you may want to read it all ;)

My days consist of waking up in the mornings (5 a.m. is EARLY!), getting out the door by no later than 6:30 a.m. (umm, that's my goal at least), teaching up to 6 classes/grade levels a day, rushing out after school each day to pick up our daughter, take our daughter to her after school activities (how do people do it with more than one child!?), cooking dinner (or something like that...), doing homework with our daughter, getting our daughter ready for bed and in bed, doing some extra work (I am a teacher by day and medical transcriptionist by night), and then going to bed.  My husband is a high school band director, so he is in full marching band mode right now and very busy himself.  Which means football games on Fridays when the team is at home and competitions each week in October (we haven't gotten there yet, but it's coming soon!)  And not to mention that I somehow managed to volunteer at our church to teach SPARK (missions) to 1st and 2nd graders on Wednesdays, 1-3 grades children's choir until the director returns from surgery, and Youth Choir starting in October.  I promise I am not complaining!  I love every bit of it!  But, WHEW!

Well, I have had very little time to blog.  And, I know I'm not the only one with this type of routine.  It is exhausting!  I have also already gotten "germie germs" (as I call them) from school, or maybe it's just allergies.  Wait, I've got it!  I'M ALLERGIC TO SCHOOL!!!! :)

I have been working hard on some files for my new TeachersPayTeachers store, too.  I don't have much uploaded yet, but I have set a goal of putting something up there each week.  Some things will be free!  I love freebies, don't you?

I don't want to require you to FOLLOW my TpT store or to LIKE my Facebook page, but I would highly recommend that you do.  **Wink, wink!**  I have a feeling I will be better at posting quick updates there.  There is also a great way to FOLLOW on Facebook once you have liked my page.  Then you will get notifications of all my posts.  This has been a great way for me to keep up with other teachers from around the world that are also blogging, pinning, tweeting, and selling things on TpT.  Oh, and did I mention the FREEBIES?  Just in this past year, I have amassed A LOT of free files from teachers just from getting their notifications and downloading files. But, without following to get the notifications, I would not have gotten them.

So, on to how school has been going.  I have the best schedule this year!  I know that many music teachers have very little planning or it is lumped in with lunch so you choose to eat and plan at the same time if you are lucky.  Well, I get some time each morning before I start teaching to plan my day and then I also have lunch, and some planning during the day on a few other days as well.  I am so grateful for administration that sees the need for planning.  Of course, I still plan a lot in the afternoons and weekends, too (who doesn't).

This is my second year at my school, and I while I am still working to establish routines, I have not had to learn all 500 names this year!  That is probably the best thing!  I am very impressed with how I  have remembered most names.  I seem to do better if I don't realize students are siblings or cousins.  I don't confuse them as much if I don't know.

I have tried this year to be more lenient on how students sit in my class.  Last year, all students K-5 sat "crisscross applesauce" on the floor in nice little rows.  I like that because I could walk around and others could walk around without stepping on little fingers or tripping.  But, my bigger students complained so much about wanting to sit in a chair.  I also don't like chairs because they end up having to move the chairs so much to do movement, games, etc.  But, I caved in this year and have decided to let the 3-5 students personally decide if they want to sit in a chair or sit on the floor.  If they are on the floor, they do not have to sit "crisscross applesauce" unless we are singing or they are not paying attention.  I understand that students my be uncomfortable sitting so perfectly, and they may be able to listen to me if they are lying down or sitting with their legs out or however.  Because I have a lot of boys that play football, I used the analogy that while they could probably do a few things (like throw a ball) while lying on the ground, they were not going to become great players if they lay on the ground the entire football practice.  So, while they might be able to sing lying on the ground, they would not become great singers.  Therefore, they may need to sit up better at some points during the class.

It has been an adjustment for me, but I am trying.  For the most part, the students are doing well with it.  I find it interesting how in some classes, most of the students still want to sit on the floor.   But in other classes, they are all in chairs.  The psychology person in me wants to do a study to figure out why students choose to sit on the floor versus the chair (is it the day of the week, the time of day, their classroom routines, etc.)

I have been teaching my Kindergarten and 1st grade students using the First Steps Curriculum from John Feierabend.  They really enjoy this.  It just seems like fun and games to them.  I struggled last year and for the first few weeks with asking the students to only listen to me sing.  This week, I finally got smart and told the students that it was my time to sing a solo.  This gave me the opportunity to talk quickly about what a solo is and what an audience does (yay for vocabulary and word wall!).  Once I told them it was my turn to sing a solo and that they would also get a turn later to solo, they did great!  YAY!

My 2nd grade students are beginning the first few steps of Unit 1 in Conversational Solfege (John Feierabend again).  This unit covers quarter notes and eight notes.  While at times it has been difficult to motivate the students by just listening to rhythms, singing, and echoing (not reading), I think they are getting it.  I have been trying to use songs that have games to keep it interesting for them.  I will be posting these songs and files soon (once we get to the reading and writing steps).

My 3rd grade students are beginning the second unit of Conversational Solfege.  This unit covers six eight meter.  It has been interesting to see the students "get it."  Again, we are playing games and trying to keep it interesting.  I also started the first few weeks reading some rhythms from Unit 1.  I was so excited to see that probably 98% of the students could read a rhythm to me correctly!  Yay for some retention even with summer in there!

I started the year teaching the 4th and 5th grade students about the Star Spangled Banner.  The 5th grade students sing this at their graduation, so I figured I would start early to teach it to them.  Unfortunately, they did not know the words or the melody when we started.  On a side note, I personally loved that some students thought Amazing Grace was our national anthem.  It made my heart smile :)

I am now working with 4th and 5th graders to learn how to read notes on the treble clef to prepare them to begin playing the recorder.  They have really enjoyed learning the notes, playing my new pirates treble clef game (20% off in my TpT store), and writing their own mnemonic.  And, my students have loved the following video from MusicK8 (on YouTube).  They think the pig is funny and love singing the song.  My opinion is, whatever works to get you to remember the lines on the treble clef works for me!  There is also a song to learn the spaces and also an "Ode to the Treble Clef."

My projector broke Tuesday in the middle of class.  Ugh!  So, I was old schooling it for a few days until I could get a back up.  I decided to give the students their own whiteboard, marker, and eraser and have them practice drawing the treble clef.  It's amazing how excited they get.  And, it's kind of funny to see their interpretations, too!  Well, that led me to try to think of an easy step by step way to teach them how to draw one.  And, I made a worksheet!  Click on the picture below to get a free copy!

Thanks for reading all the way through!  I hope you enjoy the worksheet and are having a great school year!

Monday, September 1, 2014

Music Classroom Set Up

Today I am linking up with Aileen Miracle at Mrs. Miracle's Music Room to talk about my classroom set up.

Below is a picture of one of my doors.  I don't use it often for classroom purposes, but it is there and needs to be decorated.  Last year, I put just one small poster on it.  But, I purchased these cute advocacy posters from Music with Sara Bibee and decided they would look great on this door.  The students walk past this door every day, so I'm hoping some of the information will sink in as they glance at it while walking by.  My favorite thing about these posters is that each page only gives a snippet of information that even young students can understand.  It's great for the teachers, parents, and administrators to see when they walk past as well!

I purchased the Nautical Music Room Decor Kit from Lindsay Jervis, and it has so many ideas and everything you need to decorate your classroom.  I live at the beach, so this was great for my classroom.   This next picture is of my "front" door.  This is where all of the students enter my classroom each day.   It's so cute, and I love it!

Here is a picture of the front of my classroom.  I decided to use the Music Rules from Lindsay as well (you can see the word music down the side of my bulletin board).  I liked that it came with songs to teach the students about each rule.  My Kindergarten and 1st grade students are enjoying the songs.

And, below is a picture of another bulletin board idea from Lindsay's nautical kit.  I was beginning to teach the notes on the staff to 4th and 5th grade students this week, and one of the students caught on that what I was teaching was also on this bulletin board.  It's great when I can see the light bulb moment for them (even if it was a small one!)

Here is a picture of my Are You in a 5-S Line? posters.  You can download them from my store for free!  (While you are in my store, make sure to follow me, too!)  These posters are a great visual for my students when they are lining up.  They know if they do not line up quickly and correctly, they may not get a sticker for the day in music class.  I like that all I have to ask is "Are you in a 5-S line?"  I don't have to tell them to turn around, stop talking, get in line.....

Here is a picture of one of my rest area posters that are scattered about the room in case I need to send a student to "rest" for a bit :)

My last photo of the day will be my Recorder Karate posters on the side of my classroom.  Last year, I let the 5th grade students put a recorder girl/boy with their name on it up on the color that they had completed.    They really enjoyed looking to see where everyone was.  It was a great motivator when some of the classes would get way out ahead of the others.  I've also had many students this year already ask about it, so I know they were watching the others last year.

You can see all of my Orff instruments that look abandoned over in the corner.  I promise they are not  completely abandoned.  They just haven't been put in their spot this year.  Most of them are not usable right now but I'm working on that (they got overheated at some point before I got to the school).

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my classroom.  I have more work to do, but school has already started, so I'm running full force!  Thank goodness for the Labor Day weekend!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Planning in the Music Classroom 2014

School started this week!  I'll post more about that later, but I wanted to give you an idea what I did to plan for this school year.  I spent way too many hours on Facebook and Teachers Pay Teachers this summer watching and waiting for freebies and sales.  I was able to snag a LOT of great finds!

The first find is from Lindsay's Kodaly Inspired Classroom.  I purchased her Race to the Finish Line file last year, but I wanted to see what she had for the beginning of the year as well.

Although I am not following the Kodaly method specifically, I was able to take Lindsay's information to get started on my own long term planning for the year.  It was nice to see what someone else does and how it is laid out.  This file also comes with a great list of songs and activities based on music concepts.  I know this will make my week to week planning much simpler!

I am planning to teach my students music based on John Feierabend's First Steps and Conversational Solfege methods.  I purchased the First Steps bundle a few years ago at a conference, and I like how he wants students to become "Tuneful, Beatful, and Artful" before they begin learning music concepts.  I think it also lets the younger students just have fun when they come to my class and not realize that they are learning at the same time.  The books for First Steps are very simple to follow based on their set up.  There are also enough lesson plans and long term plans for three years of school.  The Conversational Solfege books are also set up well and come with ready made long term plans and a few lesson plan guides.  These really helped me last year for planning, and I will still use these as a guide this year.  I feel like I finally started figuring out how to use the method by the end of last year, so I am ready to get to work on it this year!  I am hoping to add in some more folk dances and instruments as well this year.

I am also excited about some of the teaching files that I purchased this summer.

The first is a music centers bundle from Aileen Miracle.  I have wanted to do more with centers in my classroom, but getting them designed is so time consuming.  So, I decided to purchase this bundle.

All I have to do now is print them out, laminate and cut out (this is the step I am on right now), set them up, and put them around my room for students to use!  I like that Aileen has included a center for the teacher to be included in for assessment purposes.  When I sent students to centers in the past, I felt like I was left to walk around aimlessly watching all of them.  This will give me a purpose, too!

Another file I purchased to teach recorders was from Music with Sara Bibee.

I taught recorders to my fifth graders last year using the Recorder Karate method.  I like that method, but I found that most of my students did not have the musical foundation to jump right in to it (last year was my first year at the school).   I love that Sara's recorder method comes with so many songs to get students learning to play recorder at a slower pace and with lots of repetition while keeping it interesting.  Her method is definitely how I started to learn to play flute, and I think it makes sense :)  I also like that she included worksheets to reinforce learning and give the students a chance to create they own pieces of music.  And the best part is that all of these songs are connected to videos that she has on youtube through the QR codes so my students can practice at home.  I work in a low income area, and I know that many of my students will not be able to do this at home but it is available if they are able.  I am planning to use this for my fourth graders this year so that when they get to fifth grade, they will have a better foundation for Recorder Karate (or maybe I will change it all up by next year!)

I purchased so many things over the summer that I am not able to talk about them all in one blog.  But, I promise I will be talking about them over the year as I use each item.

I hope everyone is planning away and finding great ideas to use this year in your classrooms!  Please feel free to comment below with your great finds!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Who Am I, and Why Am I Writing a Blog?

My name is Ginny Capps, and based on what the state of South Carolina says, I have been teaching for one year.  I attended East Carolina University and graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy and a Bachelor of Music in Performance (Flute).  After graduation, I did a six month internship in music therapy at Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, FL.  After my internship, I began working as a music therapist at a psychiatric hospital in Anderson, SC.  Between then and now, I have had many jobs including activity director at a nursing and rehabilitation facility, admissions director at a nursing and rehabilitation facility, full time mother, and medical transcriptionist.

My husband is a high school band director, and I was always jealous of his summers off (though he does enough work during the school year that he deserves more than the summer off)!  After having our daughter, I decided that I wanted to teach, too.  Why not teach music, work with children, and have paid vacations?  I was able to get a part time job teaching K-2 music at a private school and loved every minute of it.  I was only able to teach for the year there as they wanted someone with an education degree.  I also taught music to K-1 students at my church.  So, I made up my mind at that point to go back to school so that I could have a teaching license.  I chose to go to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to get my Master of Arts in Teaching.  After a long and hard year of graduate school, I was done and ready to teach!

Unfortunately, God had different plans for me!  My husband had already moved to Myrtle Beach, SC while I was completing my masters, and I was unable to find a job in his county the next year.  I became a long term elementary music substitute in Southport, NC during the fall and then a long term substitute at my husband's school in the spring.  That substitute position had nothing to do with music or elementary students (which I love).  The next school year, I got a job teaching at McDonald Elementary School in Georgetown, SC.  That is where I still am!

While I can (and do) complain about my job, I love it!  I love working with children and teaching music!  I enjoy using my music therapy background as much as I can, though I wish I could do more with it.  Maybe as I progress in my teaching, I will be able to do more.

As a new teacher, I am struggling with what path to take to teach music--Kodaly, Orff, Feierabend.... At this point, I am following the Feierabend First Steps and Conversational Solfege method.  I have really enjoyed teaching this way, and the students seem to be understanding the music much better.

I am hoping that this blog will be a way for me to tell others about what I do on a regular basis at my school.  I know there are many teachers following the Feierabend method, but I haven't found many (or any) blogs, so I decided why not start one?  I have been following many Kodaly method teachers this past year and gotten a lot of great ideas from them that I hope to incorporate as much as I can in my teaching.  I am hoping to start a Teachers Pay Teachers store some time this year as well.  I will see how it goes!

Thanks for reading my blog, and let me know what you would be interested in reading about!

Classroom Set Up 2014

This summer has gone by too fast!  I am headed back to work for teacher workdays on Wednesday.  But, I have gotten many great ideas this summer through different blogs and the Teachers Pay Teachers website, and I am ready to get back to it!  Today, I am going to link to a few of my favorite finds from the summer that I know I will be using this school year.

My first find is from Lindsay's Kodaly Inspired Classroom.  I live at the beach, so I was really excited to see this theme that I could use in my classroom.   She has included so many different things in this kit including binder covers, posters for the new NCCAS standards, bulletin board ideas, rules posters (and songs!), word wall, welcome banner, and instrument labels.  I don't think I will need ANYTHING else to decorate my room with!

Outside my classroom, I plan on posting these posters on one of my doors.  I purchased these from Music with Sara Bibee last year and never put them up.  Since then, she has updated them, and I will definitely be using them this year!

I will be putting up another bulletin board outside of my classroom.  I have thought about giving the teachers and staff in the school a questionnaire about their music abilities and then making a bulletin board out of their answers (favorite songs, last song listened to on your iPod, instruments you play, were you in chorus/band/orchestra in school).  We will see if I am able to get this done.  The biggest thing is the time involved in getting all of these answers.  Maybe I will send an email with a web questionnaire.

I also have to decorate the front door to my classroom.  I'm not sure what I will do with that yet.  I should probably keep up the nautical theme so I will have to do some searching on ideas.

Thanks for reading my blog!  I am looking forward to interacting with other music teachers out there!


text:
Saturday, December 10, 2011

Jerry Rothenberg's 80th Birthday

[Jerome Rothenberg, back lawn at Naropa Institute, August 5, 1985. photo c. Allen Ginsberg Estate]

In celebration of Jerome Rothenberg’s 80th birthday. Here’s a reading that took place in August of 1981 at Naropa. Allen introduces him.

"(He (Jerry Rothenberg)..) is now teaching a course in poetry and performance (here at NAROPA), which involves his specialty vocalization – "ethnopoetics" – Native American and other indigenous forms of poetry presentation and utterance and, with dance, music, song, chant, going into the seed (seat?) of language – he’s a fantastic scholar anthropologist anthologist whose specialization has been international-style of the twentieth-century, as well as archaic style, and so he’s organized a number of anthologies which are used extensively throughout the Universities in the United States, Shaking The Pumpkin”, which as it’s name indicates is a work by American Indians among others, “America:A Prophecy, “Technicians of the Sacred” (etc etc) – all these are classic anthologies which have extended the range of poetry considered by the Academy to be poetry, so that we now have American Indian and indigenous work, sound poetry, vocalization of poetry, sacred poetry, as part of the canon of texts that students can study - and that’s what he’s been teaching here – and, in addition, “A Big Jewish Book”, a giant anthology that he put together of Jewish writing. One book, which I think is now out of print, which I liked a lot was on American avant-garde writing, called “The Revolution of The Word” , which came in hardcover about five years ago and then vanished into the skies, hard to get now but that’s a really basic handbook on the unknown poetry of the early part of the century. He’s translated a great deal from German and then this 20th century international heroic anthology I put together for my own class this term I included his translation of (Hans Magnus) Enzensberger’s (poem), that we are "all members of the international mucus membrane network”. His own books of poetry are published by New Directions. In 1971 Poems for A Game of Silence, Poland 1931, a family album history Jews coming to America, published in ’74, Seneca Journal, reflecting his work with Seneca Indians, 1976, Vienna Blood 1980 from New Directions, and this year, (1981), Prefaces, which are disquisitions on poetics. [this selective, now 30-year-old listing has, of course, been significantly expanded]. So Jerry Rothenberg now take over.

Jerry Rothenberg on Ubu Web can be accessed here; via Internet Archive (classes on shamanism and ethnopoetics, plus) here; via PennSound (audio archives, including Rockdrill's 2004 CD's - "Sightings: Poems 1960-1983" and "Seedings: Poems 1984-2003") here; and on his EPC (State University of New York at Buffalo) "Home Page" here.

And (in the spirit of blog solidarities) don't miss out on "Poems and Poetics", Jerry's blog.

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
I do awesome things and write about them

Everything you need to know about Whistle Punks Urban Axe Throwing

Everything you need to know about Whistle Punks Urban Axe Throwing

Last week we had the pleasure of heading over to the Great Northern in Manchester, to see what all this ‘urban axe throwing’ was about. Well, it’s quite simple really. You throw axes, in an urban location (i.e. Central Manchester). But I’m guessing you wanted to know a little more than that, so here we go…

Whistle Punks are a company that is bringing axe throwing to the masses. Having established their first site in London, they have recently opened a second in Manchester, and have a third in Birmingham due to launch at the end of May.

So what actually IS urban axe throwing? The easiest way to describe it is darts, but you don’t throw little streamlined javelins with wings at a small circular board, you hurl an axe, at a bigger, wooden board. Think of it as a natural evolution for someone who wanted to develop an extreme target sport. They probably started with darts, then maybe moved to archery, but wanted something that required a little more heft and power. So maybe a few drinks later and after watching the scene in The Shining where Jack Nicholson breaks his way through a door with an axe, someone had the great idea of using an axe to take target practice to the next level. I’m have no information to base this on, but I reckon it’s a good guess at how Whistle Punks may have been established…..

We arrived at Great Northern and were greeted by a friendly chap with a beard, and noticed two more chaps with beards throwing axes in one of the lanes. We’ve been told that a beard is not a requirement of working for Whistle Punks, but it does go nicely with the axe. Each lane takes up to a maximum of 12 players, and in Manchester there are four lanes. Each lane consists of two targets, so you have two people throwing axes at the same time, but we arrived on a quiet midweek evening and started our session with just one other couple.

After an initial safety briefing, we made a start learning the two main types of throw, one-handed and two-handed, and had a couple of rounds to practice. Once we were warmed up, the points system was explained and the real competition began. Scoring is a little different in axe throwing, it’s 5 points for a bullseye, 3 for the inner circle and 1 for the outer circle. There are also two smaller circles above the main ring, each worth 7 points.

Despite being pretty rubbish at getting my axe to stick in the target, I can guarantee that axe throwing is a lot of fun. We first played a game against the other couple, Kim and John. Our scores weren’t that great, leading to an epic final with scores so low I’m not going to tell you what they were. But our champion John, did have the chance to try a double axe throw as a prize for winning. Check this out!

It took a bit of practice but even I managed to score myself two bullseyes! Although not all of them went quite so well…

After our first big competition, we then games against all the staff. We were allowed to give the staff a handicap, but despite several attempts, having them blindfolded was not acceptable, and we had to settle for left-handed or backwards throws. After several rounds we had some more fun by trying out the underarm throw, which is a really weird technique that feels like you’re just flinging an axe with no real effort. Strangely, I landed an underarm throw quicker than I did overarm!

Urban axe throwing is definitely not your average night out, but if you were looking for average, you’d be on the wrong site. Tickets are £20/£25 per person, and if you’re looking for something unusual to do one evening, and don’t mind getting hands-on with your activities, you should seriously consider an evening with Whistle Punks.

Thank you for reading! GirlGeekUpNorth x
Like me on Facebook - Follow me on Instagram - Follow me on Twitter

Leave a Reply

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.


text:
Monday, April 30, 2012

Wedding Planning and Moving Out

Wedding bells will ring soon, and I am moving OUT this weekend! Scot and I found an apartment, and with all of the incredible shower gifts I have enough stuff to set up my own little place now. My brother Dan will live with me until the wedding, so I'm not all alone. It is a 2 bed 2 bath apartment, and we even have a little dining room. Yay! I am moving this weekend, so everybody make yourself suddenly busy early Saturday morning or I will ask you to help! Just kidding. We don't have too much stuff. It's just me, I have too much stuff.

Both of my bridal showers were beautiful; the first one was hosted by my Aunt Hallie and Maid of Honor Celeste, and it was tea party themed. There were adorable teacups with flowers in them, and the chocolate cake was to die for. The second one was hosted by Sally from my church, and it was a bunch of church ladies. It was red and white themed, and the tables had actual linen on them, and pretty placemats made from scrapbooking paper, and nicely arranged flowers, and cute coaster favors, and the food was delicious. I walked around in shock for a while at how nice it all was. I can't believe sometimes how blessed I am to have such talented, wonderful, and giving people in my life. I am so grateful for all of the love and support from everyone. My mom even got me a gift that my great- grandmother would have given me, how sweet is that?!

In other wedding news, am meeting with a florist next Monday to nail down some wedding colors, but here is what I love so far:

Minus the peacock feather, anyway. I don't want to be tarred and feathered at my wedding... call me crazy. I will be tanned and bejeweled though; my dress is amazing!!

I have my wedding dress now, and it is just beautiful. I keep looking at it and it makes me happy. I would love to tell you all about it, but I can't because that would be giving away the fun of it. Sorry. I'll be sure and post pictures as soon as I can though!

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
Welcome to the first ever Lift Up Series Fredericksburg
Hosted by CrossFit 12 Gauge

When: June 3rd 2017
Time: 12pm-3pm (will vary depending on amount of lifters)
Location: CrossFit 12 Gauge

This is a great event for first-time competitors and all skill levels are welcome!

The Lift Up Series is a Women's Only Olympic Weightlifting competition (non-sanctioned).
We are all about Lifting each other up and what better way then to lift heavy, cheer each other on, and perhaps PR.

Capped at 45 ladies, so make sure to register

$5 from everyone registered will be donated to Bright Pink

-You will be allowed 3 attempts per lift.
-Wear whatever you feel comfortable in.
-All Competition Lifting will be done in pounds (Warm up area will also have pounds)
-We will run 2-3 sessions. Weigh-Ins will be one hour before each session.

Prizes will be awarded to:
Top three Women (Sinclair Total)


text:
Ceremonial Independence Parade Slated For Garrison Savannah

admin Ministry News

The??unveiling of the Barbados Coat-of-Arms at??the inaugural Independence Parade at the Garrison Savannah??on November 30, 1966. (BGIS Archives)??

Barbados’ 46th anniversary of independence celebrations will culminate with a spectacular ceremonial parade at the historic Garrison Savannah on Friday, November 30, beginning at 8:00 a.m.

This was disclosed by Lieutenant Colonel Ricardo Vickers of the Barbados Defence Force, as he spoke with members of the media today at the Ministry of Family, Culture, Sports and Youth, about plans for staging this year’s parade.

He said: "The key elements of the parade will be the arrival of his Excellency the Governor General and the inspection [of the troops]; the march past of the units on parade; a display by the Barbados Boy Scouts Association, and the march to Bridgetown by the participating troops on parade.

"It is significant to note that there will be a display by a detachment drawn from the Barbados Boy Scouts Association and this display will last for between five and seven minutes, and it will showcase the talent of the young scouts …I also want to point out that there will also be a march past by a foreign detachment – a 24-man strong platoon from a ship called the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Argus. This is a British Navy ship which will be touring Barbados as part of courtesy call visits".

This year’s parade will feature 1,100 persons representing 14 uniformed organisations and they will be under the direction of Parade Commander Major Glyne Grannum.

In the event that the Garrison Savannah is waterlogged, the parade will move to the Bridgetown Port.

Share this post with a friend...Email this to someoneShare on FacebookShare on Google+Tweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedIn


text:
Banking Awareness MCQ-31

Banking Aptitude test Bank Exams,SBI PO mains,IBPS cwe Clerk,RRB

Under which category will you classify Regional Rural Banks ?

[A] Scheduled Commercial Banks
[B] Co-operative banks
[C] Private sector banks
[D] Development banks
[E] None of these

In India, currency notes are issued by?

[A] Finance Ministry
[B] Financial Secretary
[C] State Bank of India
[D] Reserve Bank of India
[E] None of these

Director General of Foreign Trade is working under ________.

[A] Ministry of Finance
[B] Ministry of Commerce
[C] Ministry of External Affairs
[D] Reserve Bank of India
[E] None of these

“Support all the way” is the tagline of

[A] HDFC Bank
[B] Citi Union Bank
[C] Dhanlaxmi Bank
[D] Catholic Syrian Bank
[E] None of these

Which of the following is the Banker of the Banks?

[D] SBI and RBI

Sub Prime lending” is a term applied to the loans made to

[A] Those borrows who do not have a good credit history
[B] Those who wish to take loan against the mortgage of tangible assets
[C] Those who have a good credit history and are known to bank since 10 years
[D] Those borrowers who are most preferred customers of the bank
[E] None of these

The banks get benefited most from which of the following entity ?

[A] Fee of services
[B] Loans
[C] Securities
[D] Saving Account
[E] None of these

What is the full form of FCCB?

[A] Foreign Currency convertible Bond
[B] Foreign Currency credit Bond
[C] Financial Consortium and Credit Bureau
[D] Future Credit and Currency Bureau
[E] None of the Above

Domestic Systematically Important Banks (D-SIBs) is announced with the term ____.

[A] Too big to fail
[B] Too big to fall
[C] Too big to pass
[D] Too big to die
[E] Too big to stop working

The sponsor bank of Pallavan Grama Bank is?

[C] Indian Bank
[D] Union Bank of India
[E] United Bank of India

Which of the following is the first Bank who provide the interest banking facility first?

[A] ICICI Bank
[B] State Bank of India
[C] Syndicate Bank
[D] Central Bank of India
[E] None of these

Regional Rural Banks have been set up with the basic objective of:

[A] Providing credit to semi-urban and urban population
[B] Providing deposits facilities to farmers
[C] Providing credit and deposit facilities to rural areas
[D] Providing credit, deposit and other banking facilities to people in rural areas
[E] None of the above

The initial public offer is connected to which among the following:

[A] Primary market
[B] Secondary market
[C] Old issues market
[D] gilt edged securities market
[E] None of the above

What is difference between banks & HFCs?

[A] HFCs cannot accept demand deposits
[B] It cannot issue cheques drawn on it self
[C] deposit insurance facility of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation is not available to depositors of HFCs
[D] All of the Above
[E] None of the Above

The Rate at which the domestic currency can be converted into foreign currency and vice versa is known as the ___

[A] Exchange rate
[C] Inter bank Call money rate
[D] Base rate


text:
August 24, 2017 Jessica Sagoskin

Work Hard, Play Hard!

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character- that is the goal of true education.”-  Martin Luther King, Jr.

The term education traditionally refers to what’s learned in the classroom. When I reflect on what education means to me- where I’ve learned to think critically and where the foundations of my character were laid – the classroom is not the image that comes to mind. Instead, it’s the fields and courts on which I’ve spent most of my life playing sports.

I’ve been fortunate enough to continue my athletic career as an adult and balance it with work. Over 8 years ago I completed my Masters degree and officially entered the workforce. Slowly, I came to the realization that sports prepared me for ‘real life’. Whatever skills I brought to the table were cultivated on the court or field as opposed to the classroom.

Here’s a small insight into how being an athlete has guided me in my professional life:

The Pursuit of the Myth of Perfection

There’s a fine line between pushing yourself to the max and chasing perfection. As an athlete you can get tricked into chasing perfection down the rabbit hole. You’re never satisfied because you can always be stronger, faster, work harder, be undefeated, etc.

At a certain point, you realize perfection doesn’t exist because a loss is always on the horizon, and truthfully, you learn more from one loss than an entire undefeated season. However, the will to push yourself to the limit never ceases.

It can be a similar cycle professionally, but once you accept that a loss or two along the way is inevitable it allows you to go after your goals fearlessly.

Pressure is just a word

Any athlete who says they don’t get butterflies before a game is a liar, and you need to call that s%&t out!

I hate the seconds leading up to a game! I want to throw up, I can actually hear my heart beating and I wonder why I’m doing this to myself. But then the game starts, adrenaline kicks in and I got this.

Pressure is just a word and shouldn’t paralyze you with fear. I don’t crumble, but rather through sports I’ve learned how to not fear pressure, but to leverage the energy it creates to my advantage.

Similarly, work is going to have stressful times, but I know that I can handle it because I’ve been exposed to similar situations and succeeded.

The Older the Better

Let’s call it like it is: in sports years, I’m ancient. But age is more than a number, it’s an indication of experience and how many years of training that I have behind me.

I know the game better and have out-trained my opponents. This works to my advantage because the majority of the time experience wins.

While in the professional world I still have a couple years to go until I’m considered ancient, I appreciate that with proper training, I can get better with age. That is something I fully embrace.

Self Analysis

You can’t improve as an athlete if you don’t take the time to internalize experiences and consistently analyze yourself. Every tournament, game and practice that I have ever participated in, I replay in my head (I still replay basketball games I played when I was 10).

You’re probably thinking, that sounds crazy and obsessive, and maybe it is. However, constant self analysis creates a self awareness and a better understanding of strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, the goal is to progress forward and you can’t improve without self reflection.

As an employee, I apply the same self analysis in order to constantly improve. If I get better, the team gets better, and as a company we succeed.

Perhaps one of the biggest lessons in sports is that you can never really be sure of the outcome. The results of a game are just as unpredictable as the results of a campaign or project. The one thing you can control is that you put in the time and effort to best prepare for victory. Also, you best be sure that  “All I do is Win” is on your pre-game/ pre-work playlist! Now get out there and get it.


text:
What was the Greater London Council?

The GLC was the government for London before the current Assembly and Mayor. In 1981, Labour took control of it and elected Ken Livingstone as leader, embarking on a radical socialist experiment, alongside similar experiments in cities like Liverpool and Sheffield. Thatcher hated it, and from 1983 started threatening to abolish it. This happened in 1986, and it took 14 years for London to have its own government again. When the Assembly and Mayor were set up in 2000, it was a very different institution.

What did the GLC do?

The GLC was creative about using its powers. They found symbolic acts which told a story about the kind of institution they were – for example, taking money away from the Royal Opera house and giving it a community arts. They got into a bunfight with Thatcher about keeping transport fares low, they involved community groups in producing their own development plans for local areas, and they funded initiatives like domestic violence shelters, women’s spaces, and black theatre companies. The Greater London Enterprise Board invested in businesses, gave grants to inventors, and co-founded worker education with trade unions. And they tried to engage the public in politics by making it fun, putting on massive festivals on the South Bank and at Battersea Park. Ken Livingstone and John McDonnell even starred in a pantomime as Dick Whittington and his cat.

Want to know more? Take a look at our resources section.

The GLC’s legacy

When the Council was abolished, it wasn’t only Thatcher who wanted to pretend it never existed: a lot of the Labour Party also hated it, and wanted to erase the memory of the alternative kind of socialism it represented. Most people who have arrived in London in the last couple of decades have never heard of it – but they are still living with its legacy. For example:

  • If you’ve ever sat in the Southbank centre and appreciated a place to chill in central London without having to buy anything, this is part of the legacy. Before the 1980s, the building was only open for concerts – it was the GLC who opened it up during the day for public use.
  • If you’ve ever used an electric bike, or eaten fair trade Divine Chocolate, these were both supported by the GLC.
  • If you’ve taken it for granted that teachers would have access to children’s books featuring gay parents, this is something the GLC introduced.
  • If you’ve lived in London without a car. The GLC reversed the decline in public transport by lowering fares and introducing the travelcard, which saw tube journeys increase by 70%.

How was it different to the Assembly and Mayor we have today?

  • The building looks and feels very different. The GLC was in County Hall, opposite Parliament, and anyone could walk in off the street. The Assembly is at the other end of the Southbank, in a steel and chrome building with heavy security. It is also on private land where you have to get a permit to hold a protest.
  • The GLC had different powers, such as control over cultural policy – and most importantly, it could raise its own taxes. The Assembly and Mayor are much more restricted in what they can spend their budgets on.
  • The leader of the GLC was much more accountable to the Council than the Mayor is to the Assembly. Pretty much the only thing the Assembly can do is veto the Mayor’s budget, otherwise the Mayor can do what they like.

But it wasn’t all perfect, was it?

Well, nothing is. Conservatives considered the GLC (and other radical councils at the time) the ‘loony left’, and ridiculed their policies. But people on the left were critical too. Some felt that it diverted attention away from other causes like LGBT rights, especially when those groups were called on to fight against abolition. Others criticised the way that the GLC was so strongly associated with Ken Livingstone’s leadership, as this didn’t seem to fit with the ideals of sharing power with social movements. And some organisations and projects that received GLC funding folded when the money ran out (like feminist magazine Spare Rib), even though they had managed to sustain themselves before, so the money seemed to have made them less resilient. The GLC of the 1980s was a big experiment, and lots of things that were tried didn’t work. ‘A Greater London’ wants to retell the story of the mistakes as much as the successes, to see if there are lessons in them for today.


text:
The Appignani Bioethics Center will host an exceptional panel discussion under the auspices of the 55th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

One of the most the most lucrative and fastest-growing criminal activities in the world today is sex trafficking, which generates estimated global market revenue of about 42.5 billion dollars annually. Under recent estimates, a single captive female held for sexual exploitation in Western Europe and North America alone retails at a gross annual profit of about $68,000 (e.g. 2010 International Labor Office, Report and Statistics).

The hottest markets for young women and children held in brothels and in various pornographic venues (including film, tape, DVD, online, closed circuit, paid daily intimate camera feeds, etc.) are in developed countries particularly the EU and the US compared with other parts of the world. Efforts to alleviate sex trafficking in all its various platforms and formats are riven by cultural and social disputes, including significant religious differences and cultural norms. Some people argue that prostitution is always unlawful, discriminatory and abusive, and must be banned, whereas others want to decriminalize, legitimize and regulate it. Marketing unwilling sex workers across national and international borders is another aspect of the equation, making arrest or apprehension of traffickers more difficult and fraught than internal state trafficking.

Is there adequate discussion of the manifold roots of the problem nationally and internationally? Does education of women and girls help alleviate the mass of sex trafficking? Is prostitution ever voluntary? Should society criminalize so-called high end prostitution?

Our expert panel will address these complex questions.

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University

Frances Kissling, Visiting Scholar, Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania

Rachel Resnick, M.F.A., Author, Founder and CEO of Writers On Fire

Adele M. Stan,  Journalist and editor whose work has appeared in The New Republic, the Village Voice, The Nation, The Advocate, the Washington Blade as well as on the op-ed pages of the New York Times

Michelle Chen, Journalist and Ph.D. Candidate at CUNY

Panel moderator:

Ana Lita, Director, Appignani Bioethics Center

For more information:

Photos from the Event


text:
Global Economic
Trend Analysis

Recent Posts

Friday, February 20, 2015 2:30 PM

Lacy Hunt on Financial Repression; Deleveraging Not

Mish Moved to MishTalk.Com Click to Visit.

In another of his series on Financial Repression, Gordon Long of Market Research and Analytics interviewed Dr. Lacy Hunt, Executive Vice President of Hoisington Investment Management Company.

Previously Lacy Hunt was with the Federal Reserve in Dallas. He was also the chief economist for the largest bank in Philadelphia, and the chief economist for HSBC (at the time the largest bank in the world).

Hoisington manages over $5 billion for pension funds, endowments, insurance companies and others. Hunt has been with Hoisington for 19 years.

link if video does not play: Lacy Hunt on Financial Repression

Lacy describes financial repression as "a superficial attempt to deal with the excessive indebtedness that grips the global economy, not just the US, but Europe, Japan, the United Kingdom, and even now China and the emerging markets."

"In my opinion will not work," says Hunt.

"Monetary Policy is not the solution here. There are Fiscal Policy solutions but they require shared sacrifice, strong leadership (something we don't have in the US or Europe - no one has).

"Basically what we are trying to do is to solve an extremely over-indebted situation domestically and globally by taking on more debt and aggravating the problem. Rather than bringing us closer to the return of the normal business cycle, they are pushing it all further and further into the future."
2015 Parallels to Currency Wars of 1920s and 1930s

  • First, there is a global problem with debt and slow growth, and no country is immune.
  • Second, the economic problems now, like then, are more serious and are more apparent outside the United States. However, due to negative income and price effects on our trade balance, foreign problems are transmitting into the U.S. and interacting with underlying structural problems.
  • Third, over- indebtedness is rampant today as it was in the 1920s and 1930s.
  • Fourth, competitive currency devaluations are taking place today as they did in the earlier period. These are a combination of monetary and/or fiscal policy actions and also, with floating exchange rates, a consequence of shifting assessments of private participants in the markets.

Interest Rates

Regarding interest rates, Lacy says "The downward pressure on global economic growth rates will remain in place in 2015. Therefore record low inflation and interest rates will continue to be made around the world in the new year, as governments utilize policies to spur growth at the expense of other regions."

Three Problem Types of Debt

  1. Borrowing to finance daily living needs
  2. Debt that leads to bankruptcy
  3. Worst type of debt is where excess debt creation inflates asset prices.  And that only leads to economic instability.

"Good debt" to Lacy is debt that yields an income stream sufficient to pay back principal and interest.

Deleveraging Not

"The world now has $35 trillion more debt than in 2007. We are not in the age of deleveraging; We're still in the age of leveraging up. Unfortunately, the overleveraged condition is virtually everywhere in the world."

Thanks to Lacy Hunt for taking the time to share his thoughts.

Mish on Financial Repression

Gordon Long interviewed me on the subject of financial repression in October of 2014.

I describe financial repression as "a set of fiscal and monetary policies for the expressed benefit of the ruling class: politicians, banks, and the already wealthy, at the expense of everyone else."

You can find a synopsis and play the interview here: Gordon Long Video Interview of Mish: Topic - Financial Repression (and How to Defend Yourself From It)

Long also interviewed Dr. Marc Faber. On Long's Financial Repression Website, you can see all the interviews in this series.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Last 10 Posts

Copyright 2009 Mike Shedlock. All Rights Reserved.
View My Stats