Quantcast

August 2008 - Posts

why Biden was a bad idea

In most elections, the Vice Presidential candidate needs to be a safe choice. Often, they attempt to pull a certain region or balance the ticket with a yin-yang effect. Thus, the wild outsider Bill Clinton chose the near-comotose Al Gore and the George Read More...
Filed under:

2008 08 31

John Spencer

1 Comments

writing to do lists

I check my to-do list: Catch up on grading Create fundraising letters Double-check the implementation of my master's project Develop an organizational structure for this year's projects Clean the kitchen Half-way through this list, I realize something Read More...
Filed under:

2008 08 30

John Spencer

9 Comments

kids these days

I have heard that the current generation is selfish and shallow, that they are the iGeneration, that they focus on MySpace, but rarely think about OurSpace. Students meet together, but they do not entirely connect. It seems that share a physical proximity, Read More...
Filed under:

,

,

2008 08 29

John Spencer

5 Comments

seven reasons why committees fail

Often, the best words in life are the easiest to spell. Freedom, chocolate, barbecue, love, peace. The worst words are difficult to spell: racism, xenophobia, beuracracy, committee. I know I am oversimplifying here. Beauty is an exception to this rule. Read More...
Filed under:

,

,

,

2008 08 28

John Spencer

12 Comments

first day of denim

Friday was the first day we were allowed to wear casual clothes. By casual I mean jeans a collared shirt, not a t-shirt and shorts. When I began teaching, I believed that students would run wild when I wore denim. I thought they would set desks on fire Read More...
Filed under:

,

,

2008 08 25

John Spencer

6 Comments

cubicles and classrooms

I was talking to a friend the other day who works an office job. He described life in a cubicle as being basically boring. Despite this, he is grateful for what he has. "They decided to get rid of the cubes for a few months. Actually, it was about half Read More...
Filed under:

,

2008 08 19

John Spencer

5 Comments

five fashion fads

So, after working with a bunch of new teachers, I feel hopelessly out of date with my own clothing. I'm only 28, but I'm already at that place where I scratch my head and ask, "Why the hell would I do that?" Here are five trends I see among some of the Read More...
Filed under:

,

2008 08 19

John Spencer

0 Comments

should I be in the union?

I feel ambivalent toward unions. On one hand, they protect workers and empower those at the bottom to be active within the business process. While people label them as socialist, they really work from a capitalist framework. A strike is essentially reducing Read More...

2008 08 15

John Spencer

2 Comments

a short dialogue

Me: Why do you tag? Raul: I want to be known. I want to have my name painted in big letters somewhere in the city. I want people to notice what I've done. Me: But nobody knows that it's you. Raul: I guess I want to be known without having to be known Read More...
Filed under:

,

2008 08 12

John Spencer

4 Comments

lessons from a horse whisperer

On NPR today, I listened to a story about a horse whisperer. He described the way he began as a horse trainer. He used two-by-fours in order to "break the will" of the horse. Often, the success seemed immediate, but a few horses would refuse to conform. Read More...
Filed under:

,

,

2008 08 12

John Spencer

3 Comments

re-reading Twain

After reading an article in Time Magazine, I've begun re-reading Mark Twain. My only real exposure to Twain was a well-intentioned fifth grade teacher who made us read Huck Finn. I hated it. I couldn't get past the dialect and the antiquated language. Read More...
Filed under:

,

2008 08 8

John Spencer

4 Comments

turning one-hundred

So this is my one-hundredth post on this blog. When I first began, Dustin was the only person who ever commented. It was a solitary endeavor - an online journal that I figured no one would ever really read. It's fun now to know of people who read my blog Read More...
Filed under:

,

2008 08 5

John Spencer

14 Comments

pundits

"I'll tell you what autism is. In 99% of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out." Those are the words of Michael Savage, a neo-Con pundit who often makes overly-generalized statements that have no element of truth. He enjoys the Read More...
Filed under:

,

,

2008 08 1

John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude

3 Comments

why it's been fun to have editors

I was a little nervous about the editing process. Being more of an introvert, I take my writing personally. It's always my zone where I can go and think through life. The problem is that I can get too abstract or too personal. I can assume others think Read More...
Filed under:

,

2008 08 1

John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude

1 Comments