Woody Guthrie's 1942 New Year's Rulin's

Woody Guthrie's 1943 "New Years Rulin's." Found in one of his journals dated January 1st, 1943.
Woody Guthrie Archives Notebook Series 1, Item 13, Pages 36-37.

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the social side of science.

Created by melissa fockler

Werner Herzog's Take On "T'was The Night Before Christmas"

The Tulsa Zoo: Exploiting animals in artsy ways.

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The Optimism Bias By TALI SHAROT

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job security?

Created by melissa fockler

Are Artists Special People?

- Excerpt from Ken Robinson, 

Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative 

From toy trucks to iPads

Courtesy of clker.com

I attended the Toronto Santa Claus Parade over the weekend. While I was at the parade, I overheard a lady ask a little boy what he wanted from Santa for Christmas. The little boy responded by saying that he wanted an "iPad". An iPad? Really? Whatever happened to little boys wanting wooden blocks, board games or toy trucks from the big man in red? I hope parents don't spend $800 plus, this holiday season, simply to sustain the myth of Santa. 

DID YOU KNOW

. . . that male toads have more developed vocal chords than female toads? Even in the animal kingdom, females are silenced. 

Hello uniformity. Why are you so beautiful?

I snapped photos of flowers this past summer (see below). Photos that I now recognise have one thing in common: uniformity. Flowers within my images tend to repeat. Where there appears to be one flower, another grows. But what did I find so attractive about this sameness? Why did I find this invariability, stability, homogeneity, consistency and conformity beautiful? Do these images symbolise the status quo? Is beauty in the eye of the beholder or in the "eye of society"? 

McGill Dances for Cancer Research Lipdub

See, scholars like to have fun too. Really.

ranking the system

School rankings tell the public what schools offer the "best": programs, teaching staff, scholars, researchers and so on. 

Courtesy of Clker.com 

I find it amusing that we (society) depend upon these rankings to tell us that we are getting a good education. But just because a ranking tells us that the education we are receiving is good, does not necessarily mean it is good. After all, education is a commodity and rankings are simply another way to convince consumers to buy a specified consumer product. 

Education is a unique process; one where the learner plays a critical role in what is learned and how (if at all) they engage in the learning. Therefore, I would argue that rankings in no way translate into learners receiving the best education. Rather a student may be delivered what is ranked the best education, but this education may not be what is best for the learner. 

dear awesome Toronto graffitist. Audrey thanks you.

The Writing is on the Wall: Jack Layton Remembered

The above images were photographed and edited by melissa fockler.

Seeing things in unhabitual ways.

"They knew, for their own good reasons, what the world was like, and their experience acted as a filter through which any new message was tested, confirmed, rejected, challenged, and reinterpreted. Changing their minds would have meant changing the world they experienced, not simply convincing them of a new set of ideals around equality of opportunity and the desirability of a different world." - Kessler, Ashenden, Connell and Dowsett (1985)

escuchar

Created by melissa fockler

Write On.

For the past year (and a bit), I've been writing. Writing to save my life. Writing to unveil reality. Writing to change my life (both literally and figuratively). 


Taking the time to write has changed the thoughts inside my head, altered the way I read information, inspired me to see the world differently, encouraged me to listen more attentively and prompted me to find my inner voice.


So, 
Speak your mind
Free yourself with words. 

Help Save Toronto's Public Libraries

Courtesy of Clker.com

Public libraries provide us with access to books, online publications, reference material, social programming, and much much more. Do not allow our municipal government to privatize knowledge and above all learning. 



What can you do to help? Sign the petition at: Our Public Library

The Fun Theory: The Speed Camera Lottery

This is all well and good, but: 
1. What if no one speeds?     
2. How will fines be enforced? 
3. And how will this lottery appeal to the judicial system?  


For more information check out The Fun Theory.

Greenpeace VW Star Wars

Check out http://vwdarkside.com/

This old fence is falling . . . down.

 Image courtesy of clker.com  

Since I was five, which was exactly twenty-one years ago, there has been a house in my neighborhood with an old wooden fence on the brink of collapse.  It looked like something straight out of a horror film. However, tonight, when I was out for a walk, I noticed that the old fence had miraculously transformed into a new fence.

NOW, WHO SAID THINGS NEVER CHANGE?

In this case, change was twenty-one years in the making. For good, bad or simply indifferent. But, at the end of the day, I have to say, I am missing the old fence. The new fence, standing in its place, just looks like every other fence on the block. And looking like everything else or everyone else, for that matter, is not necessarily a good thing. 

Everything has a history-- even the sweet tunes you groove to.

I'm broke but I'm happy

We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. -Kenji Miyazawa

Created by melissa fockler

I pronounce you Royal and Royal. You may now kiss Royalty.

This past Friday morning, along with a billion other people, I curled up in front of the TV to watch the Royal wedding. Through all the commotion of someone else’s big day, I sat admiring Cinderella-like carriages, stunning bridal gowns and above all, Prince Charming. 

 Image courtesy of clker.com  

This Royal affair, like Grimm fairy tales, serves to perpetuate the false hope of a young girl meeting her very own Royal Prince. Matchmaker reality TV specials, romantic comedies and TV networks devoted to televising soap operas, are no better, as they only help to further sustain this myth. 

All I have to say is, good luck living up to your "princely" expectations boys. 


I cannot tell you how many little Princesses I saw walking the streets this past Halloween. Little girls all dressed in Cinderella ball-gowns-- elegant little ladies-- who have already been sold the myth of “Prince Charming”. Lillian Glass (2010) discuses this myth as a syndrome, which she entitles “Waiting for Prince Charming”. Glass states:

It is based on how little girls have been conditioned throughout their childhoods with stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. Each of these characters is rescued by Prince Charming and, as a result, ends up living “happily ever after” . . . Written in the 1800s, these stories are simply not relevant in today’s world. In the early days, especially in Europe where these stories were first created, women didn’t have many rights and little girls certainly did not have many dreams, with the exception of finding a man who would determine their fate in life. (p. 92; emphasis added)

Although Glass suggests that fairy tales are not relevant today, I would argue that such ideals are alive and well-- that is, as long as little girls continue to believe that Princes are charming and happy ever afters exist.

Hence, suggesting that little girls need new stories. Stories that do not leave women marginalized and dependent upon White Knights to right their wrongs. Stories where women are loved for more than their “vanity”. Stories that empower little girls to dream their own dreams and determine their own fate. Stories that leave little girls strong women. 

Glass, L. (2010). Toxic Men: 10 Ways to Identify, Deal With, and Heal from the Men Who Make Your Life Miserable. Avon, MA: Adams Media. 

"Kindergarten begins in kindergarten."

Ken Robinson happens to be one of my favourite educational theorists. However, regardless of my favouritism for Professor Robinson, I tend to walk away from his "inspirational" talks thinking--This is all well and good, but how do I "be the change" I want to see in education? How do I stop talking about the problem and start doing something about it? How can I AWAKEN a revolution in formal schooling?

the ultimate paradox

With EARTH DAY falling on GOOD FRIDAY this year, who came first-- Jesus Christ or Mother Earth? 

obituary for the book?

Yesterday I found myself in a conversation about books. I always enjoy a good book talk. They tend to involve "book dropping" (i.e. discussion about new authors, new books, cool book nooks). But yesterday’s book talk turned deadly.

It led down the path of the technological, savvy, e-book. Or as I like to call it, death to books as we know them. 

 Image courtesy of clker.com  

Books “have to change", she told me. And I agree. Let’s start by making them (a lot) cheaper. Knowledge is for the limited few. Those who can buy it, can own it. 

Hence why I fancy used book stores and used book sales. Isn’t it amazing what you can find at these remarkable end of the line, last stop, book markets? Books that have been discarded for one reason or another. A landfill of good books. Many that have been discarded because they didn't win the Pulitzer prize, the Governor General's Literary Award or the Oprah Book Club. A lot of books are fabulous. Only a limited few are selected to win awards. 

Call me a book snob, but I personally like a physical, tangible, hardcopy version of a book. Not to mention, e-readers cost $$ plus, e-books cost $ plus, and on top of that, e-readers only allow you to “select” from a limited list of e-books (i.e., best sellers). 

We have to remember, not all change is socially good and not all change is socially bad. But, at the same time, simply accepting change because it has to happen isn't good either. In the case of e-readers and e-books: Is change happening because it benefits the book lover, the knowledge economy? Buying knowledge is big business, and according to me, e-books tapped into this market by making knowledge a lot more expensive, and a lot less accessible. Not to mention, what happens when the e-reader is no longer the "in" thing or, like other technologies, stops working? Does the environment have to suffer for "fashionable technology"? 

Whatever happened to curling up with a good book anyway? Curling up with a good e-reader doesn't have the same ring to it. All in all, I suggest we rebel. Let's swarm the library stacks. I'll meet you there. We'll talk books. 

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

If you Google the words “Japan Nuclear Meltdown”, I’m betting you get 196,000,000 plus hits. And not only that, but if you turn on any T.V. news broadcast (right now), I’m guessing you will be inundated with reports on Japan’s nuclear disaster. Reports of tragedy, stories of survival and hope and thoughts of: “It’s horrible, but I’m so glad it’s them and not me.” 

Well, it’s time to wake up earthlings. We’re all implicated. 

All this talk about Japan’s nuclear accident has me thinking a lot about nuclear power lately. According to Jožef Stefan Institute, there were 441 Nuclear Power Plants in operation worldwide in 2010; and twenty-seven out of thirty-one countries that currently use nuclear energy plan to build more nuclear reactors(1). When are we going to learn to say ‘no’ to nuclear power? 

According to James Lovelock, an independent scientist known for his Theory of Gaia, nuclear energy is not to be feared. Rather the dangers nuclear energy pose are “insignificant” in comparison to the risk of global warming. 

Most of all, they must drop their wrongheaded objection to nuclear energy. Even if they were right about its dangers, and they are not, its use as a secure, safe and reliable source of energy would pose a threat insignificant compared with the real threat of intolerable and lethal heatwaves and sea levels rising to threaten every coastal city of the world. Renewable energy sounds good, but so far it is inefficient and expensive. It has a future, but we have no time now to experiment with visionary energy sources: civilization is in imminent danger and has to use nuclear energy now, or suffer the pain soon to be inflicted by our outraged planet. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 11)

Is nuclear energy really the way to go? Should we, like Lovelock suggests, not concern ourselves with nuclear meltdowns and only focus on the big picture? It may be common sense to think that nuclear energy is the answer, but after Japan’s recent nuclear devastation and Chernobyl’s nuclear meltdown in 1986, should we really be looking towards nuclear energy as a solution to our energy crisis? 

For other thoughts on nuclear energy, I would recommend reading "David Suzuki: A nuclear reaction". 

Lovelock, J. (2006). The Revenge of Gaia. London: Penguin Books. 

Whether you like it or not, nothing is permanent. Everything is always shifting, changing and evolving. It's learning to grow with change that's never ending.

information overload

I tend to spend a lot of time questioning: Now that I know X, what do I do with X? What do I do with this new found knowledge? And most importantly, by using this knowledge, who benefits? 

But "knowing" is simply not enough. How do we begin to use this information to better our lives, the lives of others and the world as a whole?

Where do we start? 

Living in an era of information overload-- the age of technology and media bombardment, keeps us distanced from doing anything productive with the information we come to know. For instance, what are we suppose to do with all the information published on a daily basis? Is it intended to help us? Does it distract us from the bigger picture? Just when you think you "know", your Twitter feed tells you otherwise. There is always another update right around the corner... But my question is, when do we stop updating and start doing? When do we stop looking to books and published works for answers and (dare I say) start thinking for ourselves?