A Single Story

Simon is getting interesting. He is being blackmailed by a friend and is being forced to hookup one of his three best friends Abby with Martin. Actually though, upon going on a date, he finds he begins to like Martin. A good picture of Simon is conflict. One moment he likes someone, the next he doesn't. He really is the picture of confused high school-er. He is all the same likable still. His dog is named Beiber and his sister is Alice.

The talk about environmental justice was good. it reminds me that their are people who really care, and are smart enough to do something about some of the trials facing us. It is to bad the government and private companies like to build their landfills on predominantly black territory. It reminds me of schools that don't have enough money for technology. Chances are these communities being dumped on are also the ones without technology. It is too bad. Thanks to the efforts of men like Dr. Robert Bullard efforts are being made to correct this mis-justice. Collecting data is step one. Perhaps fighting for the rights/health of the people of this country in the courts is step two. Thank you Robert Bullard.

In this article several things stood out to me, including the sections mentioned in the title. The gumby approach is modeled off some action figure thing. it is very flexible. This approach involves approaching technology and teaching with an open mind and the ability to be flexible at all times. When something goes wrong, as it inevitably will, you don't freak out, or seem unable to go forward, but you find a way or brainstorm a new activity on the fly. If you are flexible the options are really really wide. It's as complicated as you make it most times. The other part that stands out to me is the part on laughing. I think this goes nicely with the be flexible part. When things don't go your way, you always have the option of going with humor! Laugh it off and people won't hold it against you!

So far so good. I find the Halloween sequence interesting and entertaining. It's fun to think about what everyone is dressing up as and the way everyone at the school gets along. How Simon only has one beer and acts drunk. I remember when I first had a beer... It is so far a fun and entertaining book. I find myself liking Simon, however he can kind of rub me the wrong way sometimes based on things he says. He generally makes up for it though. The book and movie are quite a bit different. It's like the movie borrowed some of their ideas from the book then rearranged the content.

So far so good in Simon vs. It is different than the movie, as it starts out with Martin blackmailing Simon, which in the movie doesn't start until about 1/4th of the way through. So far I am not changed in to much of a way from reading. There are some interesting insights in the book on the other hand. It is enjoyable to read. Martin is more laid back than in the movie as well. On page thirty will update after more reading.

I had an interesting time finding some of my books for the project. First finding the genre was rather tricky. I wanted to examine a story that I had not yet finalized in my mind. Also one that I may have developed a certain negative "single story" about. I thought about class struggle, perhaps on a Gossip Girl theme. That wasn't quite right. Then I thought perhaps mental health issues. Brain on fire, A beautiful mind, books like these. Still that wasn't perfect as I had already poured a lot of my energies into the research of such things. Finally I thought wait, I have a cousin that has a particular condition, one that I may not totally understand. So with out further ado I give me a project based around the theme of LGBTQ.  1) The Queer South: LGBTQ writers on the American South (Poetry)  2) Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens  Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Realistic Fiction) 3) Unspeakable love: gay and lesbian life in the Middle East by Whitaker, Brian (Hist...

As the article points out, these advancements in technology can really mean some positive things. Students with apps like Streetwyze can monitor and critique the places they live bringing truth and potentially better conditions to their neighborhoods. An example is Claudia Suarez who mapped her environment and even recorded interviews in order to "study Oakland from a social justice perspective." This is really cool stuff. With this pattern in place we could see students and adults making observations about their neighborhoods then testing their observations. Potentially, all this could be recorded and posted online for critique or to show others their research. This is really the exciting thing about technology. Students can map their environments and struggles, and while doing this they can gain recognition from their peers and potentially those in power who could help solve their problems. With all this said, teachers must adjust the way they teach classes. Technology shou...