Keeping Busy

Instead of enjoying monkeyshines this past weekend, as has become my weekend habit (good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones), the weekend was a rather long and solitary one even though I spent most of my time with other people. I got a lot done, however, and had plenty of time for reflection and other forms of inner maintenance, even though I missed the hurrly burrly antics of the kids.

Saturday I went over to my friend Lewis's place in Bensonhurst, to help him move his furniture back into his house (he had had his wood floors redone). He needed the help alright, but I think what he really needed was my mechanical and aesthetic skills, not my back. I know which end of a hammer to hold, how to swing it and I'm not afraid to bluntly cry "foul" when something is just not tasteful. These guys in Bensonhurst think that The Godfather is an educational film and their homes reflect it - jeeeez! But Lewis is a Wall Street big shot, not a wise guy - and the floors did turn out nicely. We had to hang things on walls, put things back together and put some things together that had never before been together. It even involved a trip to the local hardware store and you all know how much I truly enjoy prowling around a new hardware store - hardware in general rocks my world! Next time we'll get his pool ready for the summer season.

In payment for my time (not that any was necessary) I got to go through a big bag of clothing that Lewis was donating, and I found two great hand-me-down shirts. Felicia (his girlfriend) came by, and they even treated me to a late picnic lunch of fried eggplant, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil on focaccia bread. We ate in Cannonball Park, underneath the Verrazano Bridge. Afterwards, Lewis went to play golf, Felicia dropped me off and I went to a meeting: I picked up my friend Grandma Pat, who is stuck in a wheelchair and took her to a double meeting. Our friend Roy was celebrating 23 years and even asked me to present his coin to him and say a few words - outstanding!

Sunday I did laundry, groceries and cleaned my place (the apartment needed a shave) then went over to Nathan's house in Flatbush. We actually finished the work that we started together more than a year and a half ago, which felt really good. There are a few loose ends to tie up and I suspect that he has some kind of a ceremony in store for me, but I'll find out in two weeks when we get together again - I hope it involves pyrotechnics! I hung out with Nathan and Stephanie for a while afterwards (E.J. was napping the whole time I was there) talking politics, tech and whatnot. It seems that their move to Australia has been delayed indefinitely, although Steph was sworn in as a US citizen a couple of weeks back - there was much discussion as to whether or not this was a good thing.

It's not terribly exciting, but that should bring everyone up to date - Peace and Love!

Doubletime Monkeyshines

Due to an episode of unilateral decision-making, the format for Monkeyshines has changed. We began this past weekend, and will henceforth be visiting with our favorite little people on a bi-weekly basis. That's the bad news - the good news is that these visits now encompass the entire weekend, from Friday evening to Sunday evening, as was the case this past weekend - let me elaborate:

Please note that there are twice as many pictures on this post as usual, due to the fact that the visits are now half as frequent - so savor them slowly, they have to last two weeks. We began our weekend visit Friday night at 7pm when Daddy picked up the monkeys from monkey central. Miranda was already in her PJ's but was very excited to be off on a big adventure.

We packed up the double-wide cruising vessel and headed off into deepest, darkest Bay Ridge. We made a couple of brief stops then followed the moon to Daddy's house - let me explain: by some quirk of astrophysics, on each late day or evening that we strolled back to Daddy's house (before or after dusk), the moon was out, bright and directly over my building - Miranda pointed this out, so now we say that you follow the moon to Daddy's house.

We had our bedtime snack (milk and cookies) and watched a quiet video then got ready for bed. Zach was burping a lot and at one point took my hand and put it on his stomach - I knew that this probably spelled trouble, but there was nothing I could do for the little guy. Sure enough, at 1:30am I heard a cough from the bedroom and bolted in just in time to see him barfing on his pillow. We hustled to the bathroom and finished the barf-o-rama in there, but the damage was done. I gave him a quick hosing off and put him to bed in my bed then spent the next 45 minutes on vomit patrol - ah the joys of parenthood. We all slept in, since Zachy's sensory gym session had been cancelled, and all seemed healthy and in good spirits for the nicest Saturday weather of the year so far.

We spent more of the weekend outside than inside, which was really nice, and made it to three different parks, which is what park connoisseurs do. As part of our Saturday morning adventure, we went to our favoritest of all - the Shore Road Park. Our intention had been to do some kite flying, but Miranda had fallen asleep so Zachy got a chance to really strut his stuff and show of his playground prowess. We hit the swings, the slide, the monkey bars, the restroom - we did it all!

By the time we got done, walked around enjoying the day some more and got back to Daddy's house, Miss Miranda had woken up and was ready to make up for lost time. The courtyard in front of Daddy's house was teeming with kids, so we decided to join the fun. Our new friend Neil was blowing bubbles for everyone to chase and James and Barry had some cool toys that they were willing to share, the ice cream truck came by (we didn't partake, but it was fun to watch everyone go running) Miranda even made friends with Vivian, the little girl who lives across the hall from Daddy's apartment. We had great fun! Daddy chased the monkeys all around the mulberry bush, which is now a tried and true standard activity. When exhaustion seemed imminent, we said "see ya' latter alligator" to our friends and headed indoors for lunches and naps.

It was too nice to stay in, so properly refreshed and fully rested we ventured back out to our next port of call: Owl's Head Park. This time we actually attempted to get the kite in the air, but the park is very sheltered from the wind by all the trees and we didn't have much luck. So we just played instead.

We made a few more stops on our way home, then had a nice dinner and spent what was left of the evening doing our art, reading books and playing games. Both little people crashed early and we had a nice night with no vomiting or other disturbances. We slept in again, had a nutritious breakfast, then went off to the park at 75 Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway to watch some of Daddy's friends in a hotly contested softball game. This is where we encountered the amazing car pictured at the top of this post. Miranda thought it was the most beautiful vehicle that she had ever seen - it had Elmo on it and Dora and Swiper, etc. It was pretty exciting! We watched softball for a little while and played in the drinking fountain (always a source of fascination) then headed over to the playground and another attempt at kite flying.

We played at the park for a while then strolled home to eat a late lunch. We played out front some more and watched a couple of afternoon offerings from Noggin. At 4:30 it was time to saddle up the stroller with all of our stuff and say "goodbye Daddy's house - see ya soon!" We headed back to monkey central (Miranda passed out after 2 blocks) and arrived precisely on time at 5:00. Stay tuned for our next exciting episode as the adventures of Monkeyshines continues.

Written Response

A colleague of mine asked me to help him out with a grad class by writing a response to one of many articles that he has been inundated with. I would have included the link to the original article, but I found that it has been pulled from the web - possibly because of the sh@# storm it created. Anyway, I thought I'd share my response with all of you:

Jim Holland's article - When Teachers Don't Get It: Myths, Misconceptions, and other Taradiddle - certainly merits some animadversion (n 1. Harsh criticism or disapproval). Although it would be easy to dismiss this as a laughable piece of metaphor-soaked rubbish, unfortunately, I suspect Mr. Holland's beliefs are shared by many otherwise intelligent teachers and administrators. For this reason some commentary would seem prudent. Mr. Holland makes his case by offering a rebuttal of four reasons for not using technology, purportedly from anti-technology teachers, while providing examples of what he considers to be sound tech-pedagogy and the liberal use of the Oxford comma.

The first reason for resistance that he explores is lack of time. He lauds elementary school teachers for their hard work and ability to multitask, then claims that they simply do not get "it" without bothering to explain what "it" is. He maintains that using technology is not something extra (perhaps this is "it"), invokes a cholesterol-laden literary device, and then promptly contradicts himself with his example of what he sees as a success. Richelle Brady's use of a digital camera to teach the difference between fact and opinion is absurd. It serves only to litter school hallways with the sort of high-tech graffiti that principals love to point out to starry-eyed parents who are foolish enough to mistake it as the byproduct of real learning, rather than the window dressing that it truly is. This is exactly the kind of self-gratifying practice to be avoided if meta-cognition is sought and time is indeed valuable.

With an average development life cycle of three months, any digital device currently sold is obsolete before the consumer opens the box. Due to the constant wrangling by competing manufacturers over standards, in an effort to win market dominance, each device has a unique interface that necessitates a corresponding learning curve unique to that device. The teacher must master the basic use of the peripheral device, establish connectivity with a computer (assuming one that works is available), then explain at least some of the basic functions of the device to those tasked with using the device. This knowledge will be of little or no use when applied to the myriad devices that students may have at home or subsequently purchase. It is wasted time.

If the intention was to create an experience that would appeal to visual learners, Ms. Brady could have explored the rich history of self portraits as a tool for self exploration, perhaps starting with Rembrant's famous 1640 self portrait and the later increasingly honest self portraits done by the aging master. Students could have created their own self portraits using poster paints and paper (version 1.0) with no learning curve at all. In addition to learning the difference between fact and opinion, a curriculum area (art) that has been sadly excised from most school budgets could have been explored.

Mr. Holland's is partially correct in his criticism of the "no good software" objection to technology. The proliferation of web-based productivity applications is a trend that is likely to spell doom for products like Microsoft Office, and they are in fact free and easy to use. There are (at least) two important ideas, however, that he has failed to consider. First, in order to take advantage of these free tools students must often be relocated to some kind of a "lab" (if one exists) thus making the spontaneous use of this technology impossible. It also serves to render one of the basic tools of education, classroom geography, impotent. Second, Mr. Holland assumes that everything will work.

A quick check of our "state-of-the-art" computer lab this morning revealed that fifteen machines out of twenty-four were functioning well enough to run their Windows 95 operating systems (it is 2007, I checked). These machines are able to connect to the Internet only by using about half of their hard drive space as virtual memory and not one has a USB port. The carcasses of seven more machines sat piled in a corner in various states of dis-assembly, having been cannibalized for replacement parts. One of the fifteen working machines has since died and gone to the computer graveyard, somewhere in Africa if memory serves. I have a class of twenty-five students.

Although I am from a generation that still thinks ATM machines are a pretty nifty idea, I agree with Mr. Holland's assertion that "I'm not a computer person" is not a valid objection, as we do in fact live in a digital age. I do, however, find fault with his claim that professional development is the answer. The woeful state of these programs is a topic that is far too vast to explore here, but suffice it to say that I have learned far more about technology from hanging around BestBuy than from any professional development workshop or training.

By the time he got to his points on rewards and punishments, it was obvious that Mr. Holland was running out of steam. I could see no point to this section other than to create an opportunity to use the phrase "specific curriculum objectives" twice, and for Mr. Holland to place it in italics (thereby demonstrating his mastery of the italics button) just in case we missed it. Everything that a teacher does from the time the day begins to long after the school day has ended is for the sole purpose of meeting specific curriculum objectives.

In my opinion, the most relevant failure of Mr. Holland's catastrophically myopic commentary involves the very definition of technology. A ball-point pen is a piece of technology. A chalkboard is a piece of technology. A piece of paper is a fabulous piece of technology that took humanity thousands of years to develop and perfect. It is the very technology that our entire civilization is built on and without which computers would never have existed. These basic technologies have yet to be fully utilized, but Mr. Holland would have us discard them for window dressing, smoke and mirrors, catapults and ball-joints, and mother boards and IP protocols.

It is only time to integrate new technology when the existing technology does not meet our demands, when newer technologies offer increased efficiencies or tangible advantages, or when the stated outcomes that we desire for our students change. If what we really want for our graduates is as banal as the ability to lull a group of middle managers into a somnambular state with passe PowerPoint presentations then we are certainly headed in the right (if incredibly pathetic) direction. If not, it would be wise to keep in mind that a little technology goes a very long way.

April Shower Monkeyshines

Monsoon season arrived this April weekend, and so did our favorite pair of little people. Zachy had his sensory gym session on Saturday morning (it went well) and after, it was off to the next best thing to Disney - Daddy's house! We had a nice lunch of chicken and rice then decided to take advantage of the relatively benign weather on Saturday, knowing that Sunday would be a wash-out. We went off to the park on Colonial, which is where we go when it's too windy (like this day) to go to the big park on Shore Road.
The swings were first on our agenda - they are always first on Zachy's agenda - and 4 out of five dentists surveyed said that swinging is good for the soul. Zach has always loved the swings, even as a tiny little baby at Carol Park, and he loves them still. Miranda has a significantly lower swinging threshold and opted to go play on the jungle gym and slide after about 15 minutes of swing time.

Miranda did laps up the jungle gym and down the slide, over and over, pausing every so often to observe other children. When she does this it is almost trance-like and she gets this very concerned look on her face - deep concentration I suspect - then it passes just as suddenly as it started and she is off and running again. Zach stayed in the swing clutching a toy bus or two, having a fine time.

Eventually both children decided that it was time to engage in the new favorite park activity - frolicking on the soccer/football field. We were lucky on this day, in that there was not much organized (big kids) activity going on, so we had a nice big space to run around on, without having to worry about being run over by wide receivers or midfielders. We ran around playing chase and climbing in and around the goalie's net for almost an hour. The monkeys showed no sign of tiring, but Daddy had had it after an hour of chasing wee-folk in circles.

We took a long walk around the neighborhood and picked up some supplies, then headed home for the evening. The monkeys still had a little oomph left, which was used up playing chase in the courtyard in front of Daddy's house. We eventually made it indoors and had bath time and a nice dinner, but before Daddy could even put on our Chicka-chicka video, both monkeys had collapsed - Zach went out at 7pm and Miranda by 7:30, leaving Daddy free to watch a little Scifi while wondering if they would sleep through the night - one out of two ain't bad.

Zachy slept until 2:30am and was up (I mean really up) for quite some time. He and Daddy played quietly in bed and he was pretty good about not waking up his sister. By about 5am our little guy was getting droopy again and he went back to sleep (along with Daddy) until we all got up at 7:30 or so. By this time the April monsoons had begun in earnest (8 and a half inches of rain in Central Park - the most in over 100 years) so our usual Sunday morning walk was out of the question. We watched a little Noggin and hung out in our PJs. Eventually, mommy came to collect the little ones at about 12:30. We said, "rain rain go away - we'll be back at Daddy's house on Saturday." That's all for now, stay tuned for lots more Monkeyshines. (Note: please visit Easter Bunny Monkeyshines for picture updates - enjoy!)

Easter Bunny Monkeyshines

monkey-central and picked them up. We had a nice walk up Ridge Blvd., looking at theThis past weekend saw yet another wonderful visit from our favorite little people, and it was a holiday weekend to boot! Because of the holiday, Zachy's sensory gym session was cancelled, so Daddy walked down to puppy-doggies and bouncing on the bumpity-bumps as Daddy pushed the monkeys in the side by side double stroller which has very small wheels that get caught on every little nook and cranny of the dilapidated Brooklyn sidewalks (note: after a long and distinguished record of service, Phil & Ted's Excellent Stroller finally bit the dust, hence the side by side).

We had a nutritious lunch which featured a selection of either chicken or broiled pork chops (Daddy the vegetarian is expanding his repertoire of meats) and went on a grand adventure to Kaleidoscope, which is our favorite little neighborhood toy store, in honor of Easter. Zachy picked out a Goofy Faces toy, that involved gears (of course) and flashing lights and lots of (118) moving parts - batteries not included. He had been eyeing this toy up for a few weeks and his patience was finally rewarded. Miranda surprised and pleased Daddy by picking out a small toy dump truck with squishy rubber wheels. She also got a Groovy Girl doll (name pending) to even things out.

After all our adventures, we went home and played with our new things - and some of the old ones. Our art project for the evening was of course dyeing Easter eggs. We did this in the kitchen sink with the monkeys standing on chairs in order to keep the mess down to dyed fingers and other digits. The eggs came out beautifully, even though Miranda wanted to peel them and throw them out as fast as we could dye them - she really likes peeling hard-boiled eggs - but not eating them!?!


A new treat for Daddy this weekend was finally getting the little ones to just play in the courtyard in front of the apartment building. Daddy's house has a lovely split-level courtyard in front of it, with nicely manicured grass and shrubs, that is usually full of children playing. Our little ones normally just go tearing up the stairs and straight to the door, in their eagerness to get started with their toys. This weekend, however, Daddy was able to get them both involved in a first-class game of chase (a.k.a. "I'm gonna get you"). We ran round and round the trees like three maniacs for quite some time, tackling each other on the grass - it's no substitute for the park, but it is nice, clean and convenient. The spring and summer weather should bring on a lot more of these types of activities, and hopefully the opportunity to make some new friends.

When we woke up Sunday morning, we were excited to find that the Easter Bunny had paid a stealthy visit during the night. We found a big basket filled with the eggs we had colored, lots of jelly beans (the only candy that the Daddy-bunny could find that was wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, etc.) and some little surprises. We decided to have jelly beans for breakfast, although Miranda did peel a couple of eggs then throw them out. Miranda has not figured out that you are supposed to chew jelly beans and swallow them, opting instead to suck on them for a while then spit them out - Daddy has been finding partially-sucked jelly beans spot-welded to various surfaces of his apartment ever since.

Miranda created two beautiful posters for Daddy's apartment door (with stickers) and Zach continued his progress at becoming an accomplished abecedarian (look that one up). We went out for a walk to work off all the jelly beans and ended up at our favorite coffee shop. Mommy came by to collect the monkeys at a little after noon and we said "bye-bye Daddy's house," for another week. Stay tuned as always for next week's thrilling episode of Monkeyshines.

Bits and Pieces

Over the past few days I have been dealing with lots of loose ends - all the little bits and pieces that, when woven together make up the fabric of life. The textile of my life is still a bit stained, tattered and frayed, even though I've been busy for the past year or so trying to reweave it into something new and beautiful. I suppose that it is a process that never ends - the labor is its own reward. We choose to weave people, places and things into our life's tapestry - or not - and these choices become the features, the patterns, the textures, the idiosyncrasies and occasionally the defects we see when we pull the cloth from the loom to evaluate our progress.

For example, a friend and mentor of mine suggested that when we sleep with someone the threads of their life and our life are forever woven together. A record of the event is created like the knots in the colored llama or alpaca wool of Incan quipus. As much as we would sometimes like to unmake or undo certain events in our pasts, the lingering evidence is preserved even if only as a small wrinkle, just as paper once crumpled can never be made truly flat again.

The choices and selections we make as weavers are most often made from a pallet of available materials. The patterns and style with which we approach and use these threads are the actions we choose to take in life - or not. Sometimes it is not so much the actions themselves, but the way that we carry ourselves through the completion of these actions that determines the quality of the woven product.

This week I have been handling the shuttles that hold the "divorce", "tax-return", "career-change" and "Zach's care" threads. I have been passing them from hand to hand, back and forth through the warp strings, tamping them tight with the batten, hoping that they don't tangle and trying to complete each action in the best way possible. I've had some mixed results. It is too soon yet to stretch the cloth out and evaluate exactly how I've done, but hopefully there will not be too much that needs to be reworked.