Three Cheers for Brandon Stanton's Work

I am a serious fan of Brandon Stanton’s photo books. His first book, Humans of New York, blew up when it was first published. I loved the concept and thought the photos and quotes from the people he photographed were fascinating. I liked his book Humans even more. I am now almost through his latest coffee table book, Dear New York,.

The concept is simple. Each page has a photo and is accompanied by a quote from the person in the picture. I love the books because the people are so unique and often the things they say are entertaining, weird, insightful, revelatory, inspirational, or all of the above wrapped into one monologue. They also provide a similar benefit to traveling, which is to expose oneself to people that are utterly different than oneself.

I can’t recommend these books enough.

A Great Place to Find Your Next Read

I recently came across this great book resource. It advertises itself as a compilation of the top 1,000 books mentioned on Hacker News. While it clearly scews a bit towards ‘tech bro’, a list with a thousand items on it is going to cover a lot of ground. My current ‘to be read’ pile at home is plenty big, but I’ve really enjoyed browsing this digital library.

There are several books on the page that I am not surprised are here that I think are unduly popular and generally overhyped (such as Ayn Rand’s childish novels and Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad).

Three books I saw on the site that I definitely want to read for the first time include:

  1. The Three-Body Problem by Lui Cixin

  2. Debt by David Graeber

  3. Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse

Happy browsing! ✌🏼

A Typical Day in AP Governmet

The teaching agenda below is from a week and a half ago in my AP Government class. We were early into Unit 3 (Civil Rights and Civil Liberties), which you can detect by the Learning Block (LB) number 3.2. This indicates we are in the second LB of the unit. This particular LB was about freedom of religion, specifically the ‘establishment clause’ and ‘free excercise clause’ of the First Amendment.

AP Gov has a collection of required Supreme Court cases that students need to be familiar with so this learning block was where I was able to introduce Engle v. Vitale and Wisconsin v. Yoder. This agenda ended up being too ambitious and we only got through the first case that day.

To teach the case, I have a published case study that breaks the case down into four parts: Background, Constitutional Issue, Majority Opinion, and Dissenting Opinion. We read it together than I always pair the reading with a short informational video (AP Gov required cases all have several video options available for review on YouTube). After that students work in pairs to answer a set of questions about the case.

The following class, students finished up the LB by looking at the Yoder case then doing some writing in their INBs (Interactive Notebooks) that forces them to synthesize their understanding of both cases.

It is worth noting that I usually start Fridays in all my classes with the one-two punch of a quiz and a self assessment. However, this week was a short week (due to the end of the winter break) so I scratched those two initial activities.

A Typical Day in AP US History

Today and tomorrow, I thought I’d share a couple of typical class agendas. The first is from last Thursday in my AP US History class. This was the final class period before the students took a unit exam. We started by finishing a Digital Inquiry Group lesson about notorious abolitionist John Brown. The plan was to have them answer the Essential Question for the Learning Block (LB), which was ‘Was John Brown a hero or a misguided fanatic?" However, in order to make sure we got through the last Learning Block of the unit, I had them chat about the EQ with a deskmate and then we reviewed together quickly and moved on. The next LB was about the election of 1860. For their IN (my version of the intro to the assignment), I passed out a short, empty chart about the elections of 1800 and 1824. I asked them to work with a partner to identify the winners of each of those elections and anything unusual about them. They chatted, then the whole class reviewed. After that I lectured briefly (about 12 minutes) about the 1860 election (using Google slides that I projected onto the whiteboard in the front of the room). Student were expected to take notes during the short lecture. After that, we had just enough time for students to process their learning by completing an SAQ (Short Answer Question) that I created as their OUT (which is my version of the wrap-up of a LB).

The Kids Are Alright

My school has a hybrid schedule. Two days a week the periods are 90 minutes long. I usually take that opportunity to start those longer classes with what I call a ‘whip around’ question. These questions are meant to let everyone share their thoughts and for me to get to know my students better. This week I asked my students ‘What is something that you are really into right now?’ I got a wide assortment of answers (from new TV shows, to baking, to taking walks at night), including references to music. To my delight, in my 7th period class four students mentioned listening to the Grateful Dead. This was an amazing surprise, though it makes sense in the wake of Bobby Weir’s recent passing. It goes without saying that I was stoked to be able to talk about my love of the Dead for a few minutes. Students even asked if I’d shared some Dead tunes in Google Classroom. (Mission accepted!)

Another cool thing happened at my school today. One of my former students, who is now a senior, organized a walkout and short march from our school to the district office. The whole thing lasted about an hour, but about 400 students participated. Needless to say, it is encouraging to see young people engage politically within the growing authoritarian environment we are all experiencing in the United States.

Rush is My Jam Show #12

The show would never happen in real life, but I would love it if it did. Lots of ‘tier two’ Rush songs that are top tier for me, including Vital Signs, Between Sun and Moon, The Big Money, and Losing It. How bout that post Neil trifecta at the end of the second set? So. Many. Good. Songs.

RIP Bobby

Well, it wasn’t the obit I was hoping for. Bob Weir, original member of the Grateful Dead, has passed away at the age of 78. It was something I think all Deadheads expected to happen at some point, but I am a bit surprised. He just seemed to keep on keeping on. Apparently he died of lung complications that arose from a fight with cancer.

The first time I saw the Dead was in February of 1991. I was blown away and have been a Deadhead ever since. The last time I saw Bobby perform was last May at the Sphere with Dead and Company. All together I think I saw him perform close to 75 times. Jerry got all the attention, but Bobby was also something special. It is crazy to think that he actually spent a bit more time playing Grateful Dead music after Jerry passed than he did with Jerry.

My favorite Bobby songs include the following:

  1. Feel Like a Stranger

This is my all time favorite Bobby tune. Didn’t see it live enough. When my mood is off I can put this on and I immediately feel better. My favorite versions are from the Fall of 1989 and Spring of 1990.

  1. Estimated Prophet

The studio version of this song was the first Dead song I fell in love with. This live version from Cornell is worth a listen, too.

  1. Cassidy

The lyrics to this song are sublime. John Perry Barlow wrote the lyrics, but Bobby wrote the music and sang the tune. My favorite version is the acoustic one from Reckoning.

  1. The Other One

Epic psychedelia. This is one of Bobby’s older tunes and I usually saw him perform coming our of Drums and Space. Always a welcome base line to hear coming out of the freeform madness.

  1. Jack Straw

Quintessential Grateful Dead. Always a great show opener. Bobby owned this tune. The version from Europe ‘72 is my fav.

  1. Truckin’

Bobby shares the lyrics with Jerry on this one, but his lines are canonical Dead. Hard to beat the studio version of this tune.

  1. Black Throated Wind

This not usually a top 10 song for most Deadheads. It was often tucked away in the middle of a first set. It always resonated with me though.

  1. Lay My Lilly Down

This tune was on Bobby’s solo record from 2016 called Blue Mountain. Wise Bobby music.

Fare-thee-well now

Let your life proceed by its own design

Nothing to tell now

Let the words be yours, I’m done with mine

A Connection with the Past

I am teaching my students about the coming of the American Civil War. Today we read about and discussed the Compromise of 1850 and the attendant Fugitive Slave Law. Considering we are two days out from the murder of Renee Nicole Good and a day out from federal agents having shot two people here in Portland, students made some connections. Of course, some of my students are currently quite frightened by what is happening in our country. Others are seething. I noticed that it was quite easy for them to understand the anger and outrage northern abolitionists must have felt in the 1850s, when their federal government was behaving in such a patently immoral way. Unlike any other year that I have taught this, students are connecting in a unique and powerful way.

You might say events, along with an understanding of the past, are waking them up.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts is Overpaid and the Leader of a Shitty Company

Comcast was so unpopular they had rebrand as Xfinity 15 years ago. Well, Xfinity sucks just as bad Comcast. They are essentially a monopoly, and they act like it (with high prices, shitty customer service, because what are you going do about it??). Yesterday our internet was down for a good 9 hours. They said they were going to improve service. Once it was turned back on, it was slower than before. Today it went out again, and we got no heads up via text. Then, when I went to the app to deal with it, it wouldn’t let me sign in. I knew my password, but it still wouldn’t let me in. Then, of course, I tried to call them to get some help. Did I get a chance to talk to someone? Nope….No humans available.

The CEO of Comcast is a guy named Brian Roberts. He made approximately $34 million in 2024. That was a step down from 2023, when his total compenstaion was $35.5 million. He’s a billionaire, so these earnings are a mere pittance. Guess how he came to the CEO of Comcast? Yep, he’s a nepo baby. His daddy was the founder. He apparently owns ‘only’ 1% of the company via ownership stock, but he owns approximately 33% of the B shares (i.e., the voting shares). The top 3 Shareholders (by equity) are The Vanguard Group (~10%), BlackRock, Inc. (~8.8%), and State Street Corporation (~5%).

Oh, and Comcast also owns a controlling stake in NBC Universal. That means that a nepo baby who didn’t earn shit owns one of the biggest media companies in America, as well as the means of providing the media to your home or computer.

This is another example of someone with too much power, making tremendous amounts of money he merely has the privilege to be earning. Roberts inherited his company, and therefore his disgusting salary. And to be clear, the service they provide, especially their customer service, is shitty.

Funny side note: I just asked Google’s Nano Banana Pro to generate an image of people with pitchforks marching up to a castle named Comcast for my tiny little blog. It wouldn’t do it. Said it was a violation of their guidelines. I read the guidelines and think their explanation is a stretch. Anyway, Google’s got the back of their fellow corporoate overlords covered. Checks out.

OK, rant over.

5 Recommendations

It has been a while, so here are 5 recommendations for your consideration.

  1. This article by the YouGov folks documenting the sad dearth of reading in our society. To say it explains a lot is a large understatement. This is a deep dive loaded with easy to understand renditions of recent data.

  2. Musical Artist Miles Miller. I few years ago I came across a few of the tunes from his inaugural record and became a fan. I especially love Highway Shoes. Recently, at the Phish show I was lucky to see, his new album was played in it’s entirety pre-show. It also has some great tunes, like Stormy and Get Busy.

  3. Jeff Su’s tech YouTube channel. Su’s humor is self deprecating and his videos are both clear and helpful (assuming you use the software he teaches about). He has a newsletter as well that I subscribe to because I am deep into the Google ecosystem. His AI knowledge has also been helpful to me.

  4. The Achilles Trap by Steve Coll. This book was a Christmas gift and covers the background to the US invastion of Iraq. Probably not for everyone, but for history nerds and news junkies, it’s a great read. He does a fantastic job humanizing some of the big players, like the sadistic weirdo Saddam Hussein. (Did you know he wrote novels?) Considering the hubris we are seeing at the moment in present administration, this is relevant reading.

  5. A cool new blog with similar vibes to this one (but with better writing!). The author is a friend and I know his take on the world will be worth reading. Good luck Androsian!

New Year, New Books to Read

I recently visited three bookstores in New York City and three in New Haven, Connecticut. I had received some gift cards to book stores but I didn’t want to buy books back east and have to deal with traveling back home with them. Instead, I was happily conducting research. I took note of what interested me and then went shopping when I got back home.

The photo below is what I came home with, except for the John le Carré novel, which was a gift I received in New Haven. Pretty good mix; a little poetry, a little philosophy, some memoir, some history. I even managed to get one novel. The surprise of the litter was The Coming of Neo Feudalism. I am also excited to read Brandon Stratton’s Dear New York, since I am a huge fans of his other photography/interview books.

I hope you got something new to read, as well.

On Being Sick

Being sick is no fun. I am lucky that I don’t get sick all that often. Unfortunately, today is one of those rare times. I woke up in the middle of the night and knew my body was fighting something. My Oura ring data confirmed things in the morning (not that I needed confirmation, though it is somewhat comforting to know the ring is able to pick up on important changes in my biometrics).

My illness is complicated a bit by the fact that I need to spend a good part of tomorrow afternoon and evening flying across the country. Normally that would throw me for an additional mental loop, perhaps worsening my condition. That situation has me leaning in hard to developing a positive mindset. I am lucky I can take today off and just relax. However, I am also actively working in my mind to convince my body that I am healing and that my trip tomorrow will arise without incident. We shall see.

Being under the weather brings up a few other thoughts about mental framing. For me, I can easily get down on myself for not being as ‘productive’ as I should be. I’ve put off grading for most the past couple weeks and I had hoped to get more done today. I am reframing this as a forced pause that was needed. I am hoping that feeling better, along with the start of the new year, will give me a ‘fresh start effect’ as I dive back into teaching.

It is also a reminder that the body must be respected. I’ve been out of my own bed for almost two weeks now. I spent the night in the Charlotte airport recently, and stayed up late seeing Phish in the Big Apple. My diet, being away from home, has also been off kilter. I respect that my body is sending me a message.

Ultimately, illness interrupts our narratives and sense of control. It demands more rest and more listening, at least for a time. I’m hopeful the lesson is not soon lost on me once I’m recovered and back to my usual grind.