so long,

well, so far, i’ve read and eaten and shopped and, um, watched Prison Break. 

You see, my addictive personality dictates that when I begin watching a tv show on dvd, i must watch the entire series commercial free, in any spare time i have.  Case in point, Roswell (which I wound up buying, and have now watched the entire series twice), Firefly, the OC (hanging my head in shame–YES, the OC), Rome, and now Prison Break.  Holy crap.  I’m honestly not a vegetable (although does a potato really know its a potato?), I am just easily drawn into stories.

Let me ramble a minute about PB.  (Please excuse the “message board geek” style abbreviation that I just now used.  It just came out.)

I love the premise–a structural engineer robs a bank so that he can break his wrongly-convicted death-row inmate brother out of prison from the inside.  Before said bank robbery, Engineer has spent months orchestrating an impossibly intricate escape plan using the blueprints for the prison building (which he just happens to have access to at the firm where he works) and what can only be described as a buttload of research on every possible aspect of the prison, including the serial numbers of the screws in the bleachers in the “yard.”  So here’s the coolest part of the entire show, and the deal-breaker for me:  after trying in vain to memorize the complicated passages and tunnels and general plumbing of the prison, Engineer disguises the blue prints in an elaborate tattoo which covers his entire torso.  That was the moment when I exclaimed, “This show ROCKS!”  From this point on, he is known as Hot Engineer Genius.

So, well, the rest of the show can get pretty outlandish.  With enough near-misses and unplanned obstacles that you kind of giggle about it after a while (or sigh in exasperation as some other complication arises), the intensity factor of every episode takes over and I still find myself living on the edge of my seat.  So I’m officially addicted.  And waiting for the next discs to come in the mail is KILLING ME.

“Knowledge is power.”  Sir Francis Bacon, late 16th century.

 I posted this quotation on the wall of the my media center, along with James A. Garfields “Ideas control the world.”  This is why I became a teacher.

If I have learned anything over the past decade, it is that information changes the world.  The more you know, the more you change.  The more you change, the more others change.  Exponential change, person-by-person.  Society by society. 

Add to that that information has never been more accessible to the person on the street.  Technologies and media have enabled us to become the most informed society in the history of the world, and any person can find any information within a matter of seconds.  It’s not just for scientists and scholars anymore–now a grocery-store cashier can go home to find the latest information on climate change, genocide in Africa, or the plight of emperor penguins in Antarctica.  You cannot be exposed to the wonders, miracles, and tragedies of this world without being changed in some way.  Then what do you do?  You share it with others.  Send an email, put it on your blog, make posters, or hold a rally.

So I have created a new page here, websites of mass instruction, on which I have posted several websites I visit often in order to stay informed.  Take a look if you want.  Or don’t.  It’s up to you.  That’s the thing about education; no matter how easy it is, it still requires action to seek it out.