2011′s reading in review

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    • Jan 01 2011
    personal

    looking back at 2010, looking forward to 2011

    As 2010 passes by and 2011 begins, I want to say thank you to all who have helped me become a better photographer this past year.

    The first mention has to go to Chase Jarvis and the creativeLIVE organization. As a teacher myself, I am totally amazed by how creativeLIVE is changing the model of education. Their free online seminars were a real touch point for my learning this year. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch some of all 6 photography master classes for free throughout the year, and each one was an amazing learning opportunity. Thanks to Zach Arias, Jeremy Cowart, David DuChemin, Tamara Lackey, Jasmine Star and Vincent LaForet – you have made a difference in my work and life!

    Joe McNally is always an inspiration – he blends fantastic writing and teaching with such depth of experience and knowledge that it’s hard to believe you actually get to tap into it through his videos and blog posts. Thank you!

    I would be remiss in not mentioning the Strobist blog by David Hobby – year after year it continues to be an incredible source of information about off-camera lighting and photography in general. I’m currently reading Light: Science and Magic based on the continued mentions on his blog, and it is another great resource.

    Gary Cosby’s A Little Newsphotojournalism blog was another source of great inspiration this year. Like myself, Gary is a Christian and he has a wonderful ability to write about the intersection between his faith and his work. He went through a tragic year, losing his young son to Down’s Syndrome, but throughout the whole ordeal his honest writing and willingness to share his pain, hope and faith were inspiring.

    Sep 02 2010
    personal, reading

    summer reading 2010

    As I did last year, I’ve compiled a list of what I read this summer. The summer months are always a chance for me to unwind (one of the benefits of being a teacher!) and catch up on reading. This summer was a mix of reading areas, as usual.

    Non-Fiction: History
    I’ve been on a 2-year World War 2 history kick, and this summer I got to finish off the second of Winston S. Churchill’s histories of WWII. I also read about the Monuments Men, and learned the history of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section of the US Army.

    Winston S. Churchill – Their Finest Hour
    Robert Edsel – The Monuments Men

    Non-Fiction: Photography
    One thing I love about the Ypsilanti District Library is their willingness to take suggestions for new purchases from patrons. They ordered both of these titles for me, and I very much enjoyed reading them. The David duChemin book was especially meaningful, as it helped me figure out the voice and vision for my burgeoning freelance photography business.

    Joe McNally – The Moment it Clicks
    David duChemin – VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography

    Non-Fiction: Essays
    I love reading good longform essays. I’d read a few of the David Foster Wallace pieces before, including the title essay in his collection “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again”, but never read most of the others. Longform.org was also a great source for new essays.

    David Foster Wallace – A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again
    lots of essays from longform.org

    Fiction: Adult
    The two Daniel Suarez books in this list predict a dystopian near-future. Scarily prescient at times.

    Daniel Suarez – Daemon
    Daniel Suarez – FreedomTM
    Gayle Lynds – The Book of Spies

    Fiction: Young Adult
    I have a soft spot for good YA fiction, and this summer our family all read the Percy Jackson books. Good fun.

    Rick Riordan – The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)
    Rick Riordan – The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2)
    Rick Riordan -The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3)
    Rick Riordan -The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4)

    Jan 10 2010
    Christianity, personal

    on priorities

    I’m taking a 21-day break (minimum) from Facebook. Here’s why.

    I’ve been spending too much time obsessing (there’s no other word for it, really) over whether people are reading my posts, commenting on them, etc. This is self-obsession, and it’s unhealthy. You could argue that assuming people care about me being away from Facebook is also somewhat self-absorbed :)

    Our church is starting a 21-day fast today, and while I’m partially fasting food, I’m also fasting Facebook. This is a chance to reset my priorities.

    Instead of spending time looking for anything new from me, take a few minutes to watch this video instead; it’s excellent.

    http://www.crazylovebook.com/videos_stop.html

    Oct 17 2009
    personal, Ypsilanti

    an Ypsilanti day

    Today’s activities have all been strongly grounded in my hometown of Ypsilanti.

    This afternoon, my wife and I saw the movie Whip It, much of which was filmed here in Ypsilanti. It was odd, and inspiring, to see familiar places on the big screen (the cul-de-sac around the corner from my house was the location for the main character’s house, the downtown Ypsilanti Library on Michigan Ave was clearly visible during at least one shot, and so on). During filming, the crews were parked just down the street from our house, and my wife even got to meet Drew Barrymore as she was out walking (she complimented our dog, and seemed genuinely nice, according to Sarah’s report).

    Tonight, I find myself sitting in Bombadill’s Coffeeshop, which is right next door to the Ypsilanti Library on Michigan Ave. As I work on several articles for the ITEA professional journals (The Technology Teacher and Technology and Children), listening to deep Detroit and Berlin electronic music (Mike Huckaby’s S Y N T H remixes, Studio 1, Deepchord, etc), I can see and feel the city’s life pulsing around me. My view out to Michigan Ave provides a nice counterpoint to the whole thing.

    It’s nice to have such a strong sense of place – I love Ypsilanti by night.

    Sep 07 2009
    1 Comment
    personal, teaching

    Summer wrap-up

    In a few short hours, a new school year will start. I just finished reading my last book of the summer, and so now it’s time for a bit of wrap-up about how I spent those 3 fantastic months called summer.

    Here’s a quick look at what I did:

    -taught a new workshop called Imagine, Design, Build workshop for Honey Creek’s summer camp.

    -applied for and won a MACUL grant to get digital cameras into the hands of middle schoolers in Ann Arbor and South Africa.

    -attended 2 meetings of GO-Tech, the Ann Arbor area DIY technology group, and presented about Processing at one of them

    -did lots of curriculum planning, including starting to work through the Understanding by Design book

    -went camping with the family twice and took ‘em to Michigan’s Adventure, a great amusement park/water  park.

    -played guitar at church a lot (almost every Wednesday) and helped with our Vacation Bible School.

    -cleaned & reorganized my music studio

    -took lots of photos, including starting to use off camera flash with the purchase of a Wein peanut slave

    -worked on planning for updates to the chromedecay site, including wireframing and new WordPress install

    -read lots of books:

    Work Hard, Be Nice – Jay Mathews
    Close Kin – Clare Dunkle
    The Hollow Kingdom – Clare Dunkle
    Wired for War – P.W. Singer
    Here, There Be Dragons – James A. Owen
    Churchill – Roy Jenkins
    Eagle Day: The Battle of Britain – Richard Collie
    DroidMaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution – Michael Rubin
    The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940 – William Manchester
    The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe
    Meet the Austins – Madeleine L’Engle
    The Tales of Beedle the Bard – J.K. Rowling
    Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
    Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling
    Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling
    Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
    Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
    Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling
    Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling

    Here’s to a fantastic school year, filled with learning, teaching, and inspiration!

    Aug 22 2009
    personal, reading

    current reading list

    Here’s what I’m currently reading:

    1. Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America, by Jay Mathews

    This book charts the creation of the KIPP public charter schools. I picked this up to help get inspired for the new school year, as well as to crib some teaching tips from successful teachers, and so far it’s working.

    2. Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, by P.W. Singer

    A fascinating look at the use of robotics in warfare. It is, by turns, scary, mindblowing, inspiring, and thought-provoking. I’m really enjoying the writing style, too – P.W. Singer writes with a strong knowledge of popular culture and even a sense of humor.

    3. A History of Modern Europe, Second Edition: From the Renaissance to the Present, by John Merriman

    Much of this is fairly dry stuff, but I’ve realized, during some of my recent reading about World War I and World War II, that I wanted to have a better handle on the broader scope of European history. This certainly provides it, even if it’s somewhat slow going at times. With luck, I’ll get out of the 1600s before September!

    4. Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

    I have to confess, I had hoped to complete this book early in the summer and use it as a springboard for creating fantastic new unit plans for the upcoming school year…but that didn’t happen. I love the idea that “understanding” is a multifaceted phenomenon (an idea that happens to come up in “Wired for War”, too, in the context of artificial intelligence). The book’s central premise is that it makes sense to know what kinds of understanding(s) you want students to have at the end of a unit of instruction, and then work backwards from there to figure out what and how you’re going to teach in order to get them to that point. I just haven’t managed to get very far yet. Two weeks left until school starts; I’m hoping I can make a pretty good dent by then and finish shortly after that.

    Dec 16 2008
    personal

    “All you have to do to cook is want to do it. The kitchen is never the problem.”

    I was reading an article about tiny kitchens in the New York Times today, and the following quote really struck me:

    ““All you have to do to cook is want to do it. The kitchen is never the problem.”

    In the midst of all the materialism that unfortunately surrounds this season, that’s nice to remember. It’s never really about the tools (though the right tools can certainly help in the right hands) – it’s about the desire and creativity of the person engaging in the process of creating something.

    Aug 16 2008
    Christianity, personal

    current faves: Phil Wickham and Francis Chan

    Two plugs for things that have been impacting me spiritually lately:

    Thanks to one of the fine fellows on Bwack’s Forum, I found out that Phil Wickham released a free acoustic album entitled "singalong". I’m really enjoying it.

    phil wickham - singalong
    above: my intricately hand lettered CD-R for listening to in the car and kitchen.

    Also, thanks to a different fellow Bwack’s Forum member, Chris Sayburn, I came across this video by Francis Chan:

    http://www.worshipcentral.org/video/francis-chan-12jul08

    Francis is a delight to watch, and his message really challenged and motivated me. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, and brought me back to the time when I first started to follow Jesus. It reminded me of what it is to follow Him, to really live your life and give things up, make hard decisions, trust God’s goodness.

    Jul 25 2008
    personal

    raising designers/engineers

    This is what life is like when you’re raising three brilliant designers/engineers (ages 8, 6, and 3): Legos scattered everywhere, K’Nex pieces burying themselves in the carpeting, Mindstorms pieces being strung together to form impromptu necklaces. I’m loving every minute of it (well, except for stepping on stray pieces).

    raising designers/engineers (1)

    raising designers/engineers (2)

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