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)

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

As such, I’ve come up with my top records of the year. Here’s this year’s list:

• United Pursuit Band – EP / Radiance
  I listened to this record (the EP) more than almost any other this year. Amazing, stripped-down, passionate music.
• Urban Rescue – Urban Rescue
  A phenomenal first release from a young band. Can’t wait to see what they do next!
• David Crowder*Band – Church Music
  This year’s offering from DC*B was a return to the complex, thematic recordings I love of theirs. Much appreciated on many levels.
• Christopher Willits – Live on Earth, Volume 1
  Gorgeous live ambient guitar and electronics
• Jahaziel – Ready to Live
  A fresh UK hip-hop artist whose tracks saw a lot of play this year.
• Sammy G – Plain an Simple
  Love the intersection of grime, dubstep, and UK hip-hop in one Gospel package.

late arrivals

These records arrived too late (Christmas presents, mostly) to be included, but have the potential for heavy play over the next few months:

• Danyew – Danyew
• Paper Route – Absence
• Various Artists – Blood and Fire Amazon Compilation (free!)
• Various Artists – Pressure Sounds Amazon Compilation (also free!)
• Sara Groves – Fireflies and Songs

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.

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!

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.

After that, I get to experience the conference and participate in some great workshops. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing Nate Ball of the PBS show Design Squad give his keynote on Friday morning, as well as the chance to catch up with fellow Technology & Design Education professionals. Look for pictures and write-ups starting mid-week next week!

First off, some London bizness. I got turned on to Jahaziel last year via the Sphere of Hip-Hop forums, and then that led me to a few other related UK MCs (especially Sammy G, who’s spitting over dubstep and grime rhythms).

LONDON TINGS
Sammy G – Plain an Simple
Silas Zephanias and Jahaziel – YouTube freestyles
Jahaziel – Ready To Live
re:flex the architect
Burial – Untrue

That morphed into digging (virtually) for some old UK jungle to satisfy that mid-90s kick…reading Burial talk about “rollage” in an interview brought back all those moments where you got a rush from hearing breaks chopped up just right. Here are a few things I found (the Photek is especially precious; I have it on 12″ but having no turntables anymore means I haven’t heard that tune in a looooong time).

JUNGLIZM
Doc Scott – Far Way (Fourteen Flavors Of Funk)
Photek – Consciousness
Foul Play – Being With You

I’ve also been listening to a few worship-related records lately, especially these. The United Pursuit Band EP is particularly strong, especially “Running in Circles” and “Story of Grace”.

WORSHIPMUSIC
United Pursuit Band – EP
Jars of Clay – Closer EP
David Crowder*Band – Remedy Live

Finally, I have to give the kids some love…here’s what they’ve been requesting in the car. I’m loving that all 3 kids are consistently requesting “Pocket Calculator” by Kraftwerk…

KIDS MUSIC
Ali Dee and The Deekompressors – Go Speed Racer Go (Film Version)
Kraftwerk – Pocket Calculator
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock
Michael Jackson – Thriller
The Beatles – Yellow Submarine

““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.