Politics - Stoneman Douglas - On Evil
Consider this: Right now, someone is doing a calculation on how much money it costs for the lobbying and marketing campaign to ensure that yesterday’s tragedy happens again. It happens so often, they might already have a spreadsheet for it. They plug in what state, elementary, junior high, senior high, or post-sec, how many children died, how many teachers, was the shooter black, or muslim, or white? They put in the guns the shooter was carrying, the put in whether the shooter killed themselves at the end. The put in a bunch of variables from the long list of shooting history
That spreadsheet kicks them back a number in the millions. That's the dollar value they spend on ads about 2nd amendment rights, on 'protect yourself and your family', on botnets and forum posters that 'the Democrats are coming for your guns'. On lobbying politicians to push their agenda.
That's the kind of evil we're up against.
Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Game Design - Resist Jam - If Not Now, When
Game Design - Resist Jam - If Not Now, When
It has taken me a week to collect some thoughts. I think that might be a hallmark of doing difficult and meaningful work. That you need to take time away from it, just a little bit, to decompress and actually think, and consider what you did.
Last week Sunday, the team of Chris Slater, Ian Pratt, Lindsay Comeau, Lawrence Cheung, Bryan Link and I completed our Resist Jam submission. Resist Jam was a week long game jam inspired by the recent events going on in America today. We were mandated to make a game about resisting authoritarianism in all its forms. We were tasked with making a game that showcases some ideas about diversity and inclusion.
Check out more information on Resist Jam Here.
It has taken me a week to collect some thoughts. I think that might be a hallmark of doing difficult and meaningful work. That you need to take time away from it, just a little bit, to decompress and actually think, and consider what you did.
Last week Sunday, the team of Chris Slater, Ian Pratt, Lindsay Comeau, Lawrence Cheung, Bryan Link and I completed our Resist Jam submission. Resist Jam was a week long game jam inspired by the recent events going on in America today. We were mandated to make a game about resisting authoritarianism in all its forms. We were tasked with making a game that showcases some ideas about diversity and inclusion.
Check out more information on Resist Jam Here.
Friday, July 8, 2016
Politics - Fuck All Lives Matter
Politics - Fuck All Lives Matter
With the recent spate of news regarding "Black Lives Matter", there again is the ever present rebuttal that "All Lives Matter." This happens over, and over. It happens with gender, it happens with culture, it happens with religion, it happens with sexual orientation. The thing is, like others have posted, until we started saying #BlackLivesMatter nobody ever said #AllLivesMatter. Until we had #GayPride, there was never a #HeteroSexualPrideDay. #WhiteHistoryMonth sounds ludicrous against #BlackhistoryMonth, and the idea of #MensRights makes us all cringe.
Here's the problem. All Lives Matter, is 'strictly true'. But it's also tone deaf. It's tone deaf because it's not about finding nuance, it's about maintaining status quo. It's about silencing the very real problems people have with what is going on in society right now. GeekAesthete wrote this about why it's not okay.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Friday, August 7, 2015
Humans of New York - Care
Humans of New York - Care
“Shortly after we were married, I got tuberculosis and rashes broke out all over my body. They smelled so bad that I had to be cleaned three times a day. She always made me fresh food and made sure I had clean clothes every time I bathed. One morning, during this time, she asked me: ‘Would you do the same if I got sick?’ I promised her: ‘I’ll do even more.’ She died a few years ago from a brain tumor. She was in bed for the last three years of her life. Toward the end, she couldn’t identify people. Water from her brain would drain from her eyes. I ran home from the shop three times a day to help her go to the bathroom. I was always sure to turn her. She never had a single bedsore. In the end, the doctor told me: ‘It would not have been possible to take better care of her.’”
“Shortly after we were married, I got tuberculosis and rashes broke out all over my body. They smelled so bad that I had to be cleaned three times a day. She always made me fresh food and made sure I had clean clothes every time I bathed. One morning, during this time, she asked me: ‘Would you do the same if I got sick?’ I promised her: ‘I’ll do even more.’ She died a few years ago from a brain tumor. She was in bed for the last three years of her life. Toward the end, she couldn’t identify people. Water from her brain would drain from her eyes. I ran home from the shop three times a day to help her go to the bathroom. I was always sure to turn her. She never had a single bedsore. In the end, the doctor told me: ‘It would not have been possible to take better care of her.’”
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Writing - Only Martyrs Teach in America
Writing - Only Martyrs Teach in America
A piece of writing by PaterTemporalis
A piece of writing by PaterTemporalis
Your
environment will be the least of your worries if you are considering
studying to be a teacher right now. When it comes to students and
environments, not only do you get to love the kids in most places and
EARN respect if you're actually a decent teacher, if you really don't
fit in a place, you can find another job; this is not the "good ol days"
where teachers never moved; right-to-work idiocy has contributed
heavily to the kind of teaching where you never really get tenured or
established in one place unless you really, really want to.
What you SHOULD be worrying about is the absolute annihilation of the professional nature of teaching at all, especially if it's going to be five or more years until you begin. In 2014, I ended a ten-year teaching career, and I advised my students strongly against entering the field. It was hard for my generation, yes, with the whole NCLB issue (which was ratified while I was in college) and the massive restructuring of all educational funding around quantitative data. That was our burden to carry, but the burden your generation of teachers will carry? It's almost too much to ask anyone to deal with. You will be required to become very proficient in your field, spend exorbitant amounts of money on education and training, and then, with new nationalized curricula and districts and principals desperate for money, you will be given no academic freedom to implement what you know, unless what you studied was statistics. Students are no longer individuals with individual needs; they are an aggregate of data that determine whether a school will receive operating funds or not. The past few decades have stripped away every vestige of professionalism from teaching. Your work will far more closely resemble that of a number-crunching accountant or a Wal-Mart associate working from a script than that of a Masters-degree holding professional allowed to create a unique learning environment suited to your students based on your analysis.
Moreover, the educational bubble is going to blow soon. I worked successfully for 10 years, have never bought a new car, or owned a home, but the $35,000 salaries I never exceeded were simply not enough to pay off the $40,000 of college debt I incurred. I will default on them this year. This nation has made a deliberate attempt to defund primary and secondary education over the past few decades and the business of education can be summed up as such: you're expected to be a professional, but given neither the freedom nor the compensation or authority to justify such a position; you, your school, and your district will be so desperate for money and resources that you'll feel like you're living in the third world, and the division of parents between those who have truly given up on education and those who will helicopter the shit out of their brats out of entitlement and desperation has become complete. There is no happy middle that I have seen.
Man, there are no upsides to being a teacher unless you are a St. Sebastian kind of martyr, and things are going to get WAY worse very soon before they get better. Your question is a common starting question. I have worked everywhere from the inner-city, metal-detector school in northern PA to the podunk, 300-person middle school in rural Florida. Forget your superficial concerns, the whole discipline you're considering is on fire, collapsing and destroying the lives of a huge number of people involved in it. Pay and respect have never been lower, and the sheer amount of sidework has never been higher.
Only martyrs teach now in America.
What you SHOULD be worrying about is the absolute annihilation of the professional nature of teaching at all, especially if it's going to be five or more years until you begin. In 2014, I ended a ten-year teaching career, and I advised my students strongly against entering the field. It was hard for my generation, yes, with the whole NCLB issue (which was ratified while I was in college) and the massive restructuring of all educational funding around quantitative data. That was our burden to carry, but the burden your generation of teachers will carry? It's almost too much to ask anyone to deal with. You will be required to become very proficient in your field, spend exorbitant amounts of money on education and training, and then, with new nationalized curricula and districts and principals desperate for money, you will be given no academic freedom to implement what you know, unless what you studied was statistics. Students are no longer individuals with individual needs; they are an aggregate of data that determine whether a school will receive operating funds or not. The past few decades have stripped away every vestige of professionalism from teaching. Your work will far more closely resemble that of a number-crunching accountant or a Wal-Mart associate working from a script than that of a Masters-degree holding professional allowed to create a unique learning environment suited to your students based on your analysis.
Moreover, the educational bubble is going to blow soon. I worked successfully for 10 years, have never bought a new car, or owned a home, but the $35,000 salaries I never exceeded were simply not enough to pay off the $40,000 of college debt I incurred. I will default on them this year. This nation has made a deliberate attempt to defund primary and secondary education over the past few decades and the business of education can be summed up as such: you're expected to be a professional, but given neither the freedom nor the compensation or authority to justify such a position; you, your school, and your district will be so desperate for money and resources that you'll feel like you're living in the third world, and the division of parents between those who have truly given up on education and those who will helicopter the shit out of their brats out of entitlement and desperation has become complete. There is no happy middle that I have seen.
Man, there are no upsides to being a teacher unless you are a St. Sebastian kind of martyr, and things are going to get WAY worse very soon before they get better. Your question is a common starting question. I have worked everywhere from the inner-city, metal-detector school in northern PA to the podunk, 300-person middle school in rural Florida. Forget your superficial concerns, the whole discipline you're considering is on fire, collapsing and destroying the lives of a huge number of people involved in it. Pay and respect have never been lower, and the sheer amount of sidework has never been higher.
Only martyrs teach now in America.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Politician - Nenshi on Bill 10
Politician - Nenshi on Bill 10
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi had the following, oustanding piece of oratory to say on the much derided Bill 10 of late:
“I pitch this city across Canada, and when I make that pitch, it may surprise you to know, I always get the same question. And I bet that question is going to surprise you, because you live here and you wouldn’t think this is a question.
“And the question I always get is: ‘Is Calgary welcoming? Is it homophobic? Is it racist? Is it diverse? Will not only I be accepted, but will my friends be accepted?’
“And, of course, I always say: ‘Look at me. I’m the mayor. We’re very welcoming, and for the vast majority of us, this place – our home – is the absolute epitome of meritocracy, of multiculturalism, of pluralism, of support, and of success.’
“But, I’ve got to tell you, the last couple of weeks in the provincial legislature have not made my job any easier.
“This damaging and hateful debate that we’ve been having in the provincial legislature around Bill 202 and Bill 10 does nothing but reinforce negative stereotypes.
“Two weeks ago, a member of the legislative assembly got up and proposed a bill that said any kid in school can set up a club and suddenly our provincial legislators – in a time when the price of oil is dropping, in a time when our infrastructure needs are extraordinary, in a time when we have urban and regional issues that we’ve got to get more done on – spent two weeks talking about what club a kid in school can join or not.
“How ridiculous is that?
“How additionally ridiculous is it that we know that these clubs help kids stay safe?
“We know that these clubs prevent suicide, among a group where one third of the kids attempt suicide, and we have the gall to say: ‘We have to balance off your rights.’ That your rights don’t include the right to be safe? To have support to prevent you from attempting suicide?
“What kind of a world do we live in here?
“So thank you very much to the premier – who is a good guy – for putting the brakes on this thing, and putting this thing on pause, because what was happening was dangerous. By saying not all rights are absolute, the government seemed to be saying that our children don’t have the right to be safe. That’s not right. That’s not fair.
“I could go on. OK, I will.
“If we say that we live in a city where we were thinking it would be OK for a 15-year-old to appear before a judge to ask the judge if the 15-year-old can start a club in his school that no one would be forced to belong to, well folks, that would the Scopes Monkey Trial of Alberta.
“We would end up having international attention toward what kinds of hillbillies we are. None of us need that.
“Today is the day for us to say, straight out, that we are indeed welcoming, that we are indeed working hard to make sure that every single person can succeed here, because that is the core of our strength.
“And I’m going to say something else to you, and I’m going to get political for a second, and I rarely get political, as you know. And, by the way, I hate it when the province talks about municipal issues, and so I’ve been holding my tongue on this for a while, but in the end we have to talk about humanity, and we have to talk about human-rights issues and what makes our place successful.
“We often hear people talk about why they vote, and sometimes we vote because we don’t believe or we do believe in a certain tax. Sometimes we vote to protect our narrow self-interests.
“But this conversation that we’ve had over the last couple of weeks gives us a very interesting reason to vote, because sometimes, we’ve got to vote just for what’s right. We’ve got to vote for the kind of community we want. We’ve got to vote for our dreams.
“And this would be a wonderful opportunity for you to let your MLAs know that your vote is available, that your vote is available for people who are committed to making Calgary and Alberta welcoming to everyone, to make sure that everyone – no matter what they look like, no matter where they come from, no matter whom they worship, no matter how they love – has the opportunity to live a great life right here.
“And that we will vote for that community. And that we will vote for that community that we want. And tell your MLA to do the right thing by these kids.”
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi had the following, oustanding piece of oratory to say on the much derided Bill 10 of late:
“I pitch this city across Canada, and when I make that pitch, it may surprise you to know, I always get the same question. And I bet that question is going to surprise you, because you live here and you wouldn’t think this is a question.
“And the question I always get is: ‘Is Calgary welcoming? Is it homophobic? Is it racist? Is it diverse? Will not only I be accepted, but will my friends be accepted?’
“And, of course, I always say: ‘Look at me. I’m the mayor. We’re very welcoming, and for the vast majority of us, this place – our home – is the absolute epitome of meritocracy, of multiculturalism, of pluralism, of support, and of success.’
“But, I’ve got to tell you, the last couple of weeks in the provincial legislature have not made my job any easier.
“This damaging and hateful debate that we’ve been having in the provincial legislature around Bill 202 and Bill 10 does nothing but reinforce negative stereotypes.
“Two weeks ago, a member of the legislative assembly got up and proposed a bill that said any kid in school can set up a club and suddenly our provincial legislators – in a time when the price of oil is dropping, in a time when our infrastructure needs are extraordinary, in a time when we have urban and regional issues that we’ve got to get more done on – spent two weeks talking about what club a kid in school can join or not.
“How ridiculous is that?
“How additionally ridiculous is it that we know that these clubs help kids stay safe?
“We know that these clubs prevent suicide, among a group where one third of the kids attempt suicide, and we have the gall to say: ‘We have to balance off your rights.’ That your rights don’t include the right to be safe? To have support to prevent you from attempting suicide?
“What kind of a world do we live in here?
“So thank you very much to the premier – who is a good guy – for putting the brakes on this thing, and putting this thing on pause, because what was happening was dangerous. By saying not all rights are absolute, the government seemed to be saying that our children don’t have the right to be safe. That’s not right. That’s not fair.
“I could go on. OK, I will.
“If we say that we live in a city where we were thinking it would be OK for a 15-year-old to appear before a judge to ask the judge if the 15-year-old can start a club in his school that no one would be forced to belong to, well folks, that would the Scopes Monkey Trial of Alberta.
“We would end up having international attention toward what kinds of hillbillies we are. None of us need that.
“Today is the day for us to say, straight out, that we are indeed welcoming, that we are indeed working hard to make sure that every single person can succeed here, because that is the core of our strength.
“And I’m going to say something else to you, and I’m going to get political for a second, and I rarely get political, as you know. And, by the way, I hate it when the province talks about municipal issues, and so I’ve been holding my tongue on this for a while, but in the end we have to talk about humanity, and we have to talk about human-rights issues and what makes our place successful.
“We often hear people talk about why they vote, and sometimes we vote because we don’t believe or we do believe in a certain tax. Sometimes we vote to protect our narrow self-interests.
“But this conversation that we’ve had over the last couple of weeks gives us a very interesting reason to vote, because sometimes, we’ve got to vote just for what’s right. We’ve got to vote for the kind of community we want. We’ve got to vote for our dreams.
“And this would be a wonderful opportunity for you to let your MLAs know that your vote is available, that your vote is available for people who are committed to making Calgary and Alberta welcoming to everyone, to make sure that everyone – no matter what they look like, no matter where they come from, no matter whom they worship, no matter how they love – has the opportunity to live a great life right here.
“And that we will vote for that community. And that we will vote for that community that we want. And tell your MLA to do the right thing by these kids.”
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
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