December 2009
89 posts
Quick Story #2
My pants split wide open in class today—right through the crotch. Find me another teacher who doesn’t miss a beat. I turned the explosion into a creative writing activity where my students wrote an imaginative ending to the exciting event. Happy New Year everyone. It pays to wear underwear on Tuesdays :)
Quick Story #1
Class highs and lows for the year: Highs: Made new friends, studying at ABAC, new car, mom beat cancer. Lows: Quarrels with boyfriends, bad grades, car died, grandma diagnosed with cancer. My high? Helping to raise over $4,000 to fight cancer (they smiled). My low? I spent too much time missing my ex (they laughed). After, a student walked over, “I think it’s good. Relax teacher,...
“It is easy to see the beginnings of things, and harder to see the ends…”
– Joan Didion
The moment Ted Kennedy would not want to lose by... →
He’s not here to urge us toward health reform. So I humbly ask on his behalf : The Washington Post
Why the Senate Should Vote Yes on Health Care by... →
A missed chance at reform in 1993 led to 16 years of exploding health care costs and rising numbers of uninsured. Congress can’t let that happen again : The New York Times
“It’s time for the US Congress to roll up their sleeves and pass comprehensive...”
– Andrew Deutz, the Nature Conservancy’s director of international government relations
Goodbye, Copenhagen by Tobin Harshaw →
Obama insisted on a deal. He got one. Does anybody like it? : The New York Times
Copenhagen: Key questions on climate deal →
Amid the chaos and confusion of frantic negotiations on the final night of the summit, what kind of deal actually emerged? : The Guardian
Obama's Copenhagen Deal by David Corn and Kate... →
How it came about—and why it may not be a real deal : Mother Jones
A Grudging Accord in Climate Talks by Andrew C.... →
After two weeks of delays, grandstanding and frantic dealmaking, the United Nations climate change talks concluded with an agreement to “take note” of a pact shaped by five nations : The New York Times
Chicago by Sufjan Stevens
Miss you, Chicago.
Sorry, Senator Kerry by Gail Collins →
Putting aside the theories about why Joe Lieberman is trying to hijack health care reform, let’s focus on a surprisingly good former presidential candidate John Kerry : The New York Times
Two Days and Counting →
With time running out, negotiators in Copenhagen need to produce, at the very least, an interim political framework for a global agreement : The New York Times
PEACE AND WAR by George Packer →
Comment about Pres. Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize address : The New Yorker
No time for tears in Copenhagen by Bill McKibben →
In the years spent organizing the first global grassroots climate change campaign, Bill McKibben kept his emotions under wraps. But a recent church service in Copenhagen left the 350.org founder sobbing and worrying that he didn’t do enough : grist.org
Reading lists
In my hands:
State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World by The World Watch Institute (Personal)
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcom Gladwell (Book club)
By my bedside:
Hot, Flat, & Crowded 2.0: Why The World Needs A Green Revolution - And How We Can Renew Our Global Future by Thomas L. Friedman
Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide by...
Audio: The Political Scene: December 10, 2009 →
Robert Stavins, director of the environmental economics program at Harvard, and Evan Osnos discuss the national and international politics of climate change : The New Yorker
We Are Each Other’s Business by Eboo Patel →
In high school, Eboo Patel failed to support a friend facing anti-Semitism. Now, the Chicago interfaith youth organizer believes honoring diversity means having the courage to actively speak up for it : This I Believe | NPR
Update
Hey Everyone, I hope this finds you well. It’s around 1:45 am here and I’ll be up for a while still. I have some papers to grade and laundry to do before my Friday classes start up. There’s not much sleep going on in Thailand for me these days.
These last two months (almost) have been full and flying by. As I’ve written before, I’m teaching five days a week, and as...
BAD CHOICES by Hendrik Hertzberg →
Comment on President Obama’s speech about the war in Afghanistan : The New Yorker
Beyond Copenhagen →
The United States must take the lead in lowering global emissions by delivering on any promises made at the talks in Denmark : The New York Times
