Off the Mesa

My view will change for a few days; I'm heading south to the Phoenix valley for an Indoor Percussion camp.  We will learn and rehearse the last minute of the show - no triple jumps but plenty of speed and volume!

It's a 120 mile drive to Flagstaff and probably more snow in their forcast and then another 120+ miles to Mesa with possible rain - good for the earth, not so hot for instruments.  Planning on collaborating, creating and lots 'o driving.

Happy weekend everyone.

Sport of the Arts: WGI and Figure Skating

As I watch the Woman's Skating finals I keep thinking about how many similarities there are to the WGI activity of Indoor Percussion (which I help direct.)

The free skate is about 4 minutes long; I think the men's programs were 4.40 - just about a minute shorter than an Indoor Percussion program.  In both sports, choices must be made about the theme, what music to play or skate to and what outfit will best fit express these choices. What do you want to convey?  Are you more connected to the music or the theme?  Either way the program must be well paced and allow the performer(s) to highlight both their technical and artistic abilities.

The other obvious comparison is that although there are many rules to be followed, the performances are judged by a panel.  There are many efforts to make the judging process as objective as possible, but it's pretty difficult to not allow your personal preferences to creep in.  I understand that the Olympic judging has been honed down to looking at every move and  transition; each skill defined from a technical view and also artistic scores added as well.  In WGI, they avoid defining what exact skills are necessary in each division, but they are scoring on rubrics that are both descriptive and numerical.

Both are what WGI calls Sport of the Arts.  There is music, demand, athleticism and expression.  The judging will never be as precise as putting a timing device on a race, a camera on the finish, but both sports do their best to reward the top performers and usually get it right. 

We may not always agree with the exact order, but the best are usually at the top with some wonderful talent in the middle of the pack.  And for the performers, it's always a thrill to perform for a live audience, put yourself out there when you're nervous, let it fly for 4+ minutes and let the scores fall where they may.

There are many obvious differences, like we don't have to march on the ice and they don't have to skate with drums, but for tonight, I'm enjoying what we have in common.                                                      

Btw - Girls Won their Semifinal basketball game today! No judges - the most points win and we had two more than Flagstaff.

Snow Being Snow

More snow - yaaaaa . . . ok not really. Tomorrow is another late start for school (which probably doesn't matter much since half the school will be ditching to go to the Girl's Basketball semi-final game in Prescott - that's if they can get there!)

Do you think snow knows when it has over stayed its' welcome? 

Isn't it funny how the first snow of each year elicits oohs and aahs; we smile and stop what we're doing, "Hey look, it's snowing!" we say with glee.  But by now, we've had events canceled, snow days that have to be made up and enough of the white stuff. "Aah crap, it's snowing again," tone of voice pretty obvious.

I won't hold it against snow, it's doing the it's best to be snow and probably doesn't understand our obsession with calendars.  When you think about it, a snow fall in December and another in February are both beautiful, possibly peaceful and probably good for the earth - it's our attitude towards the snow that changes.  Is that really fair to snow that we are so fickle?

Good Luck to our team and good luck to snow - you both need it around this time of the year.

Stay on Your Feet, on Pitch or on the Island?

Sometimes the choices before us are so challenging:

What college should I go to?  Should I take the job?  When should the wedding date be?  Children now or later? 

. . . and now tonight -

Should I watch women try to stay on their skates or sing on pitch?  No wait, I'm also following that wacky Lost saga.  Will they get off the island?  Do they want to? 

Maybe Kate could skate across the island while singing a Carrie Underwood song - then I wouldn't have to change channels and wear out my DVR. 

Have I mentioned my Direct TV DVR?  This has been another recent revelation, yet another material pleasure I won't deny.  I like my DVR, alot.  I love being able to record programs, watch them whenever I want and best of all - race at downhill speeds through any and all commercials - yessss!

Gotta go change the channel again -

                     

Our School Should Hibernate

Today was another late start for the school.  You can see where I live; it's the high desert and it's relatively moderate compared to many colder, higher, snow-bound communities around the nation.  BUT, we are a border town to the Navajo reservation.  Our busses go out 65 miles in two directions and pick up hundreds of students.  Students who live miles down dirt roads.  Right now those dirt roads are frozen ice during the evening and mud bogs during the 45 degree days.  Either way, many can't get down their "driveway" to get to a bus stop and a few bus runs can't get to their stops.

Today three busses got stuck.

So I think we should hibernate.  We are prying children out of their homes, warm and safe, to walk through bogs in the dark to catch a bus that may or may not be able to get to school on time or at all.  Perhaps its time to rethink our calendar.  We run a traditional nine month calendar with almost three months off in the summer.  Seems like it's a much easier ride when there's more sunlight and less moisture.  As a stream of students flow from the bus ramp to the high school everyday, I think: Could I make that ride every day?  Would I make that effort to wait in the cold and dark? 

I'm  going to lobby for a modified school year with a longer winter break, perhaps four day weeks for January and February.  If we take a shorter break in the summer, we kill two birds: 1) better weather conditions for transportation and 2) shorter break from instruction for ELL students (English language learners).  I'm sure there's a busload of reasons to not change the calendar, but I'm hoping that "because we've always had this schedule" isn't one of them! 

When it comes to change, I think of the Martin  Luther King quote "Now is not the time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."  For the schools on Manson Mesa, let's look at change that makes sense for the students who live here AND those who travel  hundreds of miles to study here.

Every High School Needs Curling

Why should educators care about curling?  Have you seen it?  This sport was definitely invented by math geeks!  It takes an understanding of geometry, weight, angles, arcs, mass, physics - sure they get to wear track suits, but these athletes are for sure mathematicians moonlighting as Olympians.  All kidding aside, it's an interesting game of skill, strategy and yes, math.  I probably won't see another game until the next Olympics, but I'm a convert.
Every education meeting I sit in these days includes the concept of RELEVENCY for today's students - so here's our chance: every Geometry curriculum in the country should include CURLING!  With all the money spent on football teams and basketball gyms, it shouldn't be so hard to throw up a small ice rink and paint some circles, right?  If you want to reach your kinesthetic students (notoriously uninterested in math) - teach them Curling, problem solved.

Cars on the Mesa

A good friend who works on the mesa with me has a Prius. We don't live in Prius country. The mesa is covered in trucks; lots of Fords (since that's the only dealership within a 100 miles.) I'm glad she expresses her "views" by driving a Prius and that she has a sense of humor about it too. She shared this Joel Stein article: PRIUS
I drive a Subaru Outback. There's a few running around the mesa, but nothing like Colorado and Colorado south (Flagstaff). I fell in love with my Outback the first time I saw it sitting on a Chevy lot in Flag. I swear it was calling to me sandwiched between a Tahoe and Silverado: "Please come save me" it called!
I like having a Subaru on the mesa. It's my favorite color (navy blue) and when it's snowing I have a better chance of not sliding myself into a ditch. When my check engine light kept coming on even after I replaced the catalytic converter, my mechanic tried tracing the vin number. Imagine my surprise when he discovered my car was born in California! My car is too green for Arizona! lol - I think my friend's Prius is laughing at me (smugly, of course.) The solution is to put a factory converter in my west coast car, because anything less won't pass the Cali emission standard that's wired into my electrical system. I'll probably do that to make my check engine light go off . . . oh and of course to drive a cleaner car too It's hard to keep up with the elitist Prius, but we can try.
What's my current view? I'm not afraid to say I love a car. It just happens - that's love. I understand my friend who loves her Prius. I used to worry about sounding shallow; now I focus on what makes me happy more than I care about what you think . . . so what do you think about that?

Do you have a car you love? A view you'd like to share? Send me your comments ~

View From This Mesa

View From This Mesa is my new blog about my views on just about anything. I have blogged about education, specifically dropout prevention and the topic of success, but today I decided to work out my voice beyond what I have been "doing" for three decades and turn my voice to who I am, what lights me up, fires me up, makes me mad and makes me happy.

I'll start with what's playing on my television at this time: Rachel Maddow. Don't like Rach? hit your back button now, because I do. Funny, smart and fearless, Rachel has carved out a spot for her voice. I currently have enjoyed her Hypocrite Watch where she calls out members of the Party of No by showing video and newspaper clips of Republicans taking credit in their home states for stimulus money that they DIDN'T VOTE FOR.

What else is in my current view? The Olympics! How classy was Lysacek who not only won the Gold medal for men's figure skating, but then wouldn't lower himself to Plushenko's sour grapes, macho comments about how real men do a quad. I actually cringed when Plushenko stopped in his program, looked at the audience with what I can only guess is his "sexy look" since he was also swiveling his hips at the same time - wow, some guys just shouldn't do that; like the skinny, mangy think I'm so hot ones. Of course, those are exactly the guys who usually do that. Ok, I'm not an Olympic judge, but half his jumps looked like a top just as it was tipping over to the floor. Yes, he landed on his feet, but so do cats and I don't' want to watch mine skate.

More Olympics? Shaun White is in another league. Think about it - all the best are there and White goes above and beyond - no one close in how much air they create or how many points they score. This is a sport much younger than me, but you have to appreciate that level of excellence and the courage it takes to be more than a technician. Shaun White is a creator.
Seth Wescott - gold again, confidence and poise with a nice dose of humility. It was exciting to see him pick his moment and come from behind.

Why is a football player one of the main announcers at the Winter Olympics? How did Collingworth get this gig? Will we see flag football on ice as a exhibition sport in Russia?

What's your favorite winter sport? I'm looking forward to the woman's skating.