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On the two year anniversary of the murder of Michael Brown by a now-former Ferguson, Mo., police officer that led to the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, this rebroadcast of the Dropout Nation Podcast, explains how Black America and reformers should use this strategy as a step toward addressing the education crisis for young black men.
You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle Radio or download directly to your mobile or desktop device. Also, subscribe to the podcast series, and embed this podcast on your site. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, Stitcher, and PodBean.
Dropout Nation's editors will be spending much of this last week of the year either relaxing with family or catching up on other work. So enjoy the pieces written this month, along with the Best of Dropout Nation pieces being republished this week. One such piece, from November 2011, focuses on the lessons reformers must learn from scandals such as that involving Jimmy Savile, a British talk show host whose alleged criminal abuse of youth (along with the coverup of those activities by top officials in the United Kingdom) went unchecked for decades. Read, consider, and take action.
Chances are that unless you spend much time reading the Guardian or watching the ITV channel show Exposure, you haven't heard much about the pedophilia scandal enveloping the British Broadcasting Corporation. Since December of 2011, producers, longtime executives, and even two former chief executives at the once-beloved British government-controlled broadcaster have been accused of covering up the spate of alleged criminal abuse of young women by the now-deceased Jimmy Savile, a disc jockey and host of the famed Top of the Pops music show who was the United Kingdom's equivalent of the late Dick Clark.
As reported by news outlets throughout Britain, the BBC allegedly kept mum about Savile's alleged rape of young women — including those at the British government's juvenile asylums, inside schools, and even in dressing rooms in the BBC's own studios — and may have even went so far as to put the kibosh on an expose of Savile's misdeeds by staffers for the network's now-disgraced flagship newscast, Newsnight. As more victims come forth, and additional revelations come to light, current and former BBC officials, including former Director-General Mark Thompson (now chief executive of the parent company of the New York Times) has found themselves under scrutiny for allegedly letting Savile (and other alleged pedophiles on its payroll) get away with so much for so long.
The Beeb has gotten in even more trouble after reporters and producers, in what most observers conclude was a cynical attempt to shake off the embarrassment of not revealing Savile's alleged crimes, ran an expose on Newsnight falsely accusing a prominent member of the ruling Conservative Party of alleged abuse that had long-ago been investigated by authorities. This latest aspect of the Savile scandal led to the resignation of George Entwhistle, Thompson's recently-appointed replacement as BBC Director-General, and has cast more harsh light on how the broadcaster the news coverage that has made it the lead competitor to Time Warner's Cable News Network in the global journalism game.
It isn't shocking that Savile-BBC scandal sounds eerily like the child abuse scandal that continues to envelope Penn State. After all, like the higher ed institution — whose former president Graham Spanier now faces a possible prison sentence for his alleged work with now-infamous coach Joe Paterno to cover up the former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's three decades-long abuse of young men — the BBC scandal involves an institution aiding and abetting the abuse of the most-vulnerable of our children.
After all, the young women that Savile preyed upon for his abusive acts — both in his visits with teenage girls as part of hosting the Jimmy'll Fix It children's show, and in frequent visits to psychiatric hospitals such as Broadmoor — were no different from the young men in foster care and juvenile jails Sandusky had raped. The apparent craven unwillingness of producers, staffers, and executives at the BBC to remove Savile in spite of suspicions and confirmations of Savile's abuse of young girls since at least the early 1960s is no different than that of Spanier, Paterno, former athletic director Tim Curley, and ousted vice president Gary Schultz, who allegedly actively sat on at least a decade of evidence of Sandusky's crimes. Even the role of National Health Service in giving Savile free reign of institutions serving vulnerable young girls is also comparable to similar actions allowed by the Second Mile, the now-defunct nonprofit the now-imprisoned criminal cofounded to apparently give himself unlimited access to the kids he wanted to abuse.
The Savile-BBC scandal, in short, is a reminder of the consequences of failed leadership and policies that allow for evil to prey upon the most-vulnerable of our children. And the scandal once again reminds reformers of why we must do so much to rid institutions of leaders who allow others to do harm to our kids — and overhaul policies and practices that make it difficult for even the best leaders to do right by them.
As we know all too well, we treat our poorest, most-vulnerable children as if they are unworthy of our love and compassion. From juvenile justice systems such as those in Indianapolis and Luzerne County, Pa., that subject far too many kids to abuse and denial of due process, to child welfare systems such as those in South Dakota, in which American Indian children made up 53 percent of all foster care wards (and often placed into the care of non-Natives in violation of federal law), even though they make up just 13 percent of the state's children, we see young men and women being moved from neglectful and abusive homes into even worse settings.
In many cases, the men and women allowing this to happen benefit greatly, both in their ability to gain access to children they consider their prey, and even from the dollars that come with them. In Luzerne County, former judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan would eventually be convicted of judicial misconduct (including wrongful convictions of juveniles) which helped put $1.3 million a year in taxpayer dollars into the hands of their cronies. Meanwhile in South Dakota, Children's Home Society collected more than $50 million in mostly no-bid contracts over seven years from South Dakota's child welfare system in exchange for removing Native kids from the homes of their families; it also apparently benefited its former boss, Dennis Daugaard, who is now the state's governor. And in Indiana, James Payne, who was the judge who oversaw the scandal at the Circle City's juvenile court, managed to get a promotion from now-outgoing Gov. Mitch Daniels to head up the state's Department of Child Services; he only lost his job this past September after the Indianapolis Star revealed how he intervened in a child custody case involving his own grandchildren.
The consequences of these misdeeds extend into American public education, with laggard school leaders allowing criminally abusive and neglectful teachers to work in classrooms, as well as perpetuating practices that feed into the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
Earlier this month, Lyn Vijayendran, a former principal at a school in the Evergreen Elementary system in California, was convicted of failing to inform law enforcement about alleged abuse of an eight-year-old student by one of the teachers under her watch. There's also the scandal that continues to envelope the Los Angeles Unified School District over over the long career of former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt, who now faces 23 charges of what the law politely calls lewd acts upon a child. The discovery and prosecution of Berndt's misdeeds, the revelations that Berndt may have been engaging in such misdeeds for more than two decades, and the arrest of another Miramonte teacher, Martin Springer, shed a harsh light on how L.A. Unified's school leaders — including previous superintendents and the school board — have failed the children in their care.
But the abuse of our kids isn't just sexual. The fact that L.A. Unified's school leaders has done a shoddy job of evaluating its teachers — with 60 percent of tenured veterans and 30 percent of new hires going without performance assessments in the 2009-2010 school year, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality — is evidence of how poorly the district has done in living up to its obligation of providing all children attending its schools with high-quality education. Children stuck in child welfare systems — along with kids sent by districts to juvenile justice systems — get the worst of it. Just nine percent of the foster care middle-schoolers attending schools in L.A. Unified were proficient or higher on the state's achievement test in 2006-2007, nearly two times lower than the atrocious 22 percent rate for students in the district overall. Meanwhile districts continue to use juvenile courts to solve issues with students that used to be handled by principals and deans. Schools accounted for a fifth of all status case (or offenses that would otherwise be legal if a child was 18 or 21) referrals to juvenile courts in 2009, according to the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; this included 59 percent of all truancy cases, which account for 37 percent of all juvenile status cases handled that year. Given the dire consequences that happens to kids when they land in juvenile justice systems, schools are often as much a part of the problem as families who often use courts to resolve issues judges are just unfit to handle.
Certainly there will always be those men and women who will physically and mentally abuse our children. Chances are that some will find their ways into our schools and other institutions. Yet as seen in New York City, where school leaders have aggressively worked to toss out teachers engaged in criminal (as well as educational) abuse, institutional leaders and staff can do plenty to identify and quickly remove them. The fact that Savile, Sandusky, Berndt, and others were allowed to continue to harm kids for decades shows the unwillingness of leaders to do right by children (and their willingness to perpetuate cultures of abuse and neglect). Even worse, it shows how little the leaders and staffers cared little about the kids subjected to abuse — and did everything to protect the perpetrators (and in fact, rewarded them with promotions, book contracts, accolades, and other deals). This isn't to say that they don't care about children at all. It is just that when it came down to choosing their allegiances, the institutions and their supposedly pristine reputations mattered more than the damage being done to grubby men and women from the proverbial other side of the tracks.
There is plenty that can be done to rid our districts, schools, and other institutions of leaders who aid and abet abuse and neglect, criminal and otherwise. From the perspective of the school reform movement, it starts by constantly shining light and calling out laggard school leaders who don't deserve their jobs. In Indianapolis, a possible step in the right direction may come with three newly-elected board members of the Indianapolis Public Schools district, who may end up tossing out the system's woeful superintendent, Eugene White, after nearly eight years of embarrassment. Tossing out politicians who allow for the abuse to continue, especially through their support of policies and practices that keep abusers in their jobs is also important. Voters in California's Assembly District 50 have made such a stand this month when it voted out incumbent Betsy Butler, who refused to support an effort spawning from the Berndt scandal to make it easier to remove those teachers accused of criminal abuse and misconduct.
Using student performance data in evaluating principals, superintendents and even school boards, as well as implementing student surveys such as the Tripod system developed by Harvard's Ronald Ferguson and Cambridge Education in principal and other school leader evaluations, are more-systematic steps. Meanwhile we must also continue to overhaul how we train school leaders and expand the talent pool from which they come. Given the reality that school leaders at the building level will have to have real management expertise — which is often different from being a successful classroom teacher — this also means pulling from the private and nonprofit sectors as the Eli & Edythe Broad Foundation has done as part of its reform efforts.
At the same time, we must also make it easier for good and great leaders to sack teachers who are failing on the job, either in their instructional work or through criminal abuse. Ending near-lifetime employment rules that make it difficult for school leaders to toss out the criminally- and educationally-abusive alike would make it harder for laggard school leaders to sit on their thumbs and do nothing. Overhauling how we recruit and train teachers will also reduce the likelihood of those who shouldn't be around children getting into classrooms.
For reformers, and for all of us, the Savile case is just one more reminder of why we must do so much to improve the quality of leadership in American public education, and in all institutions that are engaged with our children. Especially those young men and women who are already subjected to too much abuse from others, and deserve better than even more neglect.
Dropout Nation's writers are enjoying a day off with family and friends. A new piece, along with the Dropout Nation Podcast, will be up this weekend. But there is still plenty to do, especially in keeping 120 kids from dropping out each day into the abyss long before they reach that point. As seen in Chicago, where the traditional district has improved its graduation rates by helping kids struggling in ninth grade, intervening on behalf of academically-struggling children before they drop out is key to helping them succeed.
In this Best of Dropout Nation from 2012, Editor RiShawn Biddle discusses why states must develop systems that identify and aid children on the path to dropping out before it is too late. Read, consider, and take action.
A sixth-grader with a failing grade in math has only a one in five chance of graduating from high school six years later. This data from Robert Balfanz, the Johns Hopkins University researcher who revolutionized our understanding of the nation's education crisis with his Promoting Power (or Balfanz) Index — and Lisa Herzog is absolutely sobering. And at the same time, the fact that we can actually identify students who are falling behind before they head into middle school (and even before they reach sixth grade) explains why we must use data in identifying and solving the broken windows that lead to so many kids falling into despair.
One of the dirty secrets in the battle over the reform of American public education is that so many of the issues that lead to kids failing in the classroom (and eventually, outside of it) can be easily identified long before it is too late. Thanks in part to the No Child Left Behind Act, the emergence of standardized and formative testing, and the early efforts of school reformers to improve data, researchers such as Balfanz can clearly identify when students fall off the path to high school and higher ed graduation. As Balfanz points out, 43 percent of potential dropouts can be identified by sixth grade, meaning that schools and districts can intensely intervene and help these kids before they reach high school. And while the conversations about dropouts tend to stem around the immediate issues that trigger students to finally drop out such as teen pregnancy, the reality is that the path to departing school before graduation is one that usually starts in elementary grades.
We now know that a sixth grader missing 36 or more days of school during the year has less than a one-in-five chance of graduating on time, and the same is true or a peer with discipline issues, while those students missing 18 days will also struggle to graduate. The data indicates that the students are struggling in their academic studies and have started tuning out of school; after all, no child wants to admit that they are illiterate or innumerate. Meanwhile the likelihood of a sixth-grade student with a failing grade in English graduating is even lower — just a one in eight shot. Essentially, these are signs that the kids have not mastered the basic skills needed to tackle harder reading and math subjects such as word problems. More importantly, those problems also manifest in tandem with truancy and other signs of dropping out. A sixth-grader missing 36 days of school, a failing mark for discipline, and failing math and English grades, will only have a one-in-10 shot of graduating on time.
Then there are indicators that come into view before sixth grade. For example, there is data on early childhood illiteracy, which can be measured through third and fourth grade reading tests. Twenty-three percent of third-graders who were functionally illiterate failed to graduate on time nine years later, according to an analysis of Peabody Individual Achievement Test Reading Recognition subtest data by the Annie E. Casey Foundation; one in six third grade students failing to read at proficient levels overall didn't graduate on time nine years down the line. The data is culled from sample reports on some 4,000 students from the U.S. Department of Education's National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 — and thus not the best or most-reliable indicator of student achievement. But it does show the importance of identifying functional illiteracy during the first four years a child is attending school — and immediately providing struggling students intensive reading remediation before they reach fourth grade.
Thanks to tools such as the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (or DIBELS) test, struggling students can be identified even before they reach first grade. There are also ways to help these students get on the right path before it is too late. Given that 40 percent of all kindergarten students can only learn to read if they are specifically taught syllables, words, letter sounds and spelling — and that boys, in particular, struggle because the area of their brains in which language and literacy is developed lags behind that of their female schoolmates, identifying these students and using new ways to help them improve their reading before fifth grade would keep them on the path to graduation. It would also help prevent the disciplinary issues that begin to crop up among students struggling with functional illiteracy by third grade (and help reduce the overuse of suspensions and expulsions that exacerbate the education and dropout crises).
Some districts are actually putting together their own early warning systems, albeit still on a small scale. New York City has taken some steps courtesy of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Interagency Task Force on Truancy, Chronic Absenteeism, and Student Engagement; but that effort so far targets just a smattering of the one million students who attend the nation's largest district. A few other cities, notably the Diplomas Now project, which is working in Chicago and Philadelphia, are also developing early warning systems. States such as Indiana and Colorado have also done plenty of work on the early warning system front. But most traditional districts do little to identify children on the path to dropping out (much less offer any sort of intensive remediation or help dropouts return to high school and get on the path to college), while many states have done equally as little.
One reason lies with the problem of scale inherent in the traditional district model. Size can have many benefits, but not in improving the quality of education for students. As seen with the Los Angeles Unified School District, which evaluated just 40 percent of the Los Angeles Unified School District's veteran teachers and 70 percent of new hires (who attain near-lifetime employment, and thus are far too difficult to dismiss, after two years on the job) during the 2009-2010 school year, districts already struggle in simply handling the human capital functions critical to improving student achievement. The fact that traditional districts struggle in the area of developing and managing data systems — with some systems storing data on FileMaker and Excel spreadsheets — also makes the development of early warning systems difficult to put together.
States haven't helped in this regard. While statewide school data systems are becoming more robust, just three of them — Arkansas, Texas, and Florida — meet at least eight of the ten standards set by the Data Quality Campaign for being longitudinal and useful; and even those three states don't provide access to data in a timely manner. Few states collect attendance data in any meaningful way, essentially providing little information on whether kids are attending school at all. Just 12 states collect attendance data daily (which students are actually in school), according to Balfanz's Everyone Graduates Center, while a mere 11 states collect enrollment, attendance, and discipline data daily.
The fact that so much of school data remains compliance-oriented instead of being oriented toward accountability and usefulness in solving problems, is also an issue. That the measures aren't useful also plays a part. Most states, for example, calculate attendance by dividing the total number of days missed by students by the total number of days they are supposed to attend (usually 180 days multiplied by enrollment); this hides the levels of truancy plaguing a school because it includes all unexcused absences, not just the set number of days under which a student is considered by law to be truant. So far, only California, Indiana, and Georgia provide breakdowns of levels of chronic truancy – and even those measures can be flawed because each of the states has their own definition of chronic truancy.
The federal government has proven helpful in the past in setting some standard for data through No Child's Adequate Yearly Progress measures. But thanks to the Obama administration's effort to allow states to waive the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, that progress may be lost.. All but two of the 10 states granted waivers in the first go-round essentially ditched subgroup accountability by placing all poor and minority students into a super-subgroup that takes them off the radar, while other aspects of the waiver effort allow those states to let merely mediocre schools off the hook for student failure — and at the same time, denying reform-minded teachers and school leaders the data they need to make smart decisions.
Then there are the cultural realities within traditional districts. An early warning system involves using data in order to make decisions, and extensive collaboration within schools in order to put students back on the path to success; and thanks to No Child and other reforms, more teachers and school leaders are becoming savvy in using data. Yet there are still too many school leaders and teachers who don't have the sophistication (or the desire to use data) needed to use do so properly; the fact that many school leaders still aren't using Value-Added data in structuring teams of teachers who can address student needs (when they have that information available) makes clear the trouble of using early warning systems.
As for collaboration? Teaching remains largely an autonomous effort — and many veteran teachers like it that way; few instructors want to work together with colleagues in teams, much less working with guidance counselors and others on helping at-risk students succeed. This lack of teamwork has consequences. As Dropout Nation noted in its podcast profile of Harlem Link Charter School founder Steve Evangelista — who learned that a student he once taught as a teacher landed in New York City's infamous Rykers Island jail — a struggling student loses contact with the one teacher that may have reached him, and further disengages from school. It also means that a teacher taking on a student with a long history of academic failure doesn't know the particular issues facing that child and will have difficulty in getting her on the path to success.
Finally, there is the reality that far too many in education have low expectations for poor and minority kids. As Smith College professor Tina Wildhagen presented in her Teachers College report on the role of teacher expectations in student grading, African-American high school seniors were more-likely to get lower grades than their scores on 10th-grade math and reading standardized tests. From where some teachers and school leaders may sit, developing early warning systems to help struggling students would take time away from attending to those kids they deem worthy of their time and effort.
Certainly these challenges make developing early warning systems difficult. But it doesn't make them impossible. There are charter schools and traditional districts and schools that are using data proactively in turning around the performance of struggling students. More importantly, developing systems to identify struggling students will not only help kids succeed, it can even help taxpayers save money in the long run — especially in stemming the number of dropouts on unemployment lines. And from a moral perspective, it is the right thing to do. There's no way we can knowingly allow so many young men and women to continue into poverty and despair when we can identify their issues early on.
One critical step in making early warning systems more common starts at the state level with the development of more-robust longitudinal data systems that are geared in part toward identifying struggling students. Districts may need to join together on developing such systems in order to yield cost savings; this would be one of the few times that scale actually makes sense. This is also an area in which the private sector could do plenty of good; after all, companies can develop those early warning systems and then market them to the districts that need them. Because it makes far more sense to help kids succeed long before they reach third grade, formative diagnostic and summative standardized tests must be given as early as first grade just for diagnostic purposes.
The Obama administration could also take key steps towards this goal by ending its No Child waiver gambit — which will do far more harm to children than either the president or U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan realize — and actually move to expand accountability and data; this includes developing a uniform chronic truancy rate of ten days of unexcused absence similar to what is already in place in Indiana. Expanding the Race to the Top initiative to include reform-minded districts that focus on developing early warning systems as part of their efforts would also help.
Ditching the traditional district model — and embracing the Hollywood Model of Education — would also help. But that is a long-term goal. Until then, districts will exist, and so we must do more to push districts to embrace the early warning system approach. One way lies with overhauling school funding itself; besides essentially taking over school funding and turning those dollars into vouchers that follow each student, states can also reward or punish district by the number of students they help improve achievement and turn around performance. This would encourage districts to use data in more-efficient ways. Those districts that are already making moves in this regard need to do more to encourage leaders on the ground in identifying student learning issues and in restructuring how teachers work (especially in the elementary grades, in which instructors are jack of all trades and specialists in none). Collaborative teams would certainly allow for teachers to focus on particular student needs, meaning that they will have to learn how to use data in more-sophisticated ways.
Finally, we must address the cultures of low expectations that make some teachers and leaders unwilling to actually help the students in their care reach potential. It means a whole revamp of how we recruit, train, evaluate and compensate teachers. Addressing those issues would do plenty toward giving our children the kinds of instructors and principals who make fixing the broken windows around them the top priority.
Dropout Nation gang is taking off today to enjoy time with family. But there are still plenty of discussions going on today in the world of education. One of them: The role of the private sector in American public education. In this Best of Dropout Nation compendium of pieces from 2011 and other years, Editor RiShawn Biddle discusses the intellectual blindness of traditionalists to the benefits of borrowing lessons from the private sector, as well as the limits of what can applied to stemming the nation's education crisis. These points are as important now as they were a few years ago.
Chris Cerf and Education's Anti-Intellectualism Problem: For all the taxpayer-funded doctorates and graduate degrees that are found among the defenders of traditional public education, there is little going on among them other than closed-minded, sclerotic thinking. This lack of intellectual vigor — the ability to see the value of new concepts, the lack of understanding of economics and technology, and the rabid opposition to anyone outside of education arguing for reform — is one reason why American public education is mired in the kind of mediocrity that has fostered the nation's education crisis.
And that lack of thoughtfulness manifests itself even more when it comes to the thought of private-sector involvement in education. From where defenders of the status quo sit, the idea public charter schools causes them to reach into their Cliff Notes versions of The Communist Manifesto, and the school reform efforts of nonprofits such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation make them so apoplectic that they toss around terms such as "kleptocracy" without any understanding of their meaning. From where they sit, the private sector is nothing but pure evil, their involvement in school reform means the end of public education and a return to the dark days of, whatever they think of is the dark days. The fact that they are as dependent on the wares of the private sector and the economic marketplace for their very sustenance (you know, since companies and entrepreneurial philanthropists are also those guys who provide such items as computers and soap, along with paying those things called taxes, which support schools), never factors into their thinking.
One example of this silly anti-intellectualism comes courtesy of incoming New Jersey Education Commissioner Chris Cerf's move to restructure the state's woeful education department. Foes of the new commissioner's efforts are particularly annoyed that Cerf is getting help in this work courtesy of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which is ponying up $60,000 for the hiring of the consultancy helping to develop the plan. Status quo critics of Cerf's effort have complained that it is a conspiracy to privatize education. They have argued that the ties between Cerf, the consultant William Cox, and Broad (which helped Cox spin out rating service Standard & Poor's school evaluation project to become GreatSchools.org, and counts Cerf among its alumni) makes the whole effort an exercise in cronyism. And they have speculated about the role Cox played in the Garden State's failed effort to win a share of Race to the Top money.
Given the scope of work — and the reality that American public education remains quite public — the first complaint is just thoughtless. The cronyism argument would have slightly more merit if this was being paid out of Garden State coffers. Since it isn't, the argument also falls apart. And with no evidence that Cox played any role in New Jersey's Race to the Top bid, the speculation is merely that; given that the Garden State's bid was rather problematic, unlikely to be picked even without the botched work of Wireless Generation (the consultancy that helped New Jersey assemble its bid and had Cox on its payroll for a time), and opposed by the same status quo defenders now using the situation for their rhetorical argument, that discussion is rather meaningless.
Now the critics could have considered some real questions. For one: Whether a consultant is really needed to think through the difficult question of how to revamp the organization? (My own answer is no; Cerf is just using Cox and Broad to gain cover for the overhaul he already plans to do.) Another: Cerf and his boss, Gov. Chris Christie, failing to consider the more fundamental question of whether the current system of educational governance — including the array of local school district bureaucracies — is even necessary in the first place? Given that Christie's colleagues, including Gov. Christine Gregoire in Washington State, are already pushing to restructure their state education governance structure, the governor and Cerf should be using this time to push for a Hollywood Model of Education for New Jersey under which district bureaucracies would be tossed out altogether and traditional public schools would essentially become charters.
But this would actually require status quo defenders to stop reading Diane Ravitch's claptrap, applauding Sir Ken Robinson's creativity snake oil, and fawning at Daniel Pink's vapid treatises on motivation. They would have to ditch such dribble about "democratic education" and "authentic learning". It would require them to embrace the use of data in improving the quality of instruction and curricula, and understand the lessons (good and bad) from the private sector about recruiting and retaining talent. And would mean picking up copies of Wired, The Wealth of Nations and Education Myths.
Overstating What Can Be Gleaned From the Private Sector: School reformers may have the intellectual vigor at the moment, but they also suffer from the problem of oversimplification. Particularly when referring to the private sector, it is far too easy to argue that the solutions to the problems of American public education can come from Corporate America and entrepreneurs. The reality is far more complicated.
One thing to remember: Private sector has a variety of players, each of which deal with different kinds of constraints. Healthcare companies and electric utilities, for example, are heavily-regulated. They struggle with the same problems faced by traditional school districts, including bureaucratic structures (and corresponding inertia) that would make the agencies that oversee them proud and state laws that restrict their profit-making activities. Those firms share little in common with a Wal-Mart and Google which operate in lightly-regulated sectors and are structured more-nimbly to compete in more-active markets. So the respective problems each group of companies have for their human resources, cost-management and other operational issues — and the solutions they undertake — can sometimes be as different as night and day.
Another problem lies in assuming that every solution applied in the private sector can work in education. One example: Teacher evaluation. As Rick Hess rightly points out, the private sector doesn't use objective measures of performance as the sole criteria for evaluations. But Hess forgets this: The cost of a poor-performing employee impacts a company's bottom line, causing problems for customers, vendors, shareholders, creditors and other employees. But the impact is limited because private sector firms aren't generally supported by tax dollars. The impact of low quality teacher quality is borne by a far-larger group — including taxpayers and children — who cannot avoid impact by just abandoning brands, selling shares, dropping clients, refusing to lend money or switching jobs. There's also the reality that teachers and teachers unions don't trust principals to evaluate their work. All things considered, using objective student data (from test scores for students to portfolio evaluations for electives such as music) as the sole criteria may make the best sense.
There are plenty of lessons from the private sector that can be applied to education. But we think through those lessons, apply them in ways that fit the particular characteristics of the education sector, and not simplistically offer up companies as the source of solutions.
Featured photo courtesy of Wired.
Friday's release by the U.S. Department of Education of school discipline data once again demonstrates how minority children and young men of all races are subjected to a pernicious form of educational neglect. But far too many people, including some reformers, continue to ignore evidence of how policies such as out-of-school suspensions and expulsions put so many young black, Latino, and poor white men onto the path to poverty and prison.
In thisBest of Dropout Nationfrom August 2012, Editor RiShawn Biddle explains how overuse of suspensions and expulsions allow adults in education to ignore the impact of educational malpractice on the behavior of children. Read, consider, and take action.
When it comes to the use of out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and other forms of harsh school discipline, a few things have become immediately clear after three decades of research.
The first is that far too many kids are suspended and expelled from school. The second: That children from poor and minority households, especially young black, Latino, and poor white men, are more likely to be suspended and expelled than middle class peers.
Third: More often than not, the underlying reasons for such discipline have little to do with violent behavior, drugs, or weapons possession. As analysis of state-level discipline data by researchers such as Indiana University's Russ Skiba, along with reports I wrote in 2005, 2006, and 2007 for the Indianapolis Star has shown, most suspensions occur in categories such as disruptive behavior and attendance — which teachers and school leaders can deal with through more-effective means — while students are also expelled for chronic truancy.
The fourth fact is that there is no evidence that such discipline (especially those occurring as a result of zero tolerance policies) improves school cultures or improves safety for children attending school. The American Psychological Association concluded this four years ago, and most studies show this to be the case; as Dropout Nation contributing editor Steve Peha noted two years ago in hispiece on overhauling school discipline, suspensions and expulsions do little more than let adults in schools off the hook for not looking at the underlying causes of misbehavior (which, as I'll show later, has as much to do with low-quality teaching and curricula, as with lack of discipline at home), while letting students escape the consequences of disrupting their peers and teachers. And finally, the consequences of such use of discipline often lead to kids dropping out into poverty and prison. Johns Hopkins University researcher Robert Balfanz determined in his own research, sixth-graders with "unsatisfactory" behavior marks (which indicate being suspended from school at least once during the school year) have only a one-in-five chance of graduating on time six years later.
Considering the high likelihood of young men dropping out of school landing into prison — especially young black male dropouts, who have a two-to-one risk of landing in prison by age 34 — suspensions and expulsions often leads to academic, economic, and social failure. So the report on the overuse of harsh school discipline released yesterday by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA offered little in the way of surprises. If perfect insanity is doing the same thing over and over, then American public education has gotten it down to a science. The data, based on the U.S. Department of Education's civil rights database for the 2009-210 school year, doesn't fully reflect the impact of suspensions and expulsions on American Indian and Alaska Native students (in part because as many as 44 percent of such students are likely counted in the "two or more race" category") and doesn't break down suspension and expulsions by category (including disruptive behavior and insubordination, information which states already collect). But the abysmally high levels of suspensions determined by the Civil Rights Project's analysis — especially the 17 percent suspension rate for all black children in elementary and secondary grades — serve as another reminder of the high cost paid by young men and women for adult decisions. Nor was it shocking that suspension rates for kids condemned to the nation's special education ghettos were suspended at twice the rate of kids in regular classrooms (including one out of every four young black men labeled as special ed); there is nothing special about way-stations used by adults in schools to toss out children they can't (and often, don't) want to teach.
Yet you have otherwise thoughtful folks such as few folks such as Thomas B. Fordham Institute education czar Mike Petrilli asking if racism is still a factor.Proclaiming earlier today on the think tank's Flypaper site that the higher levels of suspensions and expulsions seem in line with the higher levels of incarceration for black adults, Petrilli argues that "pathologies" such as single motherhood and poverty that lead to poor minorities being more likely to end up in prison could also be a reason for them being suspended as well. Yeah. Petrilli is once again arguing that Personal Responsibility mythin education that seems to be in vogue among a few reformers who should know better. And as I noted last year, it doesn't hold up. Given that young white men are also suspended at high levels (albeit lower than that for young black men), Petrilli's argument fails to hold water. [Your editor had a less thoughtful initial reaction. But a dental drill and Novocaine helped him calm down.]
Certainly Petrilli is right in noting that race isn't the only issue when it comes to the overuse of school discipline. After all, Some of the highest-suspending districts surveyed by the Civil Rights Project include Memphis before its merger with the Shelby County district in Tennessee (which suspended 53 percent of young black men in special ed), and Pontiac, Mich. (which suspended two out of every three black students overall) are run by black school leaders and have large numbers of black teachers on staff. The class biases of many teachers and school leaders against poor and minority children and families regardless of color, which is often reinforced by the degree- and seniority-based pay scales that connote inflated opinions of intelligence, is as much a factor as race in the overuse of suspensions and expulsions. As Dropout Nation pointed outearlier this year in its analysis of comments about racial disparities in school discipline made by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, federal officials need to do a better job on collecting data (especially by category) in order to make a stronger case.
But Petrilli's declaration fails to consider the impact of racialist policies such as ability-tracking and the comprehensive high school model (which were based on the notion that only white middle class children of Protestant backgrounds were capable of college preparatory learning, while blacks and immigrants — especially of Italian and Slavic backgrounds — were considered too feeble-minded to learn) on the attitudes of many teachers and school leaders today.
This is especially clear when it comes to another symptom of the nation's education crisis: The overdiagnosis of children as special ed cases. As Vanderbilt University Professor Daniel J. Reschly noted in his 2007 testimony to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, adults in schools have a tendency to confuse the statistical probability that certain ethnic and gender groups may end up being diagnosed with a learning disability with the ethnic composition with ethnic composition within a disability category, essentially deciding that certain racial and ethnic groups of students will be learning disabled because they think they are destined to end up that way. When one also looks at how middle class black and Latino families and their children — almost all of whom are two-parent households with strong values — are treated with disdain within suburban districts, it is hard for Petrilli or anyone else to say that race isn't still a problem within many of our schools.
Yet at the same time, Petrilli unintentionally hits upon this reality: That the overuse of suspensions and expulsions are symptoms of the deeper problems within American public education. This starts with the low quality of instruction and curricula, especially in addressing the illiteracy at the heart of the nation's education crisis.
As Deborah Stipek and Sarah Miles of Stanford University determined in a 2006 study of children from low-income households, third-grade reading performance is strongly associated with social skills. Children with strong reading skills in the early grades tend to also have good social habits (including the executive function of self-control), while those are struggling with reading tend to have disciplinary problems. A third-grader who is functionally illiterate is more-likely to end up engaging in the kind of aggressive behavior that leads to suspension and expulsion; in fact, low literacy in third grade is predictive of school discipline issues two years later in fifth grade. This makes sense. Children who are struggling in school act out because they don't know how (and are afraid to) to admit they can't read, and don't know how to ask for help from teachers (who in many cases, may not be equipped or have the desire to help them anyway).
Illiteracy is also a driving factor in children, especially young men of all backgrounds, ending up in special ed and being subjected to suspensions and expulsions. As Reid Lyon noted in 1997, young black men end up being labeled special ed because they are struggling with literacy; literacy can often be mistaken for mild retardation or developmental delays. Because the areas of the brain that involve reading develop more-slowly in young men than in female peers (as well as because of their natural rambunctiousness is of great contrast to the more-docile behavior of their female classmates), boys are particularly vulnerable to being condemned to special ed ghettos and being subject to harsh school discipline.
Reading experts have spent years developing new ways to help lagging students improve reading before they reach fifth grade and work with boys to get them up to speed. This includes identifying poor readers early on through response through intervention and other techniques, as well as intensive teaching of linguistic skills every day. Yet few districts have embraced these techniques or focused on intense remediation in the early grades. The fact that the nation's university schools of education do such a poor job of training aspiring teachers in the science of reading means that far too many teachers lacking the expertise to teach reading. The fact that ed schools also do poorly in training teachers overall — especially in classroom management — also results in instructors being too quick to refer children to principal's offices for suspension. Add in the fact that we don't recruit aspiring teachers and leaders for their ability to empathize with all children (along with subject matter competency, and entrepreneurial self-starter ability), and one can see why so many kids are suspended from school.
Overhauling how we recruit and train teachers, especially in reading, would result in fewer kids being illiterate and thus, reduce their likelihood of misbehaving. Having aspiring teachers apprentice in classrooms alongside high-quality teachers (who are also skilled in managing classrooms) would also help. Meanwhile addressing the other issues at the heart of the nation's education crisis — including the abysmal school leadership within districts and school buildings – – would also help reduce suspensions and expulsions. This includes embracing approaches to discipline that addresses underlying issues arising from struggles with learning.
Until we fully reform American public education, the insanity of harsh school discipline will continue to condemn far too many kids to economic and social despair.
Over the past couple of years, Hamlet and Olesia Garcia have learned the hard way about the Zip Code Education policies that punish families, especially those from poor and minority backgrounds, for being unwilling to accept the worst American public education. While the circumstances that have led to Hamlet and Olesia facing a jury trial next month in a suburban Philadelphia court are different than that of Kelley Williams-Bolar and Tonya McDowell, the Garcias have used their struggle as an opportunity to fight strongly for expanding school choice and Parent Power for all families. The Garcias deserve the support of every reformer and every person who wants brighter futures for all children.
In this Best of Dropout Nation from December 2012, Editor RiShawn Biddle explains why Hamlet and Olesia's battle against Zip Code Education policies should inspire all of us to push for expanding school choice and end restrictions on the opportunities for all children to attain high-quality education. Read, consider, follow the Garcias on Twitter, and support Hamlet's and Olesia's legal fund.
For an illustration of the ridiculous of families facing criminal charges for the laughable non-offense of "stealing education" — and end Zip Code Education policies such as restrictions on inter-district choice that perpetuate these problems — consider the case of Hamlet and Olesia Garcia of Philadelphia.
Hamlet and Olesia, insurance agents who own their own firm, had placed their daughter into an elementary school, Pine Road, that was next door to their home — and across district lines — in the Lower Moreland Township district last year after the couple had separated. This shouldn't have been a problem. After all, Olesia had moved in with her father, who lived in the district and through his property taxes, was paying plenty into its coffers. But when Olesia moved back with her husband two months before the school year ended, the Garcias kept their daughter in the school so she could finish out the year because, like most caring parents, they wanted to do their best to provide their child with a stable (and high-quality) school culture.
But since September, the Garcias have been battling with Lower Moreland and the Montgomery County District Attorney, both of which have apparently decided to make an example of the family for daring to send their kid to school. Despite the taxpaying status of Olesia's father and the fact that the Garcias even offered to pay back the district for the those last two months — and even pay the district to keep their daughter in that school for this school year (the daughter is now attending a private school), the Garcias now face criminal theft charges (and the dire consequences that come with conviction) for an act that hardly merits either an indictment, or the expense Lower Moreland spent to hire a private investigator to look into the family, or even the costly prosecution being pursued.
Hamlet and Olesia can at least say they have folks on their side. Within the last couple of months alone, Democrats for Education Reform (and the head of its California branch, Gloria Romero), Connecticut Parents Union President Gwen Samuel, and other Parent Power activists have jumped into the fray. They, in turn, have brought the harsh spotlights of national media outlets to bear on how Lower Moreland (which has few Latino or black students in its enrollment) has only pushed to prosecute the family of one of the few minority kids that had attended its schools. [Dropout Nation, being supportive of the Garcia family, asks you to sign this Change.org petition, or call up Montgomery County D.A. Risa Vetri Ferman at 610-278-3090 to demand that the charges be dropped.]
Certainly the Garcia's case isn't similar to that of Kelley Williams-Bolar, whose conviction for stealing education attracted national attention last year or that of Connecticut grandmother Marie Menard. Nor is their case that similar to Annette Callahan, the Waukegan, Il., mother of five whose effort to provide her youngest two children with high-quality education led to a battle with the Beach Park district over sending her kids to its schools, even though her ex-husband was a taxpaying resident there. And clearly the Garcias don't face the same plight as Tanya McDowell, the homeless Bridgeport, Conn., mother who will spend the next five years of her life in the Nutmeg State's York Correctional Institution for sending her son to a modestly-better school in the Norwalk district.
At the same time, Hamlet and Olesia are no different than Kelley, or Marie, or Annette, or Tanya in their pursuit of providing the kin they love with brighter futures. This included making sure that their daughter stayed in a nurturing school environment even as they themselves struggled to deal with the strain that comes with marriages facing trouble. Pine Road Elementary was not only the neighborhood school for Olesia's daughter while she and her mom were living with her grandfather, it is also two miles away from the home in which her dad still lived (and much-closer than William A. Loesch Elementary, the Philadelphia district school the daughter had previously attended); so sending their child to Pine Road assured that their daughter would still be able to see both her parents even if they were no longer together. Given how close Pine Road was to Hamlet and Olesia's home (further away by just a mile or so, than Loesch), the very fact that a family's school choices are restricted by boundaries — especially when as taxpayers to Pennsylvania's state government, they finance Lower Moreland's budgets, also makes the district's efforts to prosecute the family even more laughable.
All in all, the Garcia case once again shows why we must put an end to archaic Zip Code Education policies that restrict families (especially those from poor and minority backgrounds) from providing their kids with high-quality education.
In many ways, stealing education prosecutions are just manifestations of this longstanding opposition among district bureaucrats and other traditionalists to expanding school choice, and their desire to maintain their preferred approach to American public education. From where they sit, expanding choice will lead to the end of public education as they prefer it (government-run, no private-sector or parochial school players, and uninterrupted funding whether or not they do the job of improving student achievement). The very idea that families are capable of making smart decisions for their kids if given high-quality data, and should be lead decision-makers in education, also disturbs them. After all, they distrust families, and think that only they, the supposed experts, should decide which kids should get highly effective teachers and comprehensive college-preparatory curricula. This desire to keep control over funding and policy (along with the long-term fiscal crises resulting from decades of feckless spending) is one reason why districts hire investigators to keep tabs on families they suspect are attending schools outside of their boundaries. It also explains why districts in Louisiana (along with affiliates of the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers) to kibosh the Bayou State's school voucher program, and traditionalist-minded school leaders in Michigan are up in arms over Gov. Rick Snyder's push to overhaul school funding.
But this opposition to expanding choice (along with the stealing education prosecutions that partly emerge from it) wouldn't be such a problem if not for the hemming and hawing among states about taking over the full funding role that they need to undertake in order to make choice and other reforms a reality. Thanks to decades of battles over equal funding of schools and efforts at property tax relief, states now provide the plurality of all school dollars, accounting for 48 percent of all school revenues nationwide. Pennsylvania is an exception, with the state only providing 36 percent of school funding (and less than a fifth of Lower Moreland's revenue). States could easily pave the way for choice by replacing all local funding with state dollars, essentially turning the dollars into vouchers that follow every child to whatever school, public, private or parochial, they so choose.
Yet save for a few — including Snyder, Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, and outgoing Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels — governors and legislators haven't fully embraced moving towards full state funding. This reticence exists even though it isn't that hard to do politically, and can be done as part of an effort to reduce property taxes (half of which usually are poured into the coffers of traditional districts). But because state leaders aren't willing to do so, this stalemate allows districts can justify opposition to school choice; after all, they can oppose school choice because they still collect local property tax dollars and parents outside their boundaries don't provide those funds (even though they are financing the same schools through their state income taxes). At the same time, the districts can even deny choice to the children they are supposed to serve by continuing zoned school policies.
The consequences are borne by four out of every five children and their families, who have no access to school choice, and are thus stuck with whatever is offered in traditional districts. Especially for poor and minority families, this means subjecting their kids to educational neglect and malpractice that endangers their futures. This unwillingness to overhaul school finance also perpetuates one of the tenets of the Poverty Myth of Education held so deeply by so many education traditionalists: That poor and minorities don't share the same interest in providing their children with a high quality education as they do, and won't do whatever it takes to help their kids succeed. This racialist and condescending notion never considers the reality that for these families, simply moving from one zip code to another can be economically impossible — and given that districts often arbitrarily change their zoning policies, even moving residences doesn't guarantee high-quality school options.
But it isn't just an academic problem. As in the case of the Garcias (and for McDowell), even those families who want to structure education in ways that ensure their children have stability — even when circumstances aren't necessarily so great — are also stymied by Zip Code Education policies. Considering that marital discord and splits has always been a part of life even before the turmoil unleashed by divorce laws in the 1960s (legendary business titan John D. Rockefeller was himself the product of a single-parent home), ending Zip Code Education policies can help families do all they can to shelter their kids from the storms of life. American public education shouldn't make it harder for parents to do what's best for their children.
Lower Moreland and Montgomery County should cease their prosecution against Hamlet and Olesia. More importantly, reformers should use the Garcia case (and that of Kelley, and Tanya, and Annette, and Marie) as an opportunity to expand choice by overhauling school funding. And this will help all families provide high-quality education to our children.


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Elevare Shower Step Seeks Backers for Crowd Funding Campaign on Indiegogo
MELBOURNE, Australia, Oct. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ The Elevare Shower Step is seeking investors for its crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo. The campaign hopes to raise $25,000 by Oct. 31, 2013 (11:59 p.m. PT) for its production and manufacturing costs.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131004/CG92297LOGO)
The innovative shower step provides an easy way to shave, exfoliate, moisturize or apply tanning cream in the shower. Many find it difficult to safely do these things in a slick tub or without a sturdy ledge in a shower stall. The Elevare is a safe, non-slip alternative. The one-piece design fits in the corner of the shower, securely positioned by the non-slip bottom grip. Easy to use, customers place their foot on top of the non-slip rubber surface. The step then provides the perfect height to clean, shave or moisturize.
"Frustrated by how awkward it was to shave in the shower, I created the Elevare Shower Step. I knew there had to be an easier and safer way," says Leanne Brown, creator of Elevare.
Elevare was professionally designed by Charlwood Design, an award-winning industrial and product design firm in Melbourne, Australia. This patented product is beautifully designed and enhances any shower. It is simple to clean and can store a razor in the hanger. It even comes with a travel bag for easy transport.
The campaign is seeking investors to provide the funds to begin production for January 2014. The product has been tested and is good-to-go for mass production. All money raised will be applied for tool and manufacturing costs.

subset: commoncrawl


text: How Wikipedia Breaks News, and Adjusts to It News & Features NPR · Feb 9, 2007 Listen Story audio Copyright 2017 NPR. Stay Informed The news on your schedule from MPR News Update Email Address* Zip Code MPR News Update AM Edition MPR News Update PM Edition See our Privacy Policy. Must be age 13.


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Community Service Helps to Keep Our Roadsides Clean
- May 14, 2007
By Echo Menges Several Edina residents have reported a foul odor in their homes while crews have been working to clear sewer lines in their vicinity. According to City Superintendent Mike Wriedt, when a sewer line is jetted out a vacuum effect can happen, which will suck the water traps connected to that line dry.READ MORE
By Mike Scott A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. –Second Amendment to the United States Constitution A little more than a month has passed since the tragic school murders in Newtown, Connecticut, and theREAD MORE
Local little girls in Marcia Taylor's Dance Classes at the Knox County Community Center had their first recital on Sunday, January 20, 2013. Videos by: Thomas Christen/Community Center Health Educator/DirectorREAD MORE
By Mike Scott Fire destroyed the Larry and Kim Meinhardt home southwest of Kahoka on Wednesday morning, January 23. At about 10:30am, Kahoka and Clark County Rural firefighters were called to house fire on Wednesday morning, about four miles southwest of Kahoka. Upon arrival, they found the home and outbuilding, which is used as aREAD MORE
, age 94, of Edina, MO, died Monday, January 21, 2013, in the Knox County Nursing Home at Edina, MO. She was born May 29, 1918, at Bible Grove in Scotland, County, MO, the daughter of Oscar and Tonia Cruse Kigar. She was united in marriage to Howard Waggener on September 6, 1935, in Edina,READ MORE
Marita Parrish Pennycuff, 97 of Mountain View, OK, died January 9, 2013, in Corn, OK. She was born July 29, 1915 in Sedan, OK, to T.P. and Hattie (Jenkins) Parrish. She attended school at Sedan, OK, and graduated from Mountain View High School and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Okalahoma A&M in 1939.READ MORE


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Gavin & Gwen Go Global Green With Gaggle Of Other Celebs
Stepping out on stage to celebrate Global Green USA's 6th Annual Pre-Oscar Party, Gavin Rossdale took to the stage with singer Sheryl Crow. He and his pop star wife Gwen Stefani attended the event, along with a gang of other celebrities.
Heather Graham was there in a strange knit dress that really showed off her cleavage. She's definitely got nice boobs, but that is quite a weird dress. Poor Kate Bosworth is still uncomfortably thin.
My girl Rosario Dawson looked appropriately dressed in her long, white coat and cream-colored scarf. But then again, she usually is.
Gallery Info: Kate Bosworth, Gwen Stefani, Heather Graham, Kate Walsh, Lisa Ling, Julian Sands, Julie Benz, Benjamin Mackenzie, Tyrese Gibson, Neil Patrick Harris, Gavin Rossdale, Chris Pine, Dominic Monaghan, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Sarah Chalke, Maggie Grace, Sheryl Crow, Zachary Quinto, Rosie Perez, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson, Jamie King and Taylor Dayne at the 6th Annual Global Green Pre-Oscar Party.


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Howdy all. I am a moderator over at the California forum (ugh...God forbid), but before all of you pull out your guns, trust me when I say I think I hate it more than you guys. I am a complete country boy, and hate the city and the concrete.
I am 23 years old and have been here my entire life. Grew up in Southern California and went to Nor. Cal for college. I graduated last December from Sacramento State and now want to go to Law School. My main interest is in Montana and the University in Missoula. I do have some questions for some of you guys though, if you're willing to be kind enough to answer. What is the job market up there like? How about housing? I cannot afford to buy a house, so renting is my option, albeit house or apartment. What does the typical place rent for up there?
Thanks a lot guys.
Jeff Given


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Rowe Strikes again as Lobos Down Broncos 1-0
Sept. 28, 2012
Albuquerque, N.M. --- There are a ton of numbers to digest. School record for consecutive home games without a loss. Extending the school record for consecutive conference games without a loss. A milestone coaching win. A fourth straight shutout. But through all of that, there was only one number Kit Vela cared about.
The number "1". As in 1-0-0, UNM's conference record after opening Mountain West play with a solid 1-0 victory over Boise State on Friday night in front of 1,396 fans at the UNM Soccer Complex.
"We are 1-0 in conference, and that's the most important thing," said Vela, and the three points earned at home will go a long way as UNM looks to win a third straight Mountain West title.
It wasn't easy, although UNM had more shots in the first half 9-3, and for the game 17-15, but it was senior forward Stephanie Rowe with the heroics once again. Rowe put UNM on the board with 21:59 left in the game when she knocked home a shot from the six that banked in off the left post. It was set up by fellow senior and forward Natalie Jenks, who sensed indecision on a Boise State clearance, and burst through the box. BSU's clearance attempt went off of Jenks to Rowe, who made one move to get herself open before nailing her fourth goal of the season.
For Rowe, she now has eight career goals, and three in a row, after scoring twice in UNM's last outing, a 2-0 win over UC Davis.
Until that point, UNM had the run of play, save for a golden opportunity in the first half for Boise State that was missed with Lauren Hickok shot a ball from about 10-yards out directly in front of the net towards the far left post, but it curled just outside the frame.
"I thought in the first half we really kept them at bay," said Kit Vela. "But that's how we've been playing. In the second half they felt like they were in the game, because it was still 0-0, and they are a good team."
Boise State upped their shot total to 12 in the second half, with three of those coming in the final 39 seconds, but two were blocked and one was a desperation shot from 45 yards out with the clock winding down. BSU's best chance at a tie was when Katy Oehring's shot from 20-yards out was hard and low to the far corner, but Cornell slid across to make the save.
Most of Cornell's action didn't go down statistically as anything, but on several long free kicks, Cornell commanded her box well. With 17 minutes left she forcefully punched out a long service, and minutes later in traffic she boxed a ball out amidst a host of Broncos.
"Kelli had to dominate her box like that against Florida and Georgia," said Vela. "She controlled things and that's what she brings to this team, that veteran presence back there."
Cornell got her fifth shutout in the last six matches, and her fourth in a row, although her backline of two-time conference Player of the Week Liz Nare, Lauren Irwin, Sinead Fleming, and Brooke Ellison get major kudos as well for that run. The win did have some major milestones attached to it, as UNM has now gone 11 consecutive home games without a loss, a new school record, and 15 straight conference games without a loss. UNM's last conference loss was October 23, 2009 to San Diego State 3-1.
The win was also the 100th for Kit Vela, who is now 100-85-39 in 12 years at UNM, but 44-17-13 in the last four. "One hundred is a nice number, but 1-0 is what I care about right now."
NOTES: Cornell lowered her goals against average to 0.89 ... Rowe joins Rachel Montoya, Jenks, and Jordan Craig as current Lobos with eight career goals, which is the active lead ... Cornell now has 44 career wins and 38 career shutouts ... she moved ahead of Kristen Winters for third place on the all-time minutes list with 6,962, and is now the UNM goalkeeper with the most minutes played ... she will pass Jayme Dieringer for first place during the Fresno State game ... Jenks' assist was her third and it ties her for the team lead with Liz Nare ... freshman Lindsay Guice played seven minutes but had two shots, including a header that nearly resulted in her first career goal ... UNM has now scored in eight consecutive games.


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Discussion in 'Pistons and NBA' started by mikhail1973, Aug 7, 2013.
We should offer Drummod + 1st round pick for Amir Johnson and watch the Wins pile up...
You're joking, I hope! LOL
Kinda like Jerebko? That makes three Jerebkos for this year. We have Singler Jerebko who can play 2-3, Jonas Jerebko who can play 3-4, and Jorts Jerebko who can play 4-5. They come in all sizes. We must be the only team in the NBA that has a matryoshka collection of hustle boys without lateral quickness.
It looks like the starting lineup is going to be Jennings-Billups-Smith-Moose-Drummond. That's the recurring theme in several articles I read recently and those are the 5 guys you see when you hit the Pistons official site. 2 PGs and 2 PFs and a Center. It would be interesting for sure. Talent-wise those are the 2 most talented guards and 3 most talented front court players. So, we would be putting our best team on the court, so to speak. This is a lineup that goes against the grain in today's NBA. It'll either be fantastically disruptive, or depressingly ineffective.
I like the Jorts Jerebko nick.
thats my middle name - Max Jort .....
If the number 8 pick in the draft can't beat out a 70 year old Chauncey Billups coming off an achilles injury, then we need some new people in the Pistons' war room.
Trade Kentavious! While he still has value.
Shhh, don't let Micro catch you agreeing with a rotation that leaves Bynum out. lol
How many current Pistons could be traded straight up for Amir Johnson? In other words, who on our squad would Toronto take to give up Amir? Smith of course. Jennings iffy. I'd say Monroe and Drummond for sure. About it. The problem is, we gave up Amir for virtually nothing. Ditto for Afflalo. Only a few players on our squad right now could be traded for Afflalo. Not many more for Delfino. All gave up for nothing. If you don't like a player, keep it to yourself. Make him look good, and get something in trade. Don't announce you are giving players away for free.
And where would Amir be in the rotation if he were here today? 4th off the bench? for what 6,7 mil a year or whatever he makes. Can make a case for Afflalo. Dumars picked the wrong guy there. Still - not like he is a all-star. I never like Delfino. He had such as bad attitude when he was here. We were the top team in the East back then - sorry if you could not start and play 40 mins a night Delfino. Good luck else where.
Basically Delfino, Darko, Mejia, Afflalo, Rodney White (it pleases me to no end that we are still talking about Rodney White), Jorts, Mork from Ork, and Amir all would have been NBA all stars if not for everyone else in the Pistons organization being so bad at everything. It is truly a wonder that Joe won a title as a GM while being so horribly incompetent. And before you think I am appealing to Joe's success, let's talk about how amazing Amir has been with Toronto, or Rodney White playing in the Unko Debunkalogo league, or Sammy Mejia's amazing NBA career... Maybe EVERYONE in the NBA is retarded except for Rodney White (who is not actually in the NBA, an oversight that will be corrected as soon as they make a camera that can capture his amazing hand speed). As my friend @detteam might say, food for thot.
We need to take Amir out of these conversations. Gross stats, per minute stats and advanced stats are all really strong and have been for years. He has played less than 20% of his career NBA minutes as a Piston and we got to see him for half his career from 18 to 21 years old. We basically saw his college years only. First season- 39 minutes. Second season- 124 minutes. It's the same as with Darko in that there is no point in drafting somebody that young if you aren't willing to play them or support their development. May as well get a guy like Jorts instead.
Glad you get what I am saying. Drafting young, immature kids, and then not playing them, is quite a waste. White was a nine pick, and Darko of course ever higher. Total waste of lotto picks.
I really don't think we will have a problem with our starting unit. Its the bench I am really worried about. Really and truly worried. Cause between Dumars being pushy about who he wants to play, and well, he did just resign Bynum, and get two questionable guys from outside the system - and continues to carry guys like JJ and Singler who really just can't play NBA quality D. (Don't even want to mention he is still carrying CV.) Our bench, if Dumars actually has these sorts play, could be truly and utterly horrible.
What evidence do you have that Dumars ever had input on who plays? He has always been very "hand-off" with his coaches. In fact, most have argued, yourself included, he should step in more.
Not every lotto pick pans out. Heck, you're still pulling for Mejia who is playing in the Lower Slobovia league.
No, I have argued that he should fire the coaches for playing the wrong guys - or, if he was orchestrating that mess, resign. Yes, there has been plenty of sources that claim Dumars decides who plays, whether he admits it or not. Can I prove any of it. No. So, again, I will say this, if the wrong guys are getting minutes, then either the coach needs to go, or the GM needs to go if the GM is calling the shots. Of note though, its Dumars who put guys like Gordon, CV, Singler, and JJ on the team. Its Dumars that gives the choices of players that a coach can choose from to a large extent. Seeing guys like I mentioned before who are currently on the squad, but can't play NBA defense, I will continue to doubt Dumars ability to GM. Now, with that said, it goes one step further. What if the owner is hamstringing Dumars? That too, is also possible.
Dumars certainly hired the guys who chose who plays (and of course subsequently fired them all).
Separate names with a comma.


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A constant issue confronting secular societies in Europe or America is how best to respond to those in the Muslim faith who claim to represent the majority. A Danish Muslim organization known as "Call For Islam" is proposing the crazy idea of establishing "Sharia Zones" in Danish cities. In those areas, Muslims would be governed by Sharia law which means unelected clerics would decide issues of importance to Muslims in the area. Abu Ahmed, who belongs to the Muslim sect, Salafism, insists Muslims have a right to be under their own law rather than that of Denmark.
If we carry this concept to its logical conclusion, we could have a polygamy zone, a revenge zone in which you can kill anyone who has injured your feelings and how about drug zones. Major Muslim organizations in Denmark have denounced the idea and argue it simply represents what a small group desired. It is time to cease being intimidated by radical groups. They can always head to Saudi Arabia.


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Friday, January 4, 2013
Superpages.com Integrates GrubHub
Dallas-based business directory firm SuperMedia said this week that it has updated its Superpages.com mobile app, and is now integrating food ordering and restaurant information from GrubHub. According to SuperMedia, the new integration allows users to order takeout from local GrubHub restaurants directly from its mobile application; other new features also include integration of FOursquare reviews, and better business listing page layouts. The firm said the updated app is available from the Apple Store, and runs on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.


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CLINTON - Mrs. Nellene Ezell Ward, age 95, of Clinton passed away 4:38 a.m. Monday, May 26, 2014, at Arbor Place of Clinton.
She was a member of Clinton First United Methodist Church, a graduate from Murray State in 1940 with a bachelor of science degree in home economics, and was a homemaker.
She is survived by her three sons, Kenneth Murray (Evelyn) Ward, Willis Ezell (Linda) Ward and Thomas Steven (Kathie) Ward, all of Clinton; seven grandchildren, Samuel Brent (Kara) Ward of Clinton, Stephanie Ward (Troy) Carter of Clinton, Jessica Ward (Anthony) Bailey of Clinton, Kris Ward (Martie) Templeton of Clinton, David Randall Ward of Clinton, Kenneth Brady (Amy) Ward of Nashville, Tenn., and Jacklyn Gray Ward of New York, N.Y.; her sister, Dorotha Ezell Pharis of Clinton; and 10 great-grandchildren; Ladies who gave loving care, June Dodge, Michaeleen (Mikey) Mickler, Amanda Massey, Helen Bugg, Karen Calvert and Aimee Requena.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Mac Murray Ward; her parents, Thomas Little and Jesse Greer Ezell; and sister, Marell Ezell Malak.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 29, 2014, at Brown Funeral Home in Clinton with the Rev. Stan Walden officiating. Burial will follow in the Pleasant View Memorial Gardens.
Friends may call after 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 29, 2014, at the Brown Funeral Home in Clinton.
Donations may be given to Hickman County Ambulance Services, P.O. Box 83, Clinton, KY 42031 or Arbor Place of Clinton, 106 Padgett Drive, Clinton, KY 42031.
Check out these recently discussed stories and voice your opinion...


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Aspen-area bike trail sabotage under investigation
ASPEN, Colo. - Federal authorities say they're still investigating sabotage on a mountain biking trail near Aspen last month.
The Aspen Times reports that the Bureau of Land Management is investigating after two boards riddled with nails found in the Prince Creek network on June 15. The boards were covered with dirt and pine needles on the narrow, single-track trails. An observant rider spotted and removed the hazards. No one was reported injured.
A BLM spokesman says the agency will step up patrols on the popular trails.
The BLM's primary law enforcement activity there has been citing or warning people for camping too long.


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Anis Shivani is a fiction writer, poet, and critic in Houston, Texas.
His debut poetry book is My Tranquil War and Other Poems, recently released by NYQ Books. His other new book is the story collection, The Fifth Lash and Other Stories, recently released by C&R Press and currently on the longlist for the Frank O'Connor short story award.
My Tranquil War and Other Poems received advance praise from Franz Wright, Eileen Myles, Fady Joudah, Marilyn Hacker, Kevin Prufer, Campbell McGrath, Michael McClure, and others. A recent review of the book is here, and another one here.
The Fifth Lash and Other Stories received advance praise from Ron Rash, Gina Ochsner, George Singleton, Murzban Shroff, and others. Publishers Weekly wrote: "These new stories from Shivani, many set in Pakistan, parse the disconnect between public and private behavior, and the desires that must be muted in order for people to survive. Shivani is a perceptive writer who puts his finger on the contradictions his characters navigate to survive daily life." A recent review of the book is here.
Anis's debut novel Karachi Raj will be released in October 2013. Orhan Pamuk, Ha Jin, Mohammed Hanif, and Siddhartha Deb have offered advance praise. Look for details soon.
In criticism, Anis's books include Against the Workshop (2011), the recently completed Literature at the Global Crossroads, and a book in progress called Plastic Realism: Neoliberal Discourse in the New American Novel.
Anis's other books include Anatolia and Other Stories (2009), the recently completed Soraya: Sonnets, a novel in progress, Abruzzi, 1936, and a poetry manuscript in progress, Empire.
Anis's work appears in the Southwest Review, Boston Review, Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, Agni, Epoch, Fence, Boulevard, Pleiades, Denver Quarterly, George Review, Iowa Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Antioch Review, Subtropics, Green Mountains Review, Puerto del Sol, Colorado Review, Times Literary Supplement, London Magazine, Cambridge Quarterly, Contemporary Review, Antigonish Review, Dalhousie Review, Fiddlehead, Prism International, Meanjin, and many other journals. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle, and reviews books for many newspapers and magazines.
Anis won a 2012 Pushcart Prize, graduated from Harvard College, and lives in Houston, Texas.


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William Maxwell Evarts
|Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts
|Died in New York City, New York Co., New York
|Immediate Family:
Son of Jeremiah Evarts and Mehetabel Prescott Evarts
|US Secretary of State, US Attorney General, US Senator & Chief Counsel for President Andrew Johnson at his impeachment trial
|Managed by:
|Private User
|Last Updated:
Historical records matching William M. Evarts, US Sec. of State, US Atty Gen and US Senator
Immediate Family
About William M. Evarts, US Sec. of State, US Atty Gen and US Senator
William Maxwell Evarts (February 6, 1818 – February 28, 1901) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as US Secretary of State, US Attorney General and US Senator from New York. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of author, editor, and Indian removal opponent Jeremiah Evarts, and the grandson of Declaration of Independence signer Roger Sherman. He was chief counsel for President Andrew Johnson during the impeachment trial, and from July 1868 until March 1869 he was Johnson's Attorney General of the United States.
William attended Boston Latin School, graduated from Yale College in 1837 and then attended Harvard Law School. While at Yale he became a member of the secret society Skull and Bones, but later in life spoke out against such societies at the 1873 Yale commencement alumni meeting, claiming they bred snobbishness.
He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1841, and soon took high rank in his profession. He married Helen Minerva Bingham Wardner in 1843. They had 12 children between 1845 and 1862, all born in New York City.
A Whig Party supporter before joining the fledgling Republican Party, Evarts was appointed an assistant United States district attorney and served from 1849-1853. In 1860 he was chairman of the New York delegation to the Republican National Convention where he placed Senator William H. Seward's name in nomination for President. In 1861 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate from New York. He was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1867-1868.
He was chief counsel for President Andrew Johnson during the impeachment trial, and from July 1868 until March 1869 he was Johnson's Attorney General of the United States. In 1872 he was counsel for the United States before the tribunal of arbitration on the Alabama claims at Geneva, Switzerland. Evarts was also a founding member of the New York City Bar Association, and served as its first president from 1870 to 1879, by far the longest tenure of any president since.
Evarts served as counsel for President-elect Rutherford B. Hayes, on behalf of the Republican Party, before the Electoral Commission in the disputed U.S. presidential election of 1876. During President Rutherford B. Hayes's administration he was United States Secretary of State. He was a delegate to the International Monetary Conference at Paris 1881.
From 1885 to 1891 he was a U.S. Senator from New York. While in Congress (49th, 50th and 51st Congresses), he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Library from 1887 to 1891. As an orator Senator Evarts stood in the foremost rank, and some of his best speeches were published.
He led the American fund-raising effort for the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty and spoke at its unveiling on October 28, 1886.
Senator Evarts retired from public life due to ill health in 1891. He was also part of a law practice in New York City called Evarts, Southmoyd and Choate. He died in New York City and was buried at Ascutney Cemetery in Windsor, Vermont.
William was a descendant of the English emigrant John Evarts, who settled in Northwestern Connecticut in the 17th Century.
William was a member of the extended Baldwin, Hoar & Sherman family, which had many members in American politics.
Ebenezer R. Hoar, a first cousin of Evarts, was a U.S. Attorney General, Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and representative in Congress. The two were best friends, and shared similar professional pursuits and political beliefs. Each served, in succession, as United States Attorney General. Some of Evarts's other first cousins include U.S. Senator & Governor of the State of Connecticut, Roger Sherman Baldwin; U.S. Senator for Massachusetts (brother of Ebenezer R.) George F. Hoar; and California state senator and founding trustee of the University of California, Sherman Day.
Son Maxwell Evarts graduated from Yale College in 1884, where he was also a member of Skull and Bones. He served as a New York City District attorney, and then later as General Counsel for E. H. Harriman, which later became the Union Pacific Railroad, president of two (2) Windsor, VT banks, and the chief financial backer of the Gridley Automatic Lathe (manufactured by the Windsor Machine Co.). In politics, Maxwell served as a representative in the Vermont state legislature and was a Vermont State Fair Commissioner.
Allen Wardner Evarts, another son, graduated from Yale College in 1869. He supported the founding of Wolf's Head Society, and was first president of its alumni association and held the position for 20 years over two separate terms. He was a law partner, corporate president, and trustee of Vassar College.
Grandson Maxwell E. Perkins was the famed Charles Scribner's Sons editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and James Jones.
Great nephew Evarts Boutell Greene was the famed American historian appointed Columbia University's first De Witt Clinton Professor of History 1923, Department Chairman from 1926 to 1939. Chairman of the Columbia Institute of Japanese Studies, 1936–39. He was a noted authority on the American Colonial and Revolutionary War periods. Another relative, Henry Sherman Boutell, was a member of the Illinois state house of representatives, 1884; member of the U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1897 to 1911 (6th District 1897-1903, 9th District 1903-11); delegate, Republican National Convention from Illinois, 1908; U.S. Minister, Switzerland, 1911-13.
Great great nephew Roger Sherman Greene II, the son of Daniel Crosby Greene and Mary Jane (Forbes) Greene; was the U.S. Vice Consul in Rio de Janeiro, 1903–04; Nagasaki, 1904–05; Kobe, 1905; U.S. Consul in Vladivostok, 1907; Harbin, 1909–11; U.S. Consul General in Hankow, 1911-14.
Great great nephew Jerome Davis Greene (1874–1959): President, Lee, Higginson & Company from 1917 to 1932; Secretary, Harvard University Corporation from 1905 to 1910 & 1934-1943; General Manager of the Rockefeller Institute 1910-1012, assistant and secretary to John D. Rockefeller Jr. as Trustee, Rockefeller Institute; Trustee, Rockefeller Foundation; Trustee, Rockefeller General Education Board from 1910 to 1939. executive secretary, American Section - Allied Maritime Transport Council, 1918 Joint Secretary of the Reparations, Paris Peace Conference, 1919; Chairman, American Council Institute of Pacific Relations, 1929–32; Trustee, Brookings Institution of Washington from 1928 to 1945; and a founding member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Great-grandson Archibald Cox served as a U.S. Solicitor General and special prosecutor during President Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal, whereas Evarts defended a U.S. President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial. In a sense, they both successfully argued their cases, which represent two of the three U.S. Presidential impeachment efforts. An impeachment trial was never held in Nixon's case, due to the president's resignation.
William M. Evarts, US Sec. of State, US Atty Gen and US Senator's Timeline
February 6, 1818
Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts
Age 37
January 4, 1858
Age 39
New York City, New York Co., New York
October 10, 1859
Age 41
New York, NY, United States
February 28, 1901
Age 83
New York City, New York Co., New York


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Consultance Accounting Services' Clients & Partners
Consultance Accounting Services works with businesses, non-profits and associations with annual revenues of between $1 and $10 million across the nation. Many of these organizations turn to Consultance after they have experienced one or more challenges related to their bookkeeping and accounting, including:
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- The organization's needs have outgrown what an office manager or even a bookkeeper can fulfill.
- The organization lacks the infrastructure and processes required to increase efficiency.


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New & Used Cruiser Dealer, Michigan RV Sales
Michigan Cruiser RV Sales DealerAs a trusted dealer for Cruiser, we offer a great selection of Cruiser RVs. Feel free to contact our sales staff for a wide range of options. We carry the best brands, but if you are looking for a particular brand and model that we don't carry, our sales staff can direct you to one of our other affiliate dealerships to get you exactly what you're looking for. You will not regret giving us the opportunity to serve you.
We deal in both New and Used Cruiser RVs
Cruiser RV Types
Cruiser Reviews
It Was Great To Deal With Stuart, Matt, Cyndi & Jake. The Staff, From The Service Department To Everyone Else, Were Very Professional And Friendly In Helping Us With Out New Purchase! Gillette's Will Become Our Recommended Dealer After Meeting And Speaking With This Great Staff! Karen And I Meet Hundreds Of Campers Each Year, Where I Work Security, So Our Friends Will Hear All About Our Experience At Gillette's While We're Trading Stories Around The Campfire! We Are Now The Proud Owners Of One Of Them "Cool Looking Trailers"!
For a thoughtfully crafted and genuine RV, Cruiser RV delivers! These wonderful RVs are crafted with care and attention that has been refined over years of successful RV production. You'll be hard pressed to find another manufacturer that shows such dedication and thoughtfulness in their product, and we are proud to carry these wonderful RVs here at Gillette's Interstate RV!
Cruiser RV's success was years in the making! Before purchasing Cruiser, David Fought worked for various RV manufacturers as an engineer, gaining valuable experience in RV production. In the late 1990s, Fought started the DRV company and purchased Cruiser, of which he made his son Jeff president. Two generations have built quite the reputation for providing affordable, well-crafted, and fun RVs. This reflects down to the hand-picked manufacturing team, who ensure each RV is held to the highest standards possible for maximum customer satisfaction!
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Photos By: Bob, Danielle, George Mario, Seth
Name: Dionusia Patricia
Location: Bartlett, IL
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/DionusiaP
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003133834104
Date of Birth: July 30
Zodiac: Leo
Height: 5'4"
Measurements: 32c-24-34
Where are you from?
I am from Chicago, IL. I am currently living in the suburbs surrounding the area.
Does your personality match your Zodiac sign?
I think that my Zodiac, the Leo, does match my personality well; however, there are a few things that don't quite fit as far as my personality goes.
What would you say are your strengths as a model?
My stomach, smile, eyes, lips, and legs. I love to try new posing styles and always try to challenge myself as a model.
What is your best beauty secret?
Lots of sleep and a good diet!
Where can we see you?
I am at events, magazines, and have worked with several designers.
What are your future plans?
My long term goal is to be a successful petite model, and make it big in the modeling world. I also want to graduate from college with a master degree.
Do you drink?
I do drink, and I love rum, and anything fruity unless it has tequila in it.
What is the best present you received?
I think the best present I ever gave was a video iPod when they first came out, and the best present I received was probably BlackHawk's tickets.
Where do you like to eat?
I like to eat at sushi restaurants, and local places. I love cute little local restaurants and sushi is my favorite food. I usually order salads if I am not eating fish.
What do you do on your spare time?
I enjoy hanging out with my friends, shopping, and sleeping.
How do you keep in such excellent shape?
I just try and stay active, and eat healthy. I don't really work out much.
Are you big on first impressions?
I am big on first impressions - you know within the first few seconds if you can or can't get along with someone. I notice a guy's smile first; I love nice smiles! :D
What's on your travel itinerary?
I am planning on going to LA in the future, along with Miami.
How would you like your boyfriend to propose to you?
If I had a boyfriend, I would like him to take me to a beach and while the sun is setting he would ask me to marry him, but I would want it to be a total surprise.
Any shout-outs or last words?
I want to thank Chris Rhee for telling me about this opportunity.


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It's been years since I've written anything here, and too much time since I posted any new art. Many things happened...
I quit college.
I moved in with my girlfriend.
I worked as an art director in a board game company.
I've done loads of 3d work, got a 3d printer... and a laser cutter.
I've got a Cintiq.
I started playing drums.
I had no time to play drums.
I'm 30 now.
I've done much more both exciting and boring stuff.
I'm planning to return to dA.
I'll clean up my gallery and get rid of some older stuff.
I'll post new stuff as it comes, I'm planning draw much more in the near future.
I'll see you around.
I think this is quite an egocentric journal entry.


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#1 Ranked Children's Hospital by U.S. News & World Report
MyPatients provides referring primary care providers with secure access to their patients' information.
Boston Children's has launched the world's 1st program dedicated to offering hand transplants to children who qualify.
Innovation insider is a semi-monthly e-newsletter analyzes innovations at Boston Children's, other academic medical centers and from industry.
Read the latest blog by a Boston Children's doctor, clinician or staff member.
There are many ways you can help children and their families get the care they need.
To schedule an appointment within the Boston Children's Hospital Brain Center, please use the contact information for the appropriate program or service.
If you are not sure which program to contact, please utilize the list of conditions we treat, which will help identify the appropriate treatment program. You may also contact any of our hospital departments directly:
Department of Neurology
Department of Neurosurgery
Department of Psychiatry
Division of Developmental Medicine
Department of Anesthesia/Pain Service
Division of Endocrinology
Division of Genetics
Division of Newborn Medicine
Department of Ophthalmology
Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Enhancement
Division of Sports Medicine
If you are from a country other than the United States, please contact Boston Children's International Center at 617-355-5209 or email firstname.lastname@example.com to schedule all inpatient and outpatient appointments.
We strive to make your and your child's experience coming here-and staying here-as pleasant as possible. We understand that a hospital visit can sometimes be difficult and overwhelming, and we offer many amenities that we hope will make your time here more comfortable. On this website, you'll find all you need to know about getting to Boston Children's, accommodations, navigating the hospital experience and resources that are available for your family.
Here are some helpful links:
Find the Boston Children's location closest to you.
Get directions and parking information.
Here for an overnight and not sure where to stay? Our guide to staying in the hospital, hotels and special accommodations.
Want to take a break from the hospital routine? Here's a list of area attractions and restaurants.
We are grateful to have been ranked #1 on U.S. News & World Report's list of the best children's hospitals in the nation for the third year in a row, an honor we could not have achieved without the patients and families who inspire us to do our very best for them. Thanks to you, Boston Children's is a place where we can write the greatest children's stories ever told."