Anthony Bourdain, Houston, & America's Beautiful Diversity

Anthony Bourdain lives the life I have imagined, and it is wonderful to live vicariously through him. The chef, writer, traveler, and cultural critic, whose show Parts Unknown is a cosmopolitan treat featured weekly on the CNN Network, has been entertaining and educating readers and viewers for years with his travels to exotic and interesting locales. In the hangover of post-Election 2016, I couldn't imagine a better antidote to the natonal feelings of uncertainty and anxiety than Bourdain's recent trip to and spotlight of the vibrant, diverse, and eclectic city of Houston, Texas. Clips like this provide a comforting insight into the strength of American culture - a culture that is built on immigration and progressive acceptance and embrace of diversity.




It is certainly worth taking a virtual trip to Houston via Bourdain's weekly essay on life, food, and culture. Find this episode On-Demand, and wrap yourself up in the warmth of America's vibrant and growing multiculturalism.

Leonard Cohen has passed - and "Everybody Knows"

As a forty-seven year old Gen X-er, I came to know the brilliance of Leonard Cohen later in his career. As it happened though, it was early in my social and existential consciousness, and it came from an unlikely place - the early Gen X film Pump Up the Volume. I was captivated by the voice from the stark opening of the film as Christian Slater/Hard-Harry-Hard-On prepared to broadcast his pirate radio program. And amidst the haunting strings with the staccatto rythm, HHH grooms us for the show, "Down to business: I've got my Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi, and I've got my Blackjack gum.  I've got that feeling - that familiar feeling that something rank is going down out there."

As several people have noted on social media like Twitter, dying in 2016 shortly after the election of you know who was such a Leonard Cohen thing to do. The rankness that "Everybody Knows" could not be more apparent on a day like November 10, 2016, and the opening lyrics from the soulful Cohen are eerily prescient of the dark epiphany many woke up to this week. We didn't want to believe it was true .... but everybody knows. Rest in peace, solemn prince. It's a mournful time so apropos for you to go. And now he "will speak no more."

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody know

Election 2016 & the Twilight of American Culture

I'm listening to cool jazz and drinking a warm cup of tea on the afternoon of November 9, 2016. My thoughts are wandering aimlessly along with the piano keys, and I know only one thing for sure - I need to listen to more jazz. I need to savor more teas and bourbons and wines and craft beers, and I need to learn how to play the piano. I should immerse myself in poetry and literature and art and culture, and I should cherish every possible moment with my wife and children. In the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential election, in which the people of the United States elected as President a man I cannot fathom in the role, I seek to embrace life amidst the whirlwind.

The first inkling I had of the looming dismay and disappointment so many are feeling about ... that guy ... was in my kitchen late Monday evening as I prepared coffee for the morning. It was almost like the moment Aunt Alexandra felt before sending Scout and Jem off to the play that nearly tragic night - it was "a pinprick of apprehension ... as if somebody walked across my grave." He might win. He's going to win. It seemed all too surreal to accept, yet it was worth anticipating the possibility to avoid the unexpected shock and disbelief. Then, in the aftermath of the election when it appeared the result was inevitable, my thoughts immediately turned to an insightful work of non-fiction and social commentary published in 2000. I thought of Morris Berman's Twilight of American Culture. 

A prophetic examination of Western decline, The Twilight of American Culture provides one of the most caustic and surprising portraits of American society to date. Whether examining the corruption at the heart of modern politics, the "Rambification" of popular entertainment, or the collapse of our school systems, Morris Berman suspects that there is little we can do as a society to arrest the onset of corporate Mass Mind culture. Citing writers as diverse as de Toqueville and DeLillo, he cogently argues that cultural preservation is a matter of individual conscience, and discusses how classical learning might triumph over political correctness with the rise of a "a new monastic individual"―a person who, much like the medieval monk, is willing to retreat from conventional society in order to preserve its literary and historical treasures. "Brilliantly observant, deeply thoughtful ....lucidly argued."―Christian Science Monitor

Regarding pivotal events like elections, I am generally of even-minded pragmatism. The sky is not falling. It's never the end of the world, and the republic will survive. No single man is larger than the government and institutions of the United States of America. In many ways, it doesn't really matter who wins because all politics is local, and the next day we will get up and turn on the lights and go to work and settle in to normalcy. And, I do believe that still. The lights still work in Greenwood Village, and my children are still receiving an incredible education at wonderful schools located in a safe and prosperous community. However, something has changed, and the reality is that I don't really recognize the larger society in which I live. There are certain behaviors that are truly beyond the pale. They should be disqualifying factors for public service. But they're apparently not. And here we are. In a rather thoughtful, though somewhat characteristically edgy piece in the Washington Post today, our contemporary bard Garrison Keillor reflected on the apparent twilight or sundown of "culture" exemplified by the recent election.

So he won. The nation takes a deep breath. Raw ego and proud illiteracy have won out, and a severely learning-disabled man with a real character problem will be president. We are so exhausted from thinking about this election, millions of people will take up leaf-raking and garage cleaning with intense pleasure. We liberal elitists are now completely in the clear. The government is in Republican hands. Let them deal with him. Democrats can spend four years raising heirloom tomatoes, meditating, reading Jane Austen, traveling around the country, tasting artisan beers, and let the Republicans build the wall and carry on the trade war with China and deport the undocumented and deal with opioids, and we Democrats can go for a long , brisk walk and smell the roses. 

There is more cyncisim, and even arrogance, in that piece than perhaps I mean to promote. But the sentiment remains relevant. Something has gone wrong with basic human decency and the valuing of education and culture, not to mention manners and decorum, in contemporary American society, and I don't like how it feels ... how I feel. Now, Berman and Keillor may be "the liberal elitists" of which he speaks, but I don't quite align with those politics. That said, I do align with education over ignorance and culture over consumerism. And, thus, I feel an inclination toward Berman's vision and recommendation for those who can to continue to be purveyors of culture even if that means a reluctant withdrawal from the society from which it should be emanating. That doesn't mean that I plan to "fiddle while Rome burns" or take a "walk" through the roses while ignoring those in need. But it does mean I'm re-evaluating where I focus my energy - and it will be more on culture and personal growth than it will be on news and politics.

Granted, some will view my reaction and response as that of a snob. And I don't fully reject that characterization, though I'd argue it's an oversimplication of the message I'm trying to articulate. Others will claim my elitism and arrogance is no better than the behavior of the candidate at issue, and I soundly reject that conclusion. For, I am talking about standards of adult behavior and a well-informed world view that are so clearly lacking in the person who was elected. That's perhaps the most disappointing issue - the harsh reality of the mis-guided endorsement. Truly, four years from now, we can be pretty certain that there won't be unprecedented "winning" for the most disenfranchised. There will not be a large, impenetrable wall along the country's southern border. Mythical jobs and prosperity will not have returned to Rust Belt communities. The threat of terrorism from groups like ISIS will not have vanished. But there will be residual side effects of the campaign's negative tenor. And I simply cannot condone that. For I have deep concern and empathy for people who will be threatened by the policies and actions that may come. I'm sincerely worried about people.

Thus, with that in mind, I have realized that I cannot spend the days and weeks and months to come focused on the news and politics of this turn of events. While I've looked at a few pieces of journalism on social media seeking to "make some sense" out of it or explain "what comes next," I don't have much faith in the ability of any of it to make things better. Nothing will clarify and explain this in any satisfying way - for I'm realizing that a significant segment of society reflects and pursues a set of beliefs and values to which I simply cannot relate. And, reading an endless string of commentary about it will do me no good; in fact, it will consume me to no benefit. So, I will not be focusing on those things, but instead focusing on life. There are middle school plays and dance recitals to attend. There are Speech & Debate tournaments and math competitions to experience and celebrate. There are choir, orchestra, and band concerts to see, and there so many opportunities to create and celebrate the positive culture of where I live.

So, for what it's worth, I want to listen to more jazz and immerse myself in culture. And, that's how I am going forward on November 9, 2016.

Buffy - "One More Time with Feeling" at 15 Years

It might be one of the best episodes of television ever - it was the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And, yesterday on November 6 was the fifteenth anniversary of a truly original and groundbreaking bit of television history. I recently learned of this milestone when it was posted and retweeted countless times by the Twitter handle Whedonesque. And, immediately upon learning of that, I had to check out YouTube for a few clips from the episode. Not surprisingly, they captivated me as the episode always does, for it is great drama with layers of meaning and some kick-ass music to boot. I simply can't believe Joss wrote it all - the man's talent knows no bounds.

"Once More, with Feeling" explores changes in the relationships of the main characters, using the plot device that a demon—credited as "Sweet" but unnamed in the episode—compels the people of Sunnydale to break into song at random moments to express hidden truths. The title of the episode comes from a line sung by Sweet; once the characters have revealed their truths and face the consequences of hearing each other's secrets, he challenges them to "say you're happy now, once more, with feeling". All of the regular cast performed their own vocals, although two actors were given minimal singing at their request. "Once More, with Feeling" is the most technically complex episode in the series, as extra voice and dance training for the cast was interspersed with the production of four other Buffy episodes. It was Joss Whedon's first attempt at writing music, and different styles—from 1950s sitcom theme music to rock opera—express the characters' secrets in specific ways. The episode was well received critically upon airing, specifically for containing the humor and wit to which fans had become accustomed. The musical format allowed characters to stay true to their natures while they struggled to overcome deceit and miscommunication, fitting with the sixth season's themes of growing up and facing adult responsibilities.^[2][3] It is considered one of the most effective and popular episodes of the series, and—prior to a financial dispute in 2007—was shown in theaters with the audience invited to sing along.

I can also still remember the first few moments of the show when I first saw it - I was initially disappointed, thinking it was going to be a let down. I just wasn't in the mood for Joss playing with the standard format of the show - though I was always blown away when he did. I mean the "silent episode"? Wow, that was a piece of work. So, I watched the musical unfold, becoming more amazed with every song and twist in the plot. Who can forget Anya's hard rock rant against "Bunnies!" And that was balanced by the incredible poignance of the workout scene with Giles worried that he's "Standing in Your Way."



It's hard to believe that it's been fifteen years since the heyday of Buffy. I can't wait till this summer when my daughter turns twelve and we start her Buffy education. She hasn't watched the show other than the pilot and One More Time with Feeling. She is a dancer and theater girl, and the show was too amazing to hold back. So, we'll start with season one, but we'll both be looking forward to the musical.

Does School Choice Matter?

Does it matter where you go to school? A recent study out of Chicago and reported on in The Atlantic seems to challenge the notion that attending "the best high school" matters to a student's long term success. The idea that attending the "best school," and perhaps more importantly, having the "best teacher" is necessary for student success has been a foundational argument for the school choice movement - namely, the idea of charters, school choice, and vouchers. That becomes a problem when school enrollment has been traditionally neighborhood focused. And, I've often worried that measurements of student success on standardized tests or college enrollment equate to a school being the best and having the best teachers. For, bright and motivated students can mask rather mediocre teaching, and some of the most talented educators out there may face criticism for mediocre student performance against the norms despite making great strides with struggling populations. Here's an interesting bit of insight on "selective schools" and student achievement.

Selective schools did, however, produce a variety of non-academic gains: Students had higher attendance and lower suspension rates, and they trusted their teachers more. Students also reported that their peers’ behavior was much better and that they felt safer in school—this suggests that insofar as selective schools are beneficial, it may be because of higher-achieving peers rather than better-quality instruction.

Shouldn't All Public Restrooms be Gender Neutral

When I was young I used to go to University of Illinois football games with my dad and his co-workers, and everyone would tailgate for hours before the game. With all that drinking, the Port-o-Potties were always heavily used, and I vividly remember the long lines for the ladies and no lines at the mens. This is no surprise to anyone, but I can recall wondering just what was so unique about an outdoor toilet that it had to be gender specific. Well, these days, if I go to large outdoor events like the Bolder-Boulder or a college football game, I know there is just a row of port-o-potties and they are not gender specific. That's as it should be. Which poses the question: why are public restrooms gender specific?

That may change in Denver in the future - a new building code amendment would contain a gender-neutral requirement for all single stall restrooms. Of course, it should be that way. In buildings where there are single stall/room restrooms, it makes no sense for one to be male and the other female, especially if there is no urinal for male use. That is the reality at many restaurants these days, especially those with just one or two bathrooms. Obviously, if there is a single stall and it has a traditional toilet, either sex should be able to use it.

“You have people standing in these old houses, basically, and there’s a line for the ladies room when across the hall it’s the exact same, with a door and a lock, and it’s empty,” he said. The proposal is part of a package of amendments to the Denver building and fire codes, which the council updated earlier this year. The new bathroom rule would apply to both new and existing single-stall restrooms, with signage changes required by May 1, 2018. Restrooms designated for family or assisted use also would need signs making clear they are gender-neutral.

However, I would go one step further and argue that even in a large multi-stall restroom, there is no real reason for the rooms to be separated by gender. If the urinals are removed and each toilet is in a singel stall, then it really should make no difference. For people watching TV in the late 90s, you might have seen this concept as a particularly prominent - and progressive - feature of the workplace for Ally McBeal. It was even refered to as "the unisex," as opposed to the bathroom. I always thought that was a particularly innovative idea, and I occasionally wondered why the idea didn't catch on.



I would argue that a decade from now, the presence of gender-neutral bathrooms will be the new normal.

Halloween in the Mountains - Vail style

RE-PRINT - Views on the Village, 2013

For as long as I've lived in Greenwood Village, we have celebrated Halloween locally, and it has always been a great time.  From a wonderful Fall Fest, usually put on by the Village and featuring a costume contest and games, to decked-out neighborhood houses and great trick or treating, All Hallows Eve in Greenwood Village has been a lot of fun. Generally, we've done our "candy walk" in Sundance Hills.  This year, however, we've broke from tradition.

Halloween in Vail is quite a "treat."

Through our time share with the Grand Lodge in Breckenridge and its connection to Interval International, we received the opportunity for a weeklong stay in a two-bedroom condo at the Marriott Streamside in Vail for $200 for the week.  For the week.  It was a deal we couldn't pass up, even as we sort of lamented being out of Greenwood Village for Halloween. We haven't been disappointed.  The Marriott is gorgeous, the weather has been perfect, and the Halloween fun in Vail has been great.

In Vail, kids trick or treat in Vail Village for what is called the Trick or Trot.  All the stores around Vail Village that are open offer candy to the kids - and they draw a great crowd.  Amazingly, the Village has been rather vacant during the week, but on Halloween between 2 and 5, the Village is filled with hundreds of kids running from shop to shop.  It's festive and a great way to spend the day.  I sat for a while at the Alpenrose and enjoyed a nice Erdinger - which is a German beer I love but rarely find in the states - and the kids made their way around the shops.

Other great places to trick or treat are the neighborhoods in Edwards and Avon, and the little town of Minturn has festivities for a couple days.  Halloween in the mountains has been quite a treat. 

Ignoring Our Best & Brightest - Let's Celebrate Mathletes

It's not surprising that contemporary society has a disproportionate interest in celebrating athletic achievements while downplaying or ignoring academic and intellectual accomplishments. And, of course, most of the news we hear about schools and students is focused on their shortcomings and failings. That narrative is a primary part of our problem, and perhaps it's time that we begin celebrating mathletes as much as we celebrate athletes. That's the spirit of my most recent piece for the Denver Post - We Celebrate our Athletes, so why not our Mathletes?

In July, six American high school students went to Hong Kong and won the International Math Olympiad. It was the second year in a row that American students have bested the world’s top mathletes from academic powers like China, South Korea, and Singapore. And practically no one in the news or government had a word to say about this incredible achievement. Sadly, this oversight reflects a disappointing tradition in the media, our education system, and society in general of ignoring the achievements of our best and brightest.

In Colorado, a general aloofness to academic achievements is no different, as there is a genuine apathy to recognizing the success of young Coloradans. Back in June, 57 students traveled to Salt Lake City to compete at the National Speech & Debate Tournament. In May, Colorado sent four middle-school students to the Raytheon national MathCounts competition, and dozens more competed at the Intel National Science Fair. In April, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Bobby G Awards, Mountain View High School won the Best Musical prize with a stunning tap dance production of “Anything Goes,” and the state’s top two thespians were sent off to a national theater competition in New York. And in the spring, a team of students from Cherry Creek High School placed second in the national CyberPatriot competition, keeping the world safe from digital terrorism.

Despite all these successes, the Colorado public is virtually unaware of the state’s young talent, and far too often the only discussions we have about students and education is how poorly kids are doing. We must do more as a community to celebrate, support and promote the incredible achievements of our young people.

Listen to Greg Laswell - a captivating musician

Sometimes You Tube can surprise you - and I don't mean with images of skateboarding dogs. No, instead I mean the discovery of new musician who captures the tenor of the moment you're in and extends it in a beautifully reflective way. That happened to me recently when I had some music videos playing, and You Tube featured a song by San Diego-based artist Greg Laswell. The song "Comes and Goes" is a bit of melancholy meditation on our solitary lives. Laswell captured my ponderous Friday afternoon singing, This one's for the lonely/The one's that seek and find/Only to be let down/ Time after time.  This one's for the torn down/The experts at the fall/Come on friends get up now/You're not alone at all. It was, surprisingly, a reassuring nod to the fellowship of loners who embrace those vacuous moments and seek to grow or just persist. Laswell's chords and soft tone evoked the sounds of such hauntingly introspective songwriters Elliot Smith and Nick Drake, whose songs are perfect for those times when we simply pause to reflect on the void. 



So, check out some Greg Laswell when you're having one of those afternoons. Here's a great profile - Everyone Thinks I dodged a Bullet - from Pop Matters that delves into the sounds and identity of Greg. Laswell has been making music for more than a decade, and I don't know how I've managed to miss out on him until now. Yet, I have probably heard his music countless times in movie and TV soundtracks, for he has that deep and thoughtful tone that provides a great backdrop for those "dark night of the soul moments" in so many stories. I will certainly listen for him in the future.

Maria Popova's Brain Pickings is a Learner's Dream

My goal with A Teacher's View has always been in pursuit and support of Henry James' idea of being "a person on whom nothing is lost." Curating and disseminating information, knowledge, and perhaps even some insight is the reason I blog - in fact, it's the reason I teach as well. I've always wanted for this site to be that place where people know they can go to learn something new and cool and interesting. It hasn't always been that, of course. And I had attempted to branch out in other directions with different blogs and twitter accounts. But, at the end of the day, this blog and its sense of purpose is simply educational and cultural. While it's never really grown beyond what it currently is, I am always discovering new sources for inspiration. Within the last year or so, I ran across a twitter feed and blog that truly is a source of cultural knowledge and experience - that site is Brain Pickings curated and written by Maria Popova. Popova tells her story best in this recent post on the one-decade anniversary of Brain Pickings. Check it out - I'm sure you'll learn somthing.

I left Bulgaria for America, lured by the liberal arts education promise of being taught how to live. As the reality fell short of that promise, I began keeping my own record of what I was reading and learning outside the classroom in mapping this academically unaddressed terra incognita of being.

All the while, I was working numerous jobs to pay my way through school. What I was learning at night and on weekends, at the library and on the internet — from Plato to pop art — felt too uncontainably interesting to keep to myself, so I decided to begin sharing these private adventures with my colleagues at one of my jobs. On October 23, 2006, Brain Pickings was born as a plain-text email to seven friends. Halfway through my senior year of college, juggling my various jobs and academic course load, I took a night class to learn coding and turned the short weekly email into a sparse website, which I updated manually every Friday, then, eventually, every weekday.

The site grew as I grew — an unfolding record of my intellectual, creative, and spiritual development. At the time, I had no idea that this small labor of love and learning would animate me with a sense of purpose and become both my life and my living, nor that its seven original readers would swell into several million. I had no idea that this eccentric personal record, which I began keeping in the city where Benjamin Franklin founded the first subscription library in America, would one day be included in the Library of Congress archive of “materials of historical importance.”
And now, somehow, a decade has elapsed. 

Bach & Beers? What a cool Gen X idea

If nothing else, Generation X have been curators and purveyors of culture. Growing up in a time of stagnation and stale thinking coming out of the 70s, Xers charted a course in pursuit of experience and lifestyle when they began entering adulthood in the late 1980s. Truly a pop culture generation with eclectic tastes in music, art, and entertainment, Gen X can be credited with the rich artisan world of today. While the craft beer industry and the resurgence of wine and spirits are associated with a hipster mentality linked to Millennials, the age of most producers indicate this cultural renaissance to be much more of Generation X movement. And, the fusion of ideas with an innovative "Why Not" spirit is an apt characteristic of X. A great example of that is happening this week in Denver with the pairing of craft beer and the music of Johann Bach at a brewery in the River North (RiNo) neighborhood of Denver. Here's some info from a great piece by Denver Post writer, Jenn Fields:

River North Brewery Goes Bach in Time by Paring Beer with Cellos

Two classic art forms will come together on Friday at River North Brewery — cello solos from Johann Sebastian Bach, and well-crafted beer. “The whole idea behind Bach and Beer is to get the audience to look back at these old traditions, and see how both Steuart as a musician and how the craft brewer is incorporating these traditions for the modern listener, or the modern beer drinker,” said Michelle Pincombe, who has been touring the country with her husband, Steuart Pincombe, for the past year. On Thursday, Steuart will come to River North to sample the wares and choose three beers that match three of the Bach Cello Suites from his repertoire. On Friday, concert-goers can have a glass of the paired beer in hand as they listen to him give a concert. The concert is name-your-own-price; the beer is not.

I love this idea, and would certainly put it on my agenda for this weekend ... but, alas, I have already made plans around the first World Series game at Wrigley Field in 71 years. That said, I will be on the look-out for more innovative cultural mergings like this. And, I might even just have to host a party like this in the future.

Gen X music: Punk, Hip-Hop, or Grunge?

Being born in 1970, I had the coolest musical awakening growing up. Though I can't remember when I actually became conscious of rock music and all its dervatives, I do know that by the time I hit middle school in 1981, I was listening to classic rock on K-SHE95 in St. Louis while also trying to find alternative stations playing punk and new wave. The Ramones were the first band that took me in a cool new musical direction, and I was digging The Police, U2, & REM not long after that. St. Louis had a thriving punk scene in those days, and I can remember my older cousin playing in a band that covered the New York Dolls' "Looking for a Kiss." That one kinda blew my mind. Through middle and high school, we still listened to classic rock, but it was a great time for pop music, too with the rise of Prince and Madonna. Bon Jovi kept classic rock-and-roll front and center, and bands like REM and the Violent Femmes turned punk into post-punk into alternative. Heading off to college in 1988, I was confronted with the bold sounds of NWA, Public Enemy, and Ice-T coming through doors on my dorm floor. And, to be honest, my early reaction was that the music wasn't for me. But when a roommate started duping tapes from some guys on our floor, and I stangely asked why, he simply told me, "it's something new." By 1991, I was listening to some bootleg tapes coming out of the Pacific Northwest, and I still remember the moment I came home from the bars to find the raucous sounds and images of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" screaming through the TV. Mix in my introduction to the sub-culture surrounding the Grateful Dead, and you might be able to understand the Gen X music ethos. It was never about genre or style as much as it was about innovation and authenticity. The late 70s through the early 90s was a great time for music, and Generation X is defined by the vast eclectic world of music that grew out of rock, folk, and blues as Baby Boomer's Woodstock world became the fusion of Generation X's Lollapalooza.