For the past four years I've carved a political pumpkin to go along with the more conventional efforts of my kids. Past examples of my work are here and here.
All love to Obama, this year he made it easy. Here's my Jack O'Bama:
And it looks really cool in the dark.
Can't tell you how good it is not to be carving a bunch of lettering.
OK, I'm finally ready to get back into the game . . . for the end of it. So where have I been? Take your pick . . .
A) Recuperating after a 6'4" Alaskan saw my Obama bumper sticker, jumped me and carved a backwards "S" in my cheek.
B) I inherited a $250K/year plumbing business and haven't had the heart to tell you all that I'm switching sides.
C) In anticipation of Tuesday night, I've been practicing "The Internationale."
D) Got the flu that's going around, took two weeks to get over it, then had to dig out from a pile of grading.
I won't even try to catch up on what's happened in the interim. I have a few plans for the time between election protection and the usual family/school/work stuff. Stay tuned.
Kid Z's spontaneous take upon seeing McCain's second "celebrity" ad during the Olympics:
Meet Grace Elizabeth, my new niece:
Congrats to parents K-Pho and Lori. All are doing well. Grace did her best to upstage China's Opening Ceremonies and we got the call on the cell, but didn't meet her until tonight.
As is customary for children in the Family Pho, she is extraordinary.
(Also pictured, Prof. W's left hand and Kid T's right knee)
*And my latest proofreading mistake. Thanks to Team Member in comments.
I got caught last week by Google's errant spamometer and locked for two days. By the time the Pages were unlocked I was busy getting ready for our annual summer beach trek, now in progress. I will have internet access, but time is always tight what with the visiting family and the vigorous lounging such a trip entails. So posting will be light.
In the meantime, enjoy a cool pic of yesterday's sunset snapped in a rest stop parking lot.
Today is travel day. We check out of our cabin, bum around Boulder for a few hours, then jump on a red-eye back to Akron.
The image above is from out last day in the park. This is pretty typical of the view you get from pretty much anywhere. In this case, across Sprague Lake, looking at some of the distant mountains to the northwest.
Advance thanks to those who will return to the Pages when we get back to a regular (for summer anyway) blogging schedule.
In the literal, not the beer slogan sense. The fam and I are headed for Colorado today. We'll have internet access (but not much time) until the sixteenth when we decamp from Boulder for a cabin in Estes Park where we'll have more time (but no internet access.)
So light blogging, then no blogging, then back to the usual routine of trying to blog amongst the demands of my lovely urchins.
After hearing the students at Kid T's school scream the above yesterday at the bell, I've made a mental note to open an Earplugs 'n' Tylenol concession next year.
What this means for my dear readers is a truncated blogging schedule. Of course T, who usually requires a pry bar to be removed from her bed at the appointed hour during the school year beat her usual wake up time by 15 minutes this morning, swamping the time I was hoping to get posts up.
Of course.
For those days that the kids actually sleep in, we'll have some posts in the morning, some nights I'll get stuff up, and otherwise it's catch-as-catch-can. Right now neighborhood kids are over and are not vandalizing my home at this moment. It think.
On top of this, the House of Pho will be heading out for vacation next Wednesday with extremely limited connectivity.
On the other hand, it's too hot for much beyond blogging today, so . . .
Having more or less survived another crush, I'm ready to start back here again. I find getting back into blogging to be a bit of a challenge, so this is my Ben Hogan waggle to get back into the swing.
When last I posted it was to provide a few links and acknowledge being a bit busy. But then we had the blizzard which pretty much killed all plans to get work done last weekend. And the rest of the week went like that.
But now, it's Spring Break. Not much of a break really, so much as change in work load. In one week I have to grade 30 quizzes, 30 papers and 60 tests, plus finish the last half of a writing assignment, plus get on top of a church volunteer project plus cross an item or two of the honeydo list. In whatever time all that leaves, I plan to blog copiously as well.
Stay tuned.
Sorry about these little blackouts. The two-course load this semester on top of everything else is cutting seriously into my blogging time. When something else hits -- in this case a virus running through the House of Pho -- the blog is what has to give. I'm working on reviving my long-dormant time management skills and hopefully will get into a groove at some point this semester.
No, I didn't write anything yesterday. Or the day before that.
First week of classes with two classes going turned out to be a hell of a lot of work. Add to that other events over the last three days and, well, you see the lack of results.
So here I am letting you know that I'm still alive. I'm mostly trying to get some stuff around the house done and get on top of my classes. But if I do well enough, I should be able to get a couple posts up as well.
We were in
Now we are in
Meanwhile, my early Christmas present was a new digital camera, so I’ll have non-blurry fotos to share. So far I’m good for this view out our hotel window. 
We went out last night to two of NYC’s monuments to twenty-first century consumerist excess, M&M World and the Toys R Us off
In addition to a handful of posts over the holidays, I spent a fair amount of time cleaning up the sidebars. I’ve also fixed some computer issues that kept me from easily updating the del.icio.us account. I’ll post more about the blogrolls later. For now, suffice it to say that if you have a blog I’d be interested it and/or are interested in trading links, now would be a good time to bring it up.
BTW, the coming semester will be a challenge, blogwise. In addition to some long-overdue work to build on my early freelancing success, I’ve taken on a second class at the U. Now I will be teaching the civil rights section of the undergrad Con Law class, in addition to the comparative criminal law class already on the books. I’m thinking through how to accommodate the blog in all that, which may include tweaking the way things are done around here.
1This may seem fairly extraordinary when you learn that my mother-in-law just turned eighty. When you learn further that she is still teaching high school English and this after having raised twelve kids and securing an advanced degree, it should be clear that in fact my mother-in-law is extraordinary and the wi-fi is just business as usual.
2Thanks to reading Tim Harford’s The Undercover Economist I know that the Hilton family of hotels is engaged in a business-savvy practice of price discrimination, but that doesn’t make it less irritating.
Best Holiday Wishes. See you on the other side.
A fair question. I haven't been blogging much, and it's not for want of material. An aggragation of distractions has kept me away. We've been on the east coast both of the last two weekends, Prof. W is out of town, one of the kids is sick, I've been wrapping up my class and working on a writing project and resolving computer issues. Layer on top of that a set of niggling health problems which, if I catelogued them, would make me sound like Mr. Richard Feder of Ft. Lee New Jersey.
So I haven't been writing much.
Today was my last class. I have a stack of term papers to grade, plus a final to give. The class has taken the most out of me. Studying Con Law has been rewarding -- I learned more this run through than either of the first two times through the material. But it is real work. My class next semester should be less demanding, though probably not as much fun.
Meanwhile, the writing. When Jill posts her "Some People Pay Me to Write" links she pulls of a matter of fact tone. I'm feeling all "OMG, someone is paying me to write! Y'know, read stuff, learn about it and write it up. The thing I've been doing for free for the past few years. I found someone who pays me for that!!!" Anyway, my first paying gig is up. Currently the Notebook is my beat (on pages 4-5 of the .pdf.) I wrote the three In Review items, the Elsewhere piece, found the Quotable quote and did the Q&A with OFT President Sue Taylor. I even got a byline-y thing on that, which was unexpected.
And I'd be remiss in not pointing out that the whole issue is a good read featuring interviews with Gov. Strickland and State Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman. And don't forget that subscriptions for hard copy are free.
Anyway, that's where I've been. Now that class is over I have a little more control over my schedule, especially when I finish the piece I'm currently working on. In the meantime, I appreciate everyone's patience.
We are off on our usual Thanksgiving pilgrimage east to visit Prof. W’s family. The route is a little different this time, so we are in the Germantown, MD Hampton Inn as opposed to our usual Harrisburg or Elizabethtown stopping point.
I won’t say posting this weekend is impossible because sometimes surprising opportunities arise. But looking at the schedule, it is highly unlikely.
In the meantime, the 92nd Carnival of Politics is up. I compiled this week, thus the lack of posting yesterday. Tuesdays and Thursdays generally have been bad for the blog this semester – they are heavy days here at the House of Pho.
Finally, the following happened sometime early this morning:
Some entirely anonymous reader was logged as the 100,000th visitor to Pho’s Akron Pages. Yes, plenty of blogs have reached that milestone in less time than this one, nevertheless, I am humbled by your continued support.
Have a great holiday, everyone.
Those of you who have been following the Pages for a while have also followed my search for some sort of gainful, satisfying and compatible with stay-at-home-daddage employment. You've watched me try community organizing, political consulting and part-time academia. This last is still going on -- I'll be teaching again next semester at least.
And I've been working on something else. For some time some people, sufficiently impressed with what goes on here, have been encouraging me to try writing. And now I have. I just started putting my name out when my first couple of contracts landed on my doorstep. Catalyst Cleveland -- a nonprofit magazine covering urban education -- has expanded to statewide operation as Catalyst Ohio. I was aware this was happening and had spoken to the editor, Charlise Lyles as they were planning the move and was planning to get in touch once my ducks were reasonably lined up. As it happens, she found out I was freelancing and got in touch. My first piece will appear in the next issue and I'm working on the second now.
Let me add here that this is not the usual path for a beginning freelancer. The usual path involves lots of rejection and self-doubt and wondering when you will ever get your first paying job. I understand how fortunate I've been thus far.
The new career move will mean a couple of changes for the blog. First of all, I plan on blogging education a bit more than I've been. I noted before that being employed by an advocacy group made me uncomfortable about taking nuaced positions on things like charter schools. Not that Ohio Fair Schools ever tried to constrain me, but I did voluntarily constrain myself. You might notice the new My Game Is Ed category on the blogroll. Look for that to get more heavily populated and for my opinions about what goes on in the education blog world.
It also means that posting my at times be spotty, particularly as deadlines approach. I'm hoping things will be a little better next semester as my class is a little less labor intensive, but of course if I get more writing jobs, things may be more hectic.
I'll also mention here for anyone interested in retaining the services of a lawyer-turned-writer with expertise in education, politics, local government and criminal law, my email is pho197[at]hotmail[dot]com.
Finally, a plug for my new client. I've been reading Catalyst Cleveland for a couple of years. Now that it is Catalyst Ohio, the magazine will hopefully be an indispensible resource for anyone concerned about urban education, or education in general. The magazine strives to examine issues objectively, giving time to all sides. And best of all, subscriptions are free. Surf on over and sign up.So, um, I said I'd be offline for three weeks, right? Yes, that turned out far longer than I anticipated. Partly it was about The Thing that I was working on. The Thing will remain nameless for the time being because I am plagued by a superstitious fear of jinxes. But anyway, The Thing took a long time and wasn't done when I thought it was done and gave it to the person who kicked it back and said, among other things, that we needed a new Thinglet. And as soon as the first Thing deadline passed, I got a pile of papers from my class, so I was grading and Thing working at the same time.
And as a thin shaft of daylight appeared, an intestinal virus marched through the House of Pho, extending everything that much.
Anyway, I'm back now. If the past is an indication, it will take a while to hit blogging stride. But we'll get there.
Friends have been writing, asking about my announced adjunct teaching gig at the University, so rather than keep writing the same email repeatedly, here goes. I am teaching The Supreme Court and the Constitution in the Political Science department.
This course doesn’t teach the “fun” parts of the Constitution – the Bill of Rights with all of its hot buttons. Instead, this course focuses on the parts of the Constitution that are fun only for hardcore law geeks – mostly the body of the Constitution proper, with a couple other amendments – the Tenth and the Civil War amendmentst especially – for good measure.
The material is dry because it’s difficult. But Articles I, II and III are the real engine of the document. That part of the Constitution gives each branch power, but also highlights that the power is limited, that the government has only the power granted by We the People. And the body of the Constitution establishes the system of checks and balances that has kept us a free and vital people for over two hundred year.
I better stop, I’m getting excited.
If you didn’t read this into the earlier mention, I’m kind of the Lecturer to Be Named Later. I was brought in with a couple weeks to go before class started to fill in after some late summer staff changes. So it has been an adventure putting the class together in a truncated time frame. Fortunately the professor scheduled to teach the class had ordered a book, so I have some foundation to build on. The book works overall but is a little textbooky whereas I favor assigning primary sources to students, so part of the challenge is to find supplemental readings with enough lead time to make it fair to the students.
Ah, the students. No doubt at some time one or more students will Google me and find his/her way to the blog (if it hasn’t happened already), so I’m not going into too much detail about the class itself. Suffice it to say that my students are all brilliant and engaged and will no doubt continue to do the reading and participate in class [waves].
My introduction to teaching was as follows. I toiled on my syllabus during the few free moments during the kids’ last few days of summer vacation. My kids did not actually start school until the day after my first class, so I had to find child care, didn’t get my syllabus copied prior to the first class and didn’t have time to scope out my room. This last turned out to be a real problem as I discovered that my 30-person, hoping-to-be-discussion-oriented class was scheduled in an auditorium that seats 400. I was trying to encourage a discussion from up on a stage as they strained to read my messy handwriting from a half mile away.
So the first class was a little rough. I couldn’t keep track of any of the students. I about wore out a pair of shoes trudging football field between the podium and the blackboard. Every humorous interjection landed with an audible thud. It was like that.
Second class was better. I got a new room, I felt a little more comfortable and I could at least pretend that there were students in the class who had read the material. I’m still shimmying up a steep learning curve, but the lecture was solid and we had a decent discussion. And it was fun.
So, that’s how it’s going. I have probably about two more weeks of heavy time consumption to get on top of things, then hopefully things will settle into a routine and I’ll be able to turn to a couple other projects that were planned for the fall.
My syllabus is more or less done, as is prep for tomorrow's class. I attended debate for the Akron mayoral primary today and hope to have reaction up late tonight. See you then.
Not having many random thoughts these days. Just one, overarching, screechingly high-volume thought: WHEN THE HELL AM I GOING TO FIND TIME TO FINISH THIS EFFING SYLLABUS!!?!?!???
And thus far, little in the way of an answer.
Meanwhile, in comments to last week's dose of Randomness, Earl asks aloud whether the songs are from my "personal stash." Indeed they are. And for the most part they are on CD's I've purchased, dinosaur that I am. And they are chosen from the first shuffle that yields not duplicate artists in the top ten. I emphasize this because #10 this week turns out the be from the album Earl mentioned in his comment. Wild coincidence.
1. "Four Sticks," Led Zepplin
2. "Sweet Soul Dream," World Party
3. "Suddenly, Everything Has Changed," The Flaming Lips
4. "My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble)," Muddy Waters
5. "Never to Be Found," Meat Puppets
6. "On the Way Home," Buffalo Springfield
7. "My Morning Scene," Jonah Smith
8. "Divorce Song," Liz Phair
9. "Days and Days," Concrete Blonde
10. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
