UPS Queen
I am a plane spotter. I go to the airport and I shoot planes with my camera. Sometimes I take videos. This was a UPS 747-400 cargo flight into MSP airport on June 14, 2018.
The Sky’s the Limit
Trollwood Performing Arts School is a place where the sky’s the limit. There simply is no better youth development program in the arts. Period. The school celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018. I was an alumni from 1989 to 1994. My shows include: The Sound of Music Peter Pan The Music Man Oklahoma! Anything Goes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Under Milkwood I also worked as staff in 1995 as main stage …
Applause & Praise
I cannot praise Linkin Park more. I began my studies about youth suicide at the University of Minnesota in January 2015, and was working on my field experience for my degree when Chester died. I’ve seen Linkin Park live multiple times over a decade, and I felt the pain. I also looked on as a new generation experienced what my generation did in 1994 with Kurt Cobain, but with trained eyes. We lost …
Something Special
Something special is underway, but it’s nothing, really. It’s exactly what it should be, but it’s everything I needed. This means the world to me.
I Walked the Walk
The walk has been walked. Now I need to talk the talk. Although I participated in the CE+HD 2018 commencement, I have not yet earned the diploma from Office of the Registrar. There are some dangling strings with the college. CE+HD has monthly graduations for which you apply the month before. I’m aiming to apply for June graduation in May. Or July graduation in June, at the latest. My psychiatrist prescribed new medication …
The silence heard round the world.
WATCH: Emma Gonzalez names the murdered Parkland victims and observes several minutes of silence in a 6-minute, 20-second speech that covered the same time it took the gunman to kill 17 people in her high school: "Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job." pic.twitter.com/OrTfuTdSNn — NBC News (@NBCNews) March 24, 2018
Hello world!
I know how to make a blog. Aren’t I smart!
(Un)real
Remember—I have a Bachelor of Science in Theatre, Communication, and Youth Studies. Therefore, the fact that this is a photo of a stage prop should resonate loudly. This prop portrays a great level of respect between a stage manager, actor(s), and director. The stage manager stores and keeps the prop safe at all times when not in use during a scene. This includes during a rehearsal, and during dark times. This is usually …
Self-Injurious Behavior in Gifted and Talented Youth: What Every Educator Should Know
Scholarly Paper Review For my class, Education of the Gifted and Talented Student: Wood, Susannah M., & Craigen, Laurie M. (2011). Self-Injurious Behavior in Gifted and Talented Youth: What Every Educator Should Know. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 34(6), 839-859.
One More Light, The Video
You write a song to reach out to those who lost someone, just to end up being the one that lost someone. And you make a video for the one that you lost.
Bigger, Faster, More Power
I added a new M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive to my computer today. It’s the second M.2 form-factor, and the third SSD. My original SSD, an OCZ Vertex 3, is still my system drive, but I am moving that to the OCZ RD400. The Samsung 960 EVO I got today will be for large media, like video editing and RAW format images from my D-SLR. I can’t say zoom! Zoom! Or vroom! …
Revision
Back in February 2015, I wrote about a person I admire and would like to work with. Due to events that occurred over the summer, my choice has changed. I want to work with five unique individuals who are in a difficult place and time right now. Mike, Joe, Rob, Dave, and Brad: the surviving members of Linkin Park. I can’t express the respect and empathy I have for them. They have such …
Community: Context for Youth Work
Where does youth work happen? At school? At the clinic? In juvenile hall, or the emergency? What about at home? Sometimes, someone needs to sit down with the parent and explain parenting to them. It sounds awkward, but parents don’t always know best. I’m not saying I do, either. I don’t have kids, but I know you are having an emotional response firing your action because these kids are your offspring. I think …
Everyday Lives of Youth
Everyday Lives of Youth was the first of four core classes in my Master of Education in Youth Development Leadership degree program. I’ve heard the structure has changed; they’ve added a fifth core class, and eliminated credits in seminar and elective requirements. I finish in the program as it was when I started, and that is how I’ve structured this website. My “YDL Class of 2015” was a cohort of me and abut …
Praise the Sunday Football Game
For my Youth & Spirituality class in my undegrad, I went to my first big football game. I never went to a game in high school, and by this time in my college career, I should go to a game. It just so happened the Gophers were playing the NDSU Bison. Funny thing, cuz Fargo is my home town. They usually wouldn’t play because they are in different conferences, but this was a special …
The Reflection of One More Light
I’m grateful so many were willing to participate in the One More Light Chester Memorial video last Tuesday.. I got goosebumps when it started to take shape. I want LP to perform at the Super Bowl. With Chester up on the big screen. Natalie Cole sang with her late father Nat Cole to do “Unforgettable” many years ago. It’s not a new concept. Maybe this next spring is too soon. But the Super …
I’m Certified…
…certified that I know how much I really don’t know. I took the Office of Equity & Diversity workshops as one of my YDL seminars. I decided to enhance that experience with the Advanced Certificate by attending a 2-hour dialogue circle once a month during the past academic year. Today I received my certificate.
Do a 180
In 2002, I was behind the video switcher at a local NBC news affiliate. The Winter Olympics were on, and I had to monitor for live updates over the NBC broadcast feed to switch from national coverage to local commercials. A big red button did it all, but had to be with precision to the second.
Long-range Plan for Cooperative Learning
This long-range plan entails a different approach to cooperative learning implementation because I am not a teacher. Cooperative Learning was taken as an elective for my Master of Education in Youth Development Leadership. When people discover I am pursuing an M.Ed., I am often asked what I’m going to teach. I’m not. It just so happens my M.Ed. program is in the School of Social Work. However, I’m not going after a social …
Windows & Mirrors
In the summer of 1983, I was seven years old. My brother was 17. He had the role of Uncle Henry in Trollwood Performing Arts School (TPAS)’s production of The Wizard of Oz. I have few memories of that summer, but from what I’ve been told, I laid some bricks in the upper right corner of the letter “Z” in the yellow brick road shaped to spell “Oz.” Six years later, in 1989, I attended TPAS on my own as a legitimate student. That was the summer after my seventh grade in Moorhead (MN) Public Schools. Trollwood was a program of Fargo (ND) Public Schools, so I was among a lot of new kids in June and July. And I was among students from Russia and China, as well. Trollwood started a new program that summer: IMAGINE. I played cello in the orchestra pit for that summer’s production of The Sound of Music. I sat next to a Russian playing the balalaika. The next summer, I split my time between the orchestra and the lighting crew for Peter Pan. In the following years, I was on the lighting crew for Music Man, Oklahoma!, Anything Goes, and Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I watched actors perform year after year, but participated in “Songs from the Catwalk” with my fellow lighting techies.
L-fucitol, 6-deoxy-L-galactitol
Fucitol is a sugar alcohol from the seaweed Fucus vesiculosus. Also known as (2R,3S,4R,5S)-hexane-1,2,3,4,5-pentol.
I am a penny under the piano.
Today I went to a campus event from a theatre company that works with kids. We all wrote stories. Here’s mine: Pennies Under The Piano Last Tuesday we made a decision to look under the piano, and do you know what we found? PENNIES! Green pennies. Red pennies. Purple pennies…. Even clear pennies. We started to collect the pennies into a pile, and the pile grew and grew. We realized that no two …
References for the Riviera Theory of Youth Development
Abend, G. (2008). The meaning of ‘theory’. Sociological Theory, 26, 173–199. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9558.2008.00324.x
Amichai-Hamburger, Yair (2013). Youth internet and wellbeing. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 1-2. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.05.023
Arnett, J.J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55(5), 469-480. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469
Read moreReferences for the Riviera Theory of Youth Development
To Jupiter or Bust!
We made it! We’re there!
Thinking about Earth
We live in a society where we think we are the most intelligent being to have been on Earth, based on the concept of cumulative knowledge gained over eons. Are we really the most advanced society to have existed on Earth? Prove it.
Learning Expression
Somehow, over the years, I’ve learned a great deal of inner strength and resilience. I want to capture that, and learn how to teach it to others. Especially to youth, and those who can teach it to youth. That is why I’m in YDL.
A Mixture of Styles
This video pretty much speaks for itself. Enjoy!
Last Day of Class
Today is the last day of Experiential Learning. We all presented our Individual Learning Project over the past three weeks. A lot of variety from everyone. I’m going to miss this class, but will see many of my peers next Fall semester. It just doesn’t seem like the end of the semester. It just doesn’t seem like the start of summer.
This “IZ” Education
I love this song.
Reinventing Yourself
Topic(s) of Interest Self-Awareness Definition: having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Who was I? Who am I? Who will I be? I want to learn how to reinvent myself. I struggled with many medical setbacks this semester, and I need to find a way to emerge “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” (Daft Punk) and more resilient. I lost sight of who I was, I want to …
How to Rap for Free
Viewer Discretion Advised:
Celebrity Suicide in the Media
Sometimes you see a news headline like this: Progressive rock legend Emerson dies Then you read the news and discover it was a suicide by self-inflicted gunshot. The only reason I mention this is that I’m in a suicide awareness class right now. In two weeks, we have a discussion about how the media reports suicide. Today, we talked about suicide encounters online. The anonymity and privacy you have online sometimes lets you express …
I don’t understand a word
I don’t understand a word they sing, but something about this is groovy.
Bing’s Periodic Table of Elements
So… Bing went and did this: http://www.bing.com/search?q=periodic+table I remember having to memorize most of this chart; and I recall recent discoveries that expanded this table of elements. It’s amazing how the Internet has brought new information to our fingertips. But nothing beats Tom Lehrer’s Element song:
Cookie Monster…
… needs to host SNL.
Making a Mandated Report
Some people in the social work fields are known as mandated reporters. These people must pass-on information they learn if they feel there is a threat to personal life or property by a person in crisis. The line between confidentiality and mandated reporting is not clear and distinct, which adds to the complexities of knowing when you should, or should not, say something to the authorities. Is there a definite threat or plan made? …
Self-Care: Ink’d
I have approximately 41 hours [50 hours as of April 2018] of tattoo ink work on my body. It is all original work, no words, but a few Kanji. Many of my cohort have tattoos, so the experience is nothing others are not familiar with. The meanings of everyone tat(s) are varied as they are beautiful. I’m not going to go into the meaning of my art at this time. That’s personal. Instead, …
Well, This is Interesting
I don’t know how I feel about this piece by Portishead, which is said to represent SOS by ABBA, but reminds me of Björk.
Really High Up
“Sometimes you have to be up really high to understand how small you are.” – Felix Baumgartner
Who You Gonna Call
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