Vlogbrothers Hank & John Green of Brotherhood2.0 have created a video on YouTube every weekday since January 1, 2007. John, you may know as the author of Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines. Hank is runs the website EcoGeek and does a lot of writing of his own.
Today, they are trying to take over YouTube, with the help of their loyal watchers, aka the Nerdfighters.
Their mission: decrease "worldsuck" by promoting charities with YouTube videos. Many Nerdfighters submitted videos highlighting their favorite charity or good cause, and the non-video making Nerdfighters are charged with the task of watching, rating, and commenting on the videos with the "Project for Awesome" thumbnail. With the combined watching and commenting power of the viewers, the Vlogbrothers hope to become so prominantly featured on the highly frequented Most Discussed / Most Viewed / Top Rated pages of YouTube that normal YouTube surfing folks can't help but take note.
I think this is an amazing example of the power of technology, and used for good! The videos are incredibly diverse-everyone from a wildlife-loving teen who should be studying for finals to sneaky note-writing librarians have contributed a few thoughtful minutes of their time-hopefully encouraging generosity of spirit & a true "brotherhood..." hip & achievable in our virtual world.
How could students get involved in a project like this? What does it take to mobilize & move so many people to create for a cause? As a teacher who is constantly trying to engage, challenge & facilitate "authentic learning experiences" for her students, I take great hope in seeing people speak with conviction & excitement about organizations they feel will make a difference for the better. Check out Hank's video describing the project, and comment on a few of the "Project for Awesome" videos.
Nerdfighters!
That's right...I have one more class to attend (tomorrow) and then I'm free. Yes, loose ends to tie up at school, Yes, I work until June 18, yes...I still have to find employment for the coming school year. But I'm finished with homework! So far I've spent my free time running, playing online, cooking & baking, making phone calls & leaving messages, and uploading my first YouTube video. Our own Scout the cat is now officially a moviestar, and we're all very proud of her. Unfortunately, despite what I thought was precision taggin, I have not been able to find the video using the YouTube search function, so here's the link for now.
Tomorrow will be my third consecutive weekend at South Station, Boston, waiting for a Greyhound bus to whisk me away. Here's a quick summary of weekends 1 & 2 and a preview of what's to come...
March 25th I joined four over-40 friends of mine (1 is my supervising librarian at my elementary school & two others are teachers there) to run the "More Magazine 1/2 Marathon" in NYC! We had a relaxing bus ride to NYC, wandered about and ate some good food the night before the race, and ran our hearts out with 6,000 other women on Sunday morning! It was a really great experience, and something I'd never really aspired to do. It was a total estrogen fest; there were women walking the 1/2 marathon together and just chatting like it was a normal day, there were the alien marathoners who went floating past, lapping the pack and making it look easy, there were men jogging alongside their ladyfriends to support & cheer them on, there were people on rollerblades and bicycles and walking tiny dogs in sweaters coming the opposite direction, and we had to look out for them lest there be any collisions. I had so much fun I'm thinking about running either another 1/2 marathon (probably not) or the 5 mile race (that's more like it) over Memorial Day weekend in Boston...we'll see! It helps to have a goal when it comes to getting myself out the door for a jog.
Weekend number two was a quick trip to New Haven, CT to visit a science librarian I met at the conference this summer in New Orleans. He graduated in December and is psyched to be working at Yale...he got to see a little bit o' Boston last month, and took me on a classy CT tour Saturday & Sunday. We saw Yale's libraries & campus, ate some great food, joined what seemed like thousands of others for a crazy event called "Video Games Live"...where the Yale Symphony orchestra played music from classic-contemporary video games. It was more like a rock show, really, interspersed with people actually playing games on stage (accompanied real-time by the orchestra) and accompanied by images from the games projected on a screen behind the musicians. It was pretty rad
beep beep,
mBee
All this made me homesick for the West, even as I've become better friends with the East this year. Not sure where I'll be in 4 months...carried & dropped like a glacial erratic in the middle of...who knows? As long as I've got a library to call my own, and some students to serve, I'll be set.
Here's to a catastrophy-free spring...
xo mBee
I spent most of my day at a High School in Cambridge, where I'm doing my secondary practicum. Today I worked on compiling a GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender) bibliography from our
Some friends came over for the first grilling extravaganza of the season tonight! Sausages & grilled onions, red pepper and garlic kabobs...it got eaten too fast to take a photo, but the smell of the charcoal was enough to make me happy all week. Yay for spring! Too bad it's gonna snow on Friday. So far the lions=the lambs this month. We'll have to wait to see who's victorious come April.
xo mBee
I've been reading all day and came across this quote about school librarians of the future:
The role of the school librarian in ten years will be to serve as a guide through the chaos of information. The internet is not a neat, ordered system like information scientists like to create in databases: it is our modern-day wild frontier. Librarians are the new "mountain (wo)men" that will blaze the trails through the chaos to the information zones. This will only be possible, though, if they also posses the drive to search. Not find, but search.
This from educator-blogger Christopher Harris (Infomancy) in an interview with Michael Stephens (Tame the Web)
The wild frontier, trails to be blazed...but the thing I like to think about in terms of school librarianship is similar to how I feel about what wikis and other new social technologies do for education; they level the playing field and put the students and teachers side by side; one may be bigger (though not always, if you're 5'3"), but they're both blazing away. Being a mountain (wo)man isn't as romantic as some would have us believe...I'm pretty sure about this, having grown up in a place where the "wild west" is a tourist draw...but the difficulty of our task (educating ourselves, let alone children & youth) gives it dignity and drives us forward.
I wish my brain would stay this alert when I have papers to write...
xo mBee
Wah! It's blowing hard in Boston...the cold makes my eyebrows ache, but I'm grateful for the sun. Here's dinner from tonight, to ease the pain.
Whisk together & pour over chicken, marinate for 1/2 hour.
Roast @ 350-375 degrees until cooked through.
Photographed here with brown jasmine rice (flavorful & chewy), steamed asparagus w/ garlic & red onion, lemon & pepper; topped with maple syrup-toasted almond slices.
Happy March! Only two months until I'm a real Librarian...
xo mBee
As a librarian, I might purchase this book to help my collection serve the needs of my students, but I don't think any kid would be caught dead actually reading this book. I saw it on a list of helpful books for students who struggle with ADHD in the classroom. Go Shelley! You're hyperactive, but you're a very unique and much esteemed---turtle. And a rad skateboarder too!
Indeed, the enchantment was hard to avoid when I left at 3:15, slopped my way to Central Square feeling rather superior to the soggy Uggs I saw along the way (see photo of real boots). Central Square wasn't bad, it was the trek from where the bus left me and where I had a dental appointment that left me soggy and petulant. I stepped off the curb near Kenmore to cross the street,
The good news:
1) I don't have any new cavities.
2) I made it home.
3) We made veggie lasagna for dinner.
And...it's Valentine's Day. The bad news: My mind and body are convinced it's Friday and not Wednesday. Still, the long underwear, rainbow striped flannel pajama pants, hoodie & red wine have done their job and I'm ready to sleep until I rise again with my alarm...we'll see if Boston's ready to make nice.
xo mBee
