If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. ~ Charlie Parker
Archive for July, 2006
Song I Wrote: Achilles’ Heel
Jul 22nd
Achilles’ Heel
(She’s got) blue eyes and a shotgun smile
A face that leads you off to war
You never feel your Achille’s Heel
until she’s halfway out the door
She’s got a voice that’s gold – and stories have told
how she brought a nation to its knees
The gods cry – but men just die
it’s just another day out on the street
With Helen — There’s just no way of tellin’
What the world’s gonna do to you
She’s got secrets kept in her family chest
is it love or is it something else?
she’s tied in chains but the fact remains
she’s good at looking out for herself
she’s got the stars above — the sun and the moon
she’s got a face to launch a thousand ships
but inside it’s a house of lies
And everything’s starting to tip
With Helen — There’s just no way of tellin’
What the world’s gonna do to yo
And everybody knows
Deception only grows
the farther that you go from Home
My Presentation Today
Jul 22nd
Welcome to the final musings of Tech Matters 2006
I am still a bit scattered about my thoughts today but here is what comes to light this week: I need to start exploring a path away from Manila-based Weblogs, which have been the only tool in my box. I am already seeing some of the limitations at my sites and feel the need for something more flexible and manageable for the projects that I am running.
My goal is continuity — keeping our TCs and program leaders connected with the site because there does seem to be interest in remaining connected but there aren’t feasible ways to do that — Not everyone can come to the Saturday morning writing sessions or all the workshops. Technology provides a way to develop continuity.
So here I am, using WordPress on the advice of many people in this room whose opinions I value, and trying to get used to its features. My goal down the road is to establish server space for our state NWP network for newsletter blogs that can feature news, teacher writing and other information in a coherent way.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin
Last Days in Chico
Jul 22nd
Today is Saturday and this is our last day of Tech Matters 2006.
I forgot my digi camera (doh) but here is a flickr slide show that others put together.
There has been so many applications and possibilities out there so the question now is how to sort it all out.
I have no idea what this blog will be used for but I want to learn WordPress a bit as I can see the shift away from Manila to WordPress (there seems to be definite momentum in that direction).
Meanwhile — Thanks to Tonya for showing me a new way to do stop motion animation movies — COOL!
Tomorrow is the long day of returning home.
Kevin
Sycamore Podcasting Experiment
Jul 21st
As part of Tech Matters 2006, in Chico, we experimented with podcasting.
You can listen in, if you want, as our small group talks about their inquiry projects and other interesting tidbits of technology trivia (ahhh, alliteration)
The Sycamore Tree Podcast Crew gets busy on the wire
(hanging out at the Diamond Hotel)
A MultiMedia Poem
Jul 20th
Ok
So here is my vision — a poem about multiple genres represented in the virtual world like this:
- A video of a mouth reading the main poem, with other alternative voices reading the lines “blink-blink-blink” and “familiar shapes, forgotten signs”
- A video montage of a right eye and a left eye, alternating images of many people’s eyeballs
- The nose? not sure
Compile the video files into an HTML document set up like a real face and sync the video so that when they are all set to play, the mouth video reads the poems as the left and right eyes flicker through various people, reflecting different personalities.
Here is the poem:
Blink Blink Blink
A Multimedia Poem
They say that eyes are windows into the depths of the soul –
so what does it mean if there are multiple frames, multiple windows,
multiple voices,
converging and diverging behind the dancing curtains of these blue-green retinas?
Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.
blink – blink – blink –
Instead of imagining strangers looking in and watching me become myself,
I am the stranger looking out,
a scarecrow nailed to a post viewing the dispersing pixels
through the lenses of time and shifting personalities
and yet seeing nothing but the vast emptiness of the landscape around me.
Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.
blink – blink – blink –
The world shimmers silently from this side of the stage
in an eerie show of light and dark,
figures draped in sadness, bathed in laughter, drenched in confusion.
A conversation takes hold – voices casting shadows across the walls,
demanding room, elbows engaged, anger refracted, joy reflected,
and the eyes don’t lie: the turmoil is real, dangerous, troubling.
Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.
blink – blink – blink –
I am thinking of collage, a collection of things stored away in the attic
and quickly forgotten,
memories misplaced in cloudy mason jars sealed tight for the ages
as the echoes of what remain still linger, still lingering, even now,
just on the edge of understanding.
Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.
blink – blink – blink –
The eyes won’t lie: the battle rages
and the one to open the last mason jar releases the emotions into the night
and disappears.
Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.
blink – blink – blink –
At Tech Matters 2006
Jul 20th
We’re in Chico and it is wicked hot out there today.
But inside this air conditioned room
with computers working overtime
and brains bombarded by ideas
The real work begins
for the tech liaisons
Here’s what we’ve been working on:
Bloglines
RSS feeds
Wikis
Social Bookmarking
Writely
About Me
Jul 1st
I am a sixth grade teacher in Southampton, Massachusetts, and a technology liaison for the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. I am very much interested in the intersection of composition and emerging technologies, and I wonder how these new medium will change the way we think and create. The promise is exciting — the reality not quite there, yet.
Thanks for reading my blog.
Kevin
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