Dear Commons Community,

President Barack Obama in a moving thirty-three minute address last night at a memorial service at the University of Arizona in Tucson, called for Americans to heal our wounds.  There were many highlights including when:

.he mentioned that Gabriele Giffords opened her eyes for the first time earlier in the evening;

.he gave a brief bio of each of the victims;

.he said “let us discuss these issues with a good dose of humility rather than assigning blame”;

Lastly, in response to the back and forth bickering among politicos, pundits, and the media, the President said:

“And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy — it did not — but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that will make them proud.”

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

I have already made several posts on this blog on the shootings in Tucson on January 8, 2011, in which six people were killed and Congresswoman Gabriele Giffords was seriously wounded by a lone, crazed gunman.  Here are some photographs of this tragedy taken from various sources.

Tony

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Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords – the target of the gunman’s wrath.

While suffering severe wounds, she is expected to make a recovery.

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Six innocent victims including a nine-year old girl.

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The crime scene – a shopping mall in Tucson, Arizona.

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Hand-written memorial to the victims.

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Members of Congress and aides observe a minute of silence.

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Political backlash blaming “vitriol and toxicity” as inciting violence.

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The crazed assassin, Jared Loughren.

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Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday, the NY Times Magazine had a full-length  article entitled, What to do in Cyberspace When You are Dead, by Rob Walker.   I must confess I have never thought of this as an issue but the article made several important points that has me thinking about what happens to all of the content that I have published on the Internet such as this blog as well as such practical things as who has access to my email accounts after I am gone.  The more I read this article, the queasier I got.   For instance, it makes the point that you do not want your digital content to simply languish.  Not to worry though, there is a website, The Digital Beyond, that offers advice on the subject as well as a book entitled, Your Digital Afterlife, that covers issues such as to whom you leave your content and what is to be done with it after you have departed.  The article goes on to comment that a new “digital mortality” business has evolved (see for example, DeathSwitch.com), that allows you to send final words to love ones or others as well as maintain your Internet life on social networking websites such as twitter with periodic entries after you are gone.  The article concludes with reference to the writings of futurists such as Margaret Wertheim who speculate as to whether we can construct a “technological substitute for the Christian space of heaven” and whether a human may not necessarily be defined by the atoms in her/his body but by an information code.

I am thinking that maybe I should redo my last will and testament.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The media will be covering extensively today and for the next few weeks the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat from Arizona.   In addition to reporting on the carnage of the event and the innocents killed or injured in this heinous attack, a good deal of analysis will center on the motives of the young man, Jared Loughner.  Various accounts have described him as a troubled young man who had problems in school and who was drifting.  However, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who is investigating this attacked has been quoted as saying:

“When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous,” he said. “And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

Whenever there is extreme violence directed at our political leaders, as provocative as conspiracy theories are, cooler minds generally recognize that there are troubled individuals in our society who feel compelled to inflict physical harm.   However, as a society we cannot excuse the way in which we collectively conduct ourselves and create the hate-filled environments to which Sheriff Dupnik refers.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Today’s NY Times has an article entitled, Journal Showcases Dying Art of the Research Paper. It covers the story of William H. Fitzhugh, the publisher of a journal, The Concord Review, that showcases high school research papers, which he says is a dying breed in our nation’s schools.  The term paper was once an important feature of American secondary education, requiring students to dig deeply and write at length. Mr. Fitzhugh said that most public school teachers have stopped assigning such papers — a shift that he attributed mostly to the fact that teachers have so many students and so little time.   He recently asked the head of a history department at a New Jersey high school if he assigned research papers.  “Not anymore,” Mr. Fitzhugh quoted the teacher as saying. “I have my kids do PowerPoint presentations.” Mr. Fitzhugh said he scoffs when some educators argue that research papers have lost relevance because Google has put so much knowledge just keystrokes away.  One of the interesting comments in the article referred to a concern that some educators may see The Concord Review as a showcase only for an elite. All but four of the 22 essays published in the two most recent issues, for example, were by private school students.   But might the issue here be that our public schools (many underfunded)  are where over-enrolled classes mitigate against long writing assignments.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times has an article today entitled,  Math that Moves:  Schools Embrace the iPad.  It covers the introduction and use of the iPad in K-12 education.  For instance, it quotes one teacher as ““I think this could very well be the biggest thing to hit school technology since the overhead projector”.   And another who says”  “It has brought individual technology into the classroom without changing the classroom atmosphere.”     It also mentions that the New York City public schools have purchased 2,000 iPads for use in some of its high schools.

On the other side,  “There is very little evidence that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines,” said Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University , who believes that the money would be better spent to recruit, train and retain teachers. “IPads are marvelous tools to engage kids, but then the novelty wears off and you get into hard-core issues of teaching and learning.”

The bottom line is the question: whether the iPad will be another technological fad that comes and goes or whether it will have the staying power that educators embrace for the long run.

Tony