Education as Subversion (The Hannah post)

Let's face it, a good education always involves an element of subversion.  Teaching students to see the flaws in society, to question the status quo, and to not blindly follow those who lead them is both powerful and necessary.

One of my favourite short pieces of writing in this vein is "The Emperor's New Clothes", Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 tale of two weavers who weave the finest set of clothes imaginable for the King.  The only catch?  The clothes will be invisible to anyone who is too stupid to appreciate their beauty.  All along the way, all the King's advisers, his family and the King himself do nothing but praise the work of the weavers.  In the climax of the story the King parades through the city, naked but proud, and a young child shouts out, "But he hasn't got anything on!"  Though he suspects that this might be true, the King proceeds to walk proudly through the town.

The Weavers (public domain)

The story is, of course, about vanity and our deep human desire not to look foolish.  It's more relevant - and more subversive - meaning lies in what it shows us about power.  We see how those in power are deferred to, agreed with, and praised even when they are clearly wrong.  The sycophancy that accompanies power is perhaps the most dangerous corollary to power as it strips away the possibility to point out folly.  In Andersen's story, it is the King who pays the price on one level, but it is the kingdom that suffers the most as the charlatan weavers profit from the people's silence.  It is their tax money that 'clothed' the King in his delusion.

Andersen reminds us all that vanity breeds fools, but he also reminds us that we do indeed have a duty to speak and to question.

In my course we study the phenomena of urbanisation.  We look at the earliest known urban civilisation (Sumerian/Mesopotamian) and the traits they share with other urban societies.  This year, when we get into the modern part of the unit (in which we examine the advantages, disadvantages, and problems of cities today) we looked at China's current plan to move 250,000,000 people, mostly farmers, from rural areas into brand new cities.  Oh, and by the way they plan to finish by 2025.  The plan is the largest migration of people in the history of our species.

The Chinese government is spending unimaginable sums of money for many reasons, but the primary driver is the belief that city dwellers will participate more fully in the market/consumption economy.  Once they work for wages (rather than as farmers), they will become shoppers and diners sustaining numerous small and large businesses in the cities where they live.  China wants this because they neither want to nor do they believe they can remain the world's low cost manufacturing centre.  If domestic consumption can rise, then incomes and standards of living will rise as well, transforming China into a fully developed economy.  Or so the thinking goes.

The results so far have been mixed at best.  Yes, the cities are being built and many people moved.  But as the article above and the video below show, many of the cities are like hollow shells.  The residents who are there tend stores without customers or live in half empty buildings.  The other implications of the plan - impacts on culture, agricultural production, and environment - are other major question marks.

So how does this connect to the Emperor's New Clothes?  And subversion?

In class we were discussing the implications of China's plan, and a student asked how a decision like this gets made given all the potential for things to go wrong.  Keep in mind that we are talking about Grade 6 here, so even asking that question is impressive.  I explained a bit about China's government structure and that China has the ability to implement sweeping policy changes that most countries cannot (or at least not as quickly).

Hannah, with all the confidence in the world, raised her hand and said, "It's the Emperor has no clothes.  People are afraid to disagree with a plan that other people say will work."

How do you recognise moments of brilliance like that?  Praise is nice (and I did make sure everyone in class knew that Hannah's comment was brilliant), but how do you recognise something so incredibly insightful?  To be really honest, this was one of the proudest moments of my career - to see a student connect two wildly different topics and to use the power of story to understand the essence of power itself.

I decided to write this post in part to show my respect for Hannah, but I also wrote it so that I don't forget how education can subvert power and give us the tools to curb its abuses.

I have a feeling that Hannah might just grow up to be the voice in the crowd pointing out for everyone that 'the Emperor has no clothes.'

It took me a while to figure out why Mr Porter's video on denim made me so angry

But now I know.

Before I begin my rant, however, check out the video from the Mr. Porter youtube channel for yourself.

Okay, full disclosure, I have a pair of raw Japanese denim jeans.  I appreciate quality, craftsmanship, and all those other hallmarks of beautiful simplicity - also known as overpriced simple stuff.  

The video features Michael Williams, the founder of A Continuous Lean, a blog about men's clothes. Actually, it's a very successful blog about stuff.  It's all really nice stuff - paper products, clothes, leather goods - but it's basically about stuff and how to find and get good stuff.  Michael Williams, not surprisingly has a beard.  

From the first few seconds of the video, I feel both fascination and budding irritation.  I like the aesthetic - clean lines, nice font, basic colours.  The topic is of interest to me as well.  I myself invested in a pair of raw denim jeans (made here in Bangkok from Japanese denim) because I like the way they are made and who made them.  I could have bought at least two pairs of regular jeans for what I paid for my _________ jeans (though I never would have paid the prices I have seen for raw denim jeans in North America).  I also want to take care of my jeans, my initial reason for watching the video.

My irritation builds so quietly that I am not even aware of it until Mr. Williams shows how to wash his raw denim jeans.  As soon as I see the clear soap bottle and elegant font on the label, I start to realize what the problem is.  A little pop-up shows that this isn't just soap, it's The Laundress Denim Wash.  I groan softly and make a silent guess as to the price.  Later, when I look it up, it turns out I was low by about 50% as a 16 oz. bottle goes for USD 19 and the classic duo of wash and freshener goes for the unbelievably low price of USD 33.25.

I have to detour here to acknowledge my own contradictions.  I know that jeans and denim are originally an 'everyone' item.  And I know that I went out and bought a pair of jeans for a 'not for everyone' price.  I did it because I believe in locally made products that are made well.  I also did it because I think that my SINGLE pair of jeans is going to last me a very, very long time.  I didn't buy my jeans because I am curating a wardrobe.  I did it because they match my values, AND I hope that this pair of jeans will last as long as two regular pairs.

Back to the video (and my irritation)...

About midway through the video, Williams urges us all to wait as long as possible to wash the jeans (which I was also told when I bought mine).  To do this, he urges us to use anti-bacterial spray to remove odours.  The spray is, of course, from The Laundress and costs USD 16 for an 8 ounce bottle.  Umm, buying a pair of jeans has somehow taken on the properties of having dreadlocks; it's a lifestyle decision.

It was at Step 5 in the video that my irritation turns to anger.  I find myself angry enough to actually exclaim, "Awww, come on!" at my computer at 5:50 a.m.  At 2:51 in, Mr. Williams urges us to 'know when to retire our jeans.'  He says, and I quote, "At any one time, you will probably have several pairs of jeans in rotation at varying stages of wear and tear."  He then proceeds to show us (two pairs of) jeans that are quite torn (good for 'DIY or the garbage'), the 'weekend casual jeans', the 'everyday jeans', and finally the 'Friday night jeans smart enough to go with tailoring and dress shoes.' 

Five pairs!!!  Of raw denim?  We're talking USD 500-1000 worth of jeans.  Over the jaunty whistling of the video's soundtrack my indignation boils over.  The implications around class and environment of spending that much money on JEANS are monstrous.  How anyone could justify choices like that is a mystery I can't begin to fathom.

Don't even get me started on the mystery of wearing denim and dress shoes at the same time.  

Peppina - Even Better Than Before

The last time I went to Peppina on Soi 31, I certainly liked it, but I didn't love it.  The food was really good, but I found the portions for the salads and appetizers to be 'underwhelming'.  I came away thinking that, while it was a good meal, I wouldn't be in a hurry to return.

Last night I returned to Peppina with some friends, and all my previous small criticisms of Peppina disappeared.  The food was great, with the pizza fulfilling its starring role in award winning fashion.  The crusts were light and provided the perfect bed for the tomatoes on the pizza.  The salads, especially the beetroot, were flavourful, with the flavour of the vegetables coming through loud and clear (instead of relying on the dressings to make them appealing).  Portions were satisfying and worth the price.  The atmosphere is loud and friendly with families and couples loudly sharing their meals.

For me, there is still something special about Pala - it's so accessible both for location and cost - but Peppina definitely took a big step up for me.  Where it wasn't a priority to return before, now I would jump at the chance.

Bangkok, who needs food trucks when you have all this? (Soi Convent styles)

I like food trucks.  I like the idea of a mobile restaurant, and I like the idea of someone with a vision for food finding an alternate path to market.  Food trucks can be an amazing part of the culinary and cultural landscape of a city.  Toronto desperately needs them.  Los Angeles and New York's food scenes have been enriched by the diversification and growth in food truck culture.

Potential diners checking out their options

But what I don't understand about food trucks is WHY WE NEED THEM IN BANGKOK?!?! Like all trends, food trucks made their way to our fabulous city, but this one should have come and gone with nothing but a little yawn.

Kao man gai - drooling still...Tell me why I need a food TRUCK again?

Why?

Because street food vendors all over Thailand beat all you food truck fans to the punch decades ago.  Nine out of ten of my meals in Bangkok are cooked and served by people who work miracles each and every day out of a cart on a sidewalk or in a parking lot.  They set up, cook, serve,  and wash dishes anywhere and everywhere.  Most have a 'fixed' spot only in that they return to the same place each day, but they are mobile in every other sense of the word.  Many of these restaurants literally disappear at the end of their opening hours, leaving only an empty stretch of sidewalk where moments before culinary delights appeared one after the other to hungry patrons eager.

I have eaten some of the most amazing meals of my life on the streets of this fair city.  A cart, some plastic stools, and a few flimsy tables are all some of the finest chefs on the planet need to draw huge crowds of people.  So far, I can't find any advantage for food trucks, especially since most of them end up selling overpriced Western food.

I got on this anti-food truck rant about a week ago.  I had spent a late night out and decided to have a first-class Bangkok 'brunch' by visiting Soi Convent.  I won't even go into why Soi Convent is better than a hotel brunch; I'll just focus on my original pro-food cart rant.

To start heck this cart out.  First and foremost, they sell amazing kao man gai for 40 baht for the normal sized portion.  Second, this cart looks pretty mobile to me.  In fact Khun Noy can actually roll this cart away.  Finally, she can park it on the sidewalk, set up tables beside it, AND wash dishes because it's not some giant beast of a food truck.

And that was just my first stop in my Bangkok food cart brunch.  From the kao man gai, I moved on to spring rolls and then som tam.  I ended the meal with a coffee from a mobile coffee cart.  Everyone was mobile, everyone was friendly, and everyone served high quality food FAST.

Just last night I was at The Great Outdoor Market down by Rama IX Bridge.  There were tons of food vendors, and I started with a grilled cheese.  After placing my order, the very nice lady told me it would be 25 minutes.  Wait...what?  For grilled cheese?  From a truck?  Umm, sorry, no matter how good it is (and it was okay), you're missing the point if it takes 25 minutes.  And they didn't have any tables and chairs!  AND THEY SERVED EVERYTHING ON DISPOSABLE PAPER TRAYS.

So, tell me again why I need a food truck?  Let's face it, Thai people, you basically invented the idea of delicious mobile food.  You perfected it - turned it into an art form - and probably feed a few million people a day this way.  Don't fall for the imported fad of the food truck.  You and your food carts would destroy any food truck competition.

I salute you.

Just another Soi Convent bonus

The Rio Movie Theatre - Toronto History Comes Alive

For any fan of Toronto, movie history, or art, this short documentary and story from blogto.com is great.

Here is a little teaser from 1983 that just shows the theatre.

BBC History on Graphite.org

For all you history teachers out there, here is my most recent Graphite field note about the BBC History site.

Collected Novellas of Gabriel García Márquez: 5 of 5

I haven't read anything by Gabriel García Márquez for quite a few years, and I have never read anything by him in English.  I picked this up at a used book sale soon after the great man's death.  I suppose it is true that all writers give of themselves, giving us stories from some hidden part of themselves, but García Márquez gave far more than most.  These long short stories or short novels were the portents of some of the greatest things I have ever read.  Reading them now, long after his most legendary works and after his death, I can't help but fall under the spell of his wondrous words.

I think I love more than anything that back in 1981, in the Paris Review interview linked above, he believed he had so much more to give us all.

"I’m absolutely convinced that I’m going to write the greatest book of my life, but I don’t know which one it will be or when. When I feel something like this—which I have been feeling now for a while—I stay very quiet, so that if it passes by I can capture it."

It may be time to revisit some truly beautiful writing.

Blasphemy (Overheard in Bangkok)

So I'm sitting in Ceresia, arguably the best coffee in Bangkok, and this loudmouth says, "It's like Gloria Jean's!  In Australia we love Gloria Jean's."

Gloria Jean's?!?!  What did you say?  Sir, you are lucky I am not the proprietor of Ceresia because I would have banned you for life for your blasphemous words.

Happy International Women's Day

We still need one - that's the bad news.  The good news is I have more students than ever passionate about issues related to gender equality.

To Teach Is to Sometimes Not Know What to Say: The Meg - Pikachu Post

Middle School is the best.

In case you can't tell, I find a lot to love about what I do.  Sometimes what I love about teaching manifests itself in the craziest of ways - yesterday being a perfect example.

We have been working in Curation Lab on a unit on argument and persuasive writing for the past week.  Students had completed analysis of a bunch of different pieces and were now working on writing their own, with each person choosing his/her own topic.  There is a wild variety of topics waiting for me when we finish these up.  Typical of middle school, they range from the 'this is my life right now' type (limiting homework) to the deeply intellectual (security vs. personal freedom).  

Two students chose to write about the rights of LGBTQ people and/or youth.  Now keep in mind that middle school is always an intersection of the bizarre and the brilliant - one of the reasons I believe so strongly that it is the best place to be in education.  One minute you can actually have a student at break panting like a dog at your door or laughing uncontrollably because someone said 'fart', but then the next minute s/he is in class talking about social hierarchy or symbolism.  The dual nature of the middle school student is a wondrous thing. 

Meg was one of the students writing about the importance of equal rights for LGBTQ people in society.  She also asked if she could wear her Pikachu costume to class.  How do you say no to Pikachu?  What do you say when you see Pikachu/your impassioned and intelligent student writing away, researching, and even creating a bibliography to support her argument?

You just stop.  And you look.  And you realize there is nothing you can really say that captures how amazing it is to witness the intersection of the bizarre and the beautiful.  So I took a picture because, really, in this case, a picture says more about it than I ever could in words.  I can look at this photo and I can laugh, or I can look at it be moved to tears by the beauty of it.  

I showed the photo to about twenty people yesterday saying, "This is why I love what I do.  This is why middle school is like no other place."  Only one or two people really got what I was talking about, but it doesn't matter because I know how lucky I was to be there.  

Rocket Coffeebar

Okay, there are a few things I love about Rocket Coffeebar on Soi 49.  First and foremost would be the cold brewed coffee; it's smooth and, while strong, lacks bitterness. The subtle flavours of the coffee come through clearly.  I could drink it all day, savouring every sip. 

Next up, the cheese toastie with gazpacho, though far too small, is one of my favourite farang (ฝรั่ว) things to eat in the whole city.  It reminds me of cold winter day comfort food  even though the Bangkok heat is waiting for me outside the door. 

Finally, the space itself is bright and comfortable. I feel like I might be in a little Toronto or Northern European restaurant except the staff are a lot friendlier. 

To Teach Is to Stare in Wonder (The Ariel and Hammurabi post)

As part of our social studies curriculum, we do a unit called Urbanization in which we examine, at a Grade 6 level, the historical development of cities and the elements of a healthy urban environment. We study the emergence of the great Mesopotamian/Sumerian city states of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley because they are, to date, the oldest known urban societies and because the pattern of their development was basically followed by every other urban society that followed.

That pattern in summary:

discover a staple crop > gradually give up a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and settle down > greater population density > (and now in varying order) >

• increasing specialization of labour
• accumulation of wealth by some leading to social hierarchy
• clearly defined government structures (usually with power concentrated in the hands of a few)
• formal codification of law
• formalization of culture and arts
• development of infrastructure projects (like irrigation systems) that require pooled labour and resources (and directed by the government)
• organization of the means to preserve/protect public safety (armies, city walls etc.)
• monumental architecture
• systems for keeping records

Recently a group of my students was reading a pretty substantial excerpt of Hammurabi's Code, likely the oldest existing document codifying a society's laws.  Like any system of laws, it reveals a lot about the culture that produced it.  Here we see the primacy of the view of slaves as property rather than people:

"If any one take a male or female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death."

Later we see the emphasis placed on respect for elders and familial roles:

"If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off."

Those laws leapt (understandably) out at the kids for their violence and the cultural norms that went with them.  But then it happened [and this is where this becomes The Ariel Post].  

excerpt of Hammurabi's legal code

Ariel raised her hand and said, in her usual direct and confident way, "It's interesting how many of these laws seem to deal with controlling women's behaviour."  

Whoa.  I had to pause in wonder and because it sometimes makes me teary when students do amazing things.  

Ariel had, with no guiding question to lead her there, noticed an incredibly important aspect of Hammurabi's Code and, by extension, Mesopotamian culture.  This sent the discussion in a fabulous new direction and provided some of the boys in the class (who are sometimes a bit resistant to examining gender issues/sexism) a context that seemed to make some of them much more open to the topic.  

We had already established that Mesopotamians had not only set the pattern of urbanization that would be repeated time and again, but we had also noted some of the important cultural legacy we inherited from them.  These include aspects of law and religion, so the idea that we had not reached gender equality somehow seemed easier to accept for those students who reacted against the notion of it.  After all, if gender inequality goes back to the beginnings of our civilization, it's not about fault but instead about history.  Addressing the issue, therefore, isn't about blame but about making changes and correcting the errors of the past.   

This Ariel moment of brilliant analysis had an impact on a fair number of her peers.  Ten years down the road, they may not remember it, but I guarantee you I will.  Thanks, Ariel.  

The Whore's Child by Richard Russo: 5 of 5

Maybe I'm too generous, but it really feels like I have been getting lucky with the books I have been reading lately.  The Whore's Child is no exception, and it continues my recent love affair with the short story.  I only know Richard Russo from Empire Falls and this awesome interview from The Rumpus.

Empire Falls was a great novel, but The Whore's Child captured my imagination in more diverse ways.  Each story, told in straightforward prose, is populated by a wholly different set of characters.  The only real thing the stories have in common are a general Northeastern American setting.

In the titular first story, Russo's description of the nun calls to mind in perfect detail her presence in the narrator's advanced creative writing class.  One can't help but imagine her finding some kind of happiness through her writing after a lifetime of bitter disappointment, but as the story unfolds - and with devastating finality near the end - she finds that she has been deceived by her own memory.  Like Wile E. Coyote left standing over the sudden void below, she has lost her foundation.  Russo depicts this loss not as earth-shattering cataclysm but as just one more bitter pill to swallow.  It hurts all the more for being anti-climactic.

In Joy Ride, the young narrator is afraid of who he may be slowly becoming.  In his quest to fit in, he recognizes that he may be giving up some important part of himself.  In education today, the talk frequently turns to metacognition, but this is the real deal - the awareness of who we are and the compromises we sometimes make to make our way in the world.  He wakes "in the middle of the night thinking about the dog [he'd] stoned, the long odds of its turning right when I threw, how dazed and stupid the animal had been to conclude I was its friend. All of which scared me so bad I couldn't stay in bed." (p. 84).  It dawns on him that if even his own parents could miss what type of person he was becoming, we could all potentially misjudge anyone, even the ones we love the most.

Russo's older characters also resonate; they are still vital people, but they are keenly aware of their ages.  As the narrator, observing both his relationship to his best friend and to life in general notes, "And so we sit, two friends on the downside of a notoriously slippery slope.  Fifty years old." (p. 155).  Life is far from over, but it has to lived just a little bit differently.

This is a great collection, full of things to think about.  I imagine reading them, for some reason, in front of some picture window by the sea.  It's about as far removed from where I really read them, but these stories do evoke place in a persistent if subtle way.  

Thailand: More reasons to love you

ส้มตำ ภูเรือ

Som tam, you truly are one of my favourite things on Earth. It's hard to imagine a life without you just around the corner.