"He not busy being born is busy dying", Bob Dylan

I just finished reading a short little book called "Show Your Work", by Austin Kleon.  My girlfriend, Lauren, bought it, and I stole it from her.  I will give it back to her someday, maybe tomorrow.

In the book, Kleon writes that it is important to share your ideas.  Who'da thunk it?  It is full of great little snippets about modern American life, and how to be heard while living it. There is a section in the book called "Behind the Scenes", a collection of outtakes made while writing it. One that hit a chord with me is "Our obituaries are written before we're dead."

Which, along with the title of this post,  explains why I have a girlfriend, and a great one at that, who's name is Lauren.

And I want my obituary to be really long, full of lots of interesting places, song titles, and people's names.

Origins

I don't like scatological humor, but in this case, it is appropriate to include here.  Because the original title of this blog had its misguided roots in autocorrect.  "Law of Attraction" became "Lava Traction'".   Otto, here's to you!

Field Trip Wrap-up

I have snarkily outlined that pitfalls that a field trip can involve.  None of that happened today. Yes, there were 60 kids on the bus, but they were fabulous.  Yes, we sat on concrete and ate our lunches, but, hey, we were in San Francisco!

And you should have heard the gasps from the kids when we exited the Waldo Tunnel, and caught the first glimpse of that beautiful city.

Field Trip

Have you ever been in charge of 20 kids traveling to, and going through, the Exploratorium?  Or been on a school bus with 60 kids?  Or tried to get this same 60 kids to sit down and eat lunch on the concrete, because there aren't enough seats?   Or…you get the idea.

Me.  Us.  Tomorrow.

Is That Funny?

I read in Leah Garchik's column in today's SF Chronicle about a troubling live theater experience, where the audience was laughing during a dramatic production. I have noticed something in my classroom over the last couple of years that is, in my mind, related.

MIllions of Americans view YouTube videos on a daily basis. "America's Funniest Home Videos" is an extremely popular TV show.  In these videos, people are falling and hurting themselves on skateboards and the like, and the videos are tremendously popular, and apparently, funny.  When someone crashes into a wall at high speed, people no longer wince and look away, they laugh.  "Oh, the sport of it!" A vicious hit on the football field, that should elicit sympathy, is shown many times over, and draws an excited "Whoa!"

In my classroom, students often laugh at things that are simply not funny.

Call it YouTube humor. It's a computer era Pavlovian response to witnessing someone else's pain.

Laughing is the new wincing.

Stairs

Many, many years ago, a set of stairs figured prominently in an event that Lauren and I shared. It's not what you think, but it is a good story, and one for another time.  This photo was taken fairly recently, and shows what happened many, many years later.

Wild Applause

Not too many of us ever receive applause of any kind.  Sure maybe when we graduate, or retire…but real applause, from strangers?  David Bowie knew it.  Glen Frey knew it. Heck, I sorta know it, because sometimes people applaud when I finish singing a song ( and not because I am finished singing the song…). But it's rare for normal people in normal walks of life to hear applause directed towards them.

Today, however, I heard wild applause.  A room full of people clapped in earnest for something I did.  Ok, they were my students, and it was a book that I finished reading, but they applauded! Wildly.  Very cool.

Therefore, I recommend "Because of Winn-Dixie", by Kate DiCamillo.  If you have a young person (8-11 or so…) in your life, read it to them.  It is sweet, poignant, fun, touching, and apparently, really good.

Who knows?  You might need to take a curtain call.

Who's Lauren?

This is the Lauren I mentioned in the first posting.  Friends back in 1977, reunited in 2015.  She has meant a great deal to me in recent months, and I see no reason to think that that is going to change. We make each other smile.

Some people spend their Thursday nights in lively public places, having lots of laughs and a great time. Tonight, I have been improvising with this blog thing…

Consider this a trial post.   If I see it on the page, I will delete it, if I can. Wish me luck.

First Effort

Hi…here we have an attempt at a whole new way for me to spend time, rather than ironing shirts and clipping coupons.

I was inspired to begin this process, this blog thing, after reading in a book that said it's a good idea.  Imagine that. Write random thoughts for strangers to read.  Not all will be strangers; but who thought of this? What a world.

The title I have chosen was also an inspiration for me.  Good old Auto Correct came up with it while Lauren was typing, you guessed it, law of attraction.  Inadvertent genius.  I immediately recognized it as a great band name, and now I see that "Otto Correct and The Mistakes" might be a good one, too.