Surprise, Surprise!!

I know, I know. This is days late from my promised post (does anyone remember TH night?) but I’m, like you, on blog/information overload. NYTimes magazine essay today on The Pleasure of Rabbit Hole: Where All Those Screens–hand-held, laptop, desktop. plasma–are taking us and Will’s latest post about his experiences with 16 year olds in Vancouver just keep the wheels turning for me. Both convince me that we are so on the right track for so many of the reasons we have been discussing in class.

But back to information overload–there’s that trip to the mall today to get some help with my iPod that doesn’t seem to want to rewind my audible book (Connelly’s The Overlook) and an inquiry into when the new MAC OS system, Leopard, is going to be rolled out (10/26! YEA!) and hours and hours reading 541 unit plan drafts and responding to blog posts, both course and individual–no wonder I’m exhausted.

But leaving exhaustion aside, what’s really on my mind–you of course.

Will Ray and Steve inspire all of us to join them on the Cortland SL island?
Will Sofia generate classmates’ interest in lesson plans on the course wiki?
Will someone make a movie about Jon’s kids’ bead project?
Will Andy get cooperation w/the Cortland 8th grade book club wiki project?
And is he editing his 17 minute long podcast?
Will Amanda decide to work w/some kids in a creative writing class at the Cortland Alternative HS?
Will Kate post about her reactions to hearing Alfie Kohn speak TH night? I hope so.
And how is Jerry coming on his new idea to podcast from his wife’s classroom?
And Steve, is he going to skype Will for us one of these TH afternoons?
And Laura, what kind of a video is she making with her kids?
And will classmates respond to her blog prompt?
And will Mandy and Amanda decide to collaborate on a video?
And do my students think the ALA READ poster campaign (who is Corbin Bleu anyway) I’m waging is a corny as I think they do?
And will my students see the exciting connections in the current issue of the EJ and our work together in 506?
And most pressing of all, is Steve serious about those OMAM costumes?
Lastly, will any of my students read my blog and find its posts worthy of a response?
Well, not lastly, since that leads me to wondering if EVERYone is using her/his bloglines feed to access new content? And will my blog post show up on the roll?

See what I mean–maximum information overload! And you wanted philosophy too!

Heffernan’s essay in the above mentioned NYTimes (10/21) seems to strike at the heart of what Sofia says in her blog posts about virtual worlds. Throughout Heffernan analyzes her mom’s absorption in books, and what “steals [the author's] mind” in relationship to those of us absorbed in an online life:

“We Internet users are told, as novel readers and moviegoers and television-watchers used to be told, that our pastime is obscurely dangerous. Immersion in art, away from the tasks of daily life, always strikes someone as unhealthful.

This time around, in the digital age, the hazard of full engagement with words, music and images is called “identity theft.” Still, what about the idea of surrendering your actual identity — your name, rank and serial number in the real world — to a wonderland of play in mysterious realms? That also sounds like being absorbed, immersed and transported. It sounds like the kind of engagement with art that we fantasize about when we buy everything from books to cable packages to satellite radio to flat-screen TVs to iPod docks. It sounds great.”

Do read the whole essay and Will’s insights into those adolescent minds in Vancouver–watch what he does with Twitter–the guy’s a genius. Listen to his podcasts too. Next step for us–getting some of our own podcasts up on our blogs. Yea!