Revisiting Ads In/On School Buses Issue?

I'm adding one more post about my previous topic, because my mother ran across it and had this to say:

Re: Blog
Schools started running ads inside on monitors almost 25 years ago. I think it was a company from Tennessee that may now be heavily involved in the charter school business.  Keep in mind that schools earn money form this venture. Some schools got rid of the ads when concerns about obesity and diabetes were raised.


I have to admit, this is true, but having posters and monitors in halls versus on a bus where it's unavoidable for the students due to proximity and also becomes public advertising space outside the school walls just feels tacky. Perhaps the revenue generated for the school is substantial, but I cringe at the thought of schools moving closer to the "business model" they already seem to be adopting...

Manipulating Young Minds for Fun and Profit

Missouri schools are allowing ads to be placed within and outside public school buses. I have only three words for this news...

Stop the insanity!

Okay and four more...

Is it worth it?

First Ever Blues Comic Celebrates Black History Month

Just ran across this in PR Web and wanted to share it in the spirit of February!

A comic book featuring historical figures in blues will be released in conjunction with Black History Month. Blues Comix published The Blues: a midnight adventure and is making it available for download as a mobile app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod. I'm not in support of limiting black history to one month, but I plan to upload this as a fabulous example of edutainment.

It's free for 24 hours on February 1st and then available for $1.99 afterwards.

Maybe I'll update this post later with a review!

STD Theatre Performance Educates Teens

I am a huge advocate of educational entertainment and the power of enthralling audiences, while educating them on the sneak tip. The LAist posted an article online today about an excellent example at John Wooden High, a high school in Reseda, CA.

A troupe of actors, courtesy of Kaiser Permanente, visited the school with a theatre performance about five teens dealing with unprotected sex and sexually transmitted disease in the last days of high school. The play incorporates texting and holds a Q&A session afterwards for teens to clear up misconceptions about home remedies and myths.

The performance is part of Kaiser Permanente's long running health education through live theatre program - Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre. This is my first time hearing about this program and I love it! I may even submit my resume to get involved!

Paula Deen's missed opportunity!

America's favorite Southern celebrity chef, Paula Deen, announced last week that she has Type 2 Diabetes... and instead of eating healthier she decides to work with a pharmaceutical company.

And why not? Eating better would go against the heavy, fatty, tasty food that she's built her dynasty on. She'd have to change all her recipes. It's probably much easier to just let big pharm pay her to endorse their drugs. In fact, even though she was diagnosed three years ago, she only came forward with her condition now that she has an endorsement deal with Novo Nordisk.

My initial thought was why doesn't she just launch a series of healthy eating cookbooks. She could update her old recipes with ingredient substitutes that are better for your body. Publishing new and improved editions of books you've already published is a tried and true way of boosting sales. But before my internal rant went too far, I checked out her site 'Diabetes in a New Light' and saw that it goes in that direction...

As a public health specialist though, I was dismayed with the pharmaceutical tie-in... many people default to drugs instead of behavior change when diagnosed with a chronic disease and I wonder if this new partnership only reinforces that practice.

Okay, I just read further down the article on CNN's 'Eatocracy' and she denies that her diet played a primary role in developing Diabetes, citing moderation as the message in her show and the reason she hasn't had to change her own diet! One step forward, Ms. Deen, and two steps back.

A missed opportunity to save America as denial strikes again!

Art Center Honors Term: Warning

As I near the homestretch of my final semester at Art Center, it's occurred to me that Honors term has two meanings. Yes, it is an honor to be awarded one of the two fellowships that allow graduating students to take one more semester of classes on the school's bank. But it's also about honor, honor as in one's own sense of honor and the "honor system."

The classes have been challenging for me, it's new information from a completely different field than my area of study, my grades don't matter as I already have my degree. The temptation to write it off, to give up, to have a sour attitude about all the work, to take what I've learned so far and just walk away is unbelievably strong. But I realize that this too must be part of the lesson. Having the fortitude and resilience to stick it out, when it gets tough, when it's not fun anymore, but really just hard work.

Maybe that's the whole point, the flip side no one focuses on and why it's only awarded to students who've already excelled. Because an honors term, is not just free classes, it's essentially taking classes and completing all the work as if you were an enrolled student, but without the promise or incentive of grades. There's no reward except the satisfaction of learning and doing well. The challenge is to dig in, do it and do it well even though nobody else is watching, nobody else cares, and no one can take away the degree that you've already earned. Its blood, sweat, and tears, just because you like to bleed, sweat and cry by yourself a lot.

Its been a tough term for me. I haven't worked this hard and this tediously since my first semesters at Art Center. Being an upper term student had made me soft. I only did what I wanted, when I wanted. I was past assignments and exercises. I was an artiste. The worker bee attitude was gone. Now, having to buckle down might be a good change. A good refresher course on working hard even when I don't want to as I prepare to enter the real world. And as I fight against laziness and second-guess my career choice, I realize that I am dreaming about ideas for assignments while I lie in bed, that I am excited about the possibilities of the work.

If I can still enjoy something, even after its become very hard and frustrating, and made me think of quitting (a few times), then maybe, just maybe I do find this fun and I am in the right place. It's as if this so called "free term" has been a test of how badly I want it, whether I have what it takes to be a professional creative. The magic hat of Hogswart. Do I belong here? And then I realized, that the day before Thanksgiving, I have a friend teaching me how to create a laser cut file, because I may want to use it for a project later. And when it takes longer than I thought, try three hours longer, because we didn't do it right the first time. I'm still there.

Then I notice the actual laser lab isn't very crowded. It usually is. I suggest we test the file, just to see if it works. I run across the hall to the model shop and buy some acrylic, we test it out. The file doesn't work, we fix it. We test it again and again and when we finally get a successful laser cut. I look at my friend and suggest we do it again on another material. Really? I thought I'd be done four hours ago and now my mind is racing about the possibility of making something else (emory boards). And that's the test. It was hard, it was tedious, all the fuss over minor details felt stupid. But I'm still there. The day before Thanksgiving, in a laser lab, cutting acrylic because I think it might become something cool. It's there I realize that I am a creative. This is my place in the world and I'm still here. The Art Center Honors Term, warning: For academic nerds only.

Aitor Throup: narrative fashion

I was nosing through a book on display in Art Center's library and discovered my newest favorite designer. Aitor Throup has a dramatic narrative flowing through his designs, which are both literal and surreal. His illustrations are impossibly gestural. And he uses sculpture  in his fashion collections with a cinematic feel that must be intentional considering his forays into directing music videos and the films that accompany his runway shows. Very inspirational stuff. Would love love to work with him in the future:)

But in the words of LeVar Burton, "Don't take my word for it." Check him out yourself: aitorthroup.com or google him under "images"