A NEW WAY OF THINKING A NEW WAY O OF THINKING A NEW WAY OF THINKING A NEW WAY OF THINKING A NEW WAY OF THINKING
METANOIA
A NEW WAY OF THINKING A NEW WAY OF A NEW WAY A NEW WAY OF THINKING A NEW WAY OF OCTOBER 2013 NEW WAY OF THINKING A NEW WAY OF THINKIN A NEW WAY OF THINKING A NEW W A NEW WAY OF THINKING THINKING
EDUCATION
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METANOIA EXECUTIVE AND STAFF
A NEW WAY OF THINKING
PUBLISHERS
SALME JOHANNES LEIS & ALLISON PATTON
COPY CHIEF
CALEB NG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
JR LEIS AND HEINO LEIS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
DAL FLEISCHER
PHOTO ARCHIVIST CONTRIBUTORS
GALINA BOGATCH Maureen Bader Donald J. Boudreaux Tim Brown Brian Croft Barindra Dua Cheryl Gauld Peter and Maria Kingsley Marilyn Lawrie Hank Leis Salme Leis Seth Meltzer Andrew Ng Caleb Ng
METANOIA MAGAZINE is a publication of METANOIA CONCEPTS INC. For questions, comments, or advertising contact by Phone: 604 538 8837, Email: metanoiamagazine@gmail.com, Mail: 3566 King George Blvd, Surrey, BC, Canada, V4P 1B5 2
Janice Oleandros Allison Patton Cara Roth Kaela Scott Pepe Serna Rafael Silva Dan Walker Harvey White
METANOIA CONTENTS
A NEW WAY OF THINKING
Executive Summary
Happy Autumn!
The Progressive Era
By Rafael Silva Ed.D.
Why Do I Need Math?
Mathnasium, The Math Learning Centre
Jessica Holmes
Comedian, Mom, Motivational Speaker
Speech
Dr Allison Pattton
THE RANT
Education
The Gallery
Parties and Panache
Leadership Vs. Management
By Seth Meltzer
The Ninth Wave
By Steve Tollefsen
Learning Without Limits
MOOCs, By Andrew Ng
Missives
Boudreaux
The METANOIA Horoscope
Quotes
4 6 11 12 15 16 17 18 21 24 29 31 3
Happy Autumn from all of us at Metanoia Executive Summary The challenge of this century is not that we have insufficient information to do what we need to do, but that we have an infinite amount of information that pretends to be knowledge and we still don’t know what to do with it. The term “education” is really an all inclusive word that has many meanings attributed to it. Sadly, for most, it is about having the fundamentals of knowledge to be able to get a job. Unfortunately for those who believe this to be the case, that sense of entitlement to a job does not necessarily follow.
Information on virtually everything is now available on the internet, but just because it is, does not mean that people avail themselves to it, to plan or strategize a life that is both meaningful and rewarding. The internet for most is a pastime-not for learning, creating or achieving, merely a source of entertainment for whiling away life’s precious moments because there is an absence of interest in meaningfulness or a fear of taking on challenges. We have devoted this issue to make your life more meaningful through understanding education. There are many points of view and we hope you enjoy reading all of them. Education is a phenomenon. Like life itself, it is multidimensional and our desire to be educated opens up possibilities to us-and with which we can create new worlds if we are not satisfied with the one we live in. Then, in this issue, there is the comedy of Jessica Holmes-relevant and funny. Best known for her hilarious impressions of Celine Dion. Now the comedian turns her talents to motivational speaking. How could we publish Metanoia without examining leadership? We could not-after all Metanoia is about a new way of thinking-and we are the leaders in that discussion. So without your followership, we could not lead-so you’re welcome! 4
METANOIA
METANOIA METANOIA March/April 2012 Edition
A
NEW WAY OF THINKING
The New Face of BC Politics
By Hank Leis
President of the BC Conservatives White Rock-Surrey Constituency Association
Dr. Allison Patton, MBA
The Greek origins of the word Metanoia [met-uh-noi-uh] convey the notion of an experience or a moment that is transformative. In fact the change itself would be so remarkable as to shift paradigms and these shifts actually would cause a change in behavior and ultimately the consequences of those behaviors. The articles in this magazine are intended to introduce a different way of thinking so that ideas and notions we take for granted can be reframed in such a way as to renew our life by making it more interesting, challenging and rewarding. Many of us have abandoned our intelligence, our ability to think, our various gifts for being able to create and instead joined the masses whose only goal is to perpetuate the species and dwell in a complacent and apathetic state amounting to nothing more than mere existence. We at Metanoia believe we are all capable of more than that and more importantly are able to generate epiphanous moments for you. We hope that our plethora of deep-thinking writers will be able to transform your life into something meaningful and wondrous. Every one of us, to a varying degree, has experienced these moments and most of us who have been so transformed are driven to rediscovering the process that first allowed us our enlightened clarity of mind.
Naturopathic Medicine Week 2011 May 9-15
METANOIA METANOIA METANOIA March 2011
June /July 2012 Edition
METANO Apollonia Vanova
Sings us...
Thank you for 10 years Present
The Rant
the December 7
Steve Nash Christmas Bash
DECEMBER 2011 SPECIAL EDITION
METANOIA 778-788-0073/604-542-5213 jninkovich@stevenashsportsclub.com
Vancouver Is Burning June 2011
CAND Health Fusion Issue
An Interview with
Events list & schedule
Betty Mobley
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George P. Shultz
cont. METANOIA
ie ab ull er Lynx, Her Pa ssion, Her L
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magazine
July 2011
TOUR DE WHITE ROCK
“Lullabies”
WILL JOHN CUMMINS BE ABLE TO CHANGE BC’S POLITICAL LANDSCAPE?
THE RANT GEORGE SHULTZ PART 3 Interview with a Statesman
Daughter of Texas
La lumiere d’une Chandelle
METANOIA METANO
In the last decade, scientific advancements have given insights into human phenomena that were previously thought science fiction, such as the viral theory as a contributing factor in the feeling of “love”. Anthropologists may have noticed nuances in human behavior early in our development, but these scientific discoveries now actually explain the physiology of “metanoic thinking”. Our own behaviors are being re-examined in light of these discoveries about brain function, and in particular that our usual way of thinking leads us to our usual results. Moreover mostly we do not think- but react- not unlike reptiles- and this process does not always serve us well.
WeThank You For 10 Years!
magazine
Humankind is evolving, and more and more the primitive fears that govern our behaviors are being discovered to be limiting rather than opportunistic. What we are discovering about ourselves is what our evolution is all about; the beast within will soon be quelled and what will emerge is anybody’s guess.
2011 magazine Media Kit
METANOIA magazine
2011 Media Kit magazine Special Fall 2011 Edition
METANOIA February/March 2012 Edition
METANOIA
Individually, the context of one individual within a population of seven billion suggests his/her insignificance – let alone a lifetime in the span of eternity. And yet we still have this narcissistic sense that our existence is of tremendous relevance. And while there may be something to this belief, how do these enormous discrepancies in size and time fit together to explain the relevance of this epic story? Simplified, what is the relevance of a person making a living to pay for food and shelter to the formula E=mc2. Our mission, certainly for Metanoia is to explore all those ideas, and to change ourselves and you in pursuit of this intelligence. To put it another way, we want your brain to be engaged in ways it never has been before. Are you ready for the challenge?
METANOIA
Pepe Serna
Actor, Artist & Motivational Speaker The Scarface Anniversary what it was like on set
2011 Media K 5
Historical Perspectives and School Reform Progressive Era By Rafael Silva Ed.D.
The Progressive Era in American education flourished from the mid1920s through the mid-1950s and had great impact on the practice and methodology of the era. The philosophy of the Progressive Era emphasized students should evaluate concepts by active experimentation. The students were viewed as problem-solvers and critical-thinkers which learn by means of individual experiences in both physical and cultural contexts (Cohen, 1999). Curriculum content was derived from student interests and inquiries. The Progressive Era philosophy of education focused on instructing students how to think and learn. John Dewey, an influential philosopher and prominent educator of the era, proposed children learn most effectively by means of the student’s own interactions with the environment. Some of the beliefs espoused by Dewey were shared decision making, teachers planning with teachers, and student selected topics (Cohen, 1999). Dewey also believed education must address the interest and needs of the children and not be taught by a prescribed curriculum (Gelbrich, 1999). In 1938, the American Association of School Administrators criticized the Progressive Era philosophy of public education, which focused on child-centered activity. Progressive Era educators placed an emphasis on traditional content disciplines, academics, and organized learning. Many public school administrators claimed American education had become ineffective compared to academic performance in other countries (Horn, 2002). The focus of the Progressive Era was to promote and maintain a scientific and technological focus primarily for military purposes. During the post-Cold War period, progressive education ideas re-emerged in many 6
school reform efforts and thrived in the areas of inquiry learning and inquiry-based science (Caspary, 2000). Critical Issues in Education during the 1950s Before the 1950s, many public schools throughout the country were racially segregated. The 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, KS was one of the most important U.S. Supreme Court decisions in U.S history. Brown vs. Board of Education required public schools to educate all children, regardless of race. Brown vs. Board of Education opened the door of educational opportunity for nonwhite students. The decision not only changed equity in public education, but it also changed America (Glickstein, 1975). In 1957, the launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union motivated Americans to challenge the essence of public schools. In response, the U.S. Congress increased funding to the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funded science and mathematics curriculum projects and teacher training institutes. The goal of the curriculum projects was to “identify talent and improve the education of elite students” (Ravitch, 1995 p. 8). Public school reform during the 1950s era was a top-down, federally funded effort. The curriculum in the NSF Science projects were developed by professional scientists and science educators, schools and teachers had little input (Finley, 2000). The National Defense Education Act of 1958 (NDEA) was passed by the U.S. Congress in response to the launching of Sputnik. Millions of dollars were allocated over a four-year period to support the advancement of public education predominantly in the areas of science and mathematics. The NDEA (known as Public Law 84-864) mandated course offerings such as technical education, geography, and English as a Second Language (ESL). The act also provided institutions of higher education with funds to providelow interest loans to students. The NDEA provided federal funds to foster improvement of elementary
and secondary education (Finley, 2000). Critical Issues in Education during the 1960s In the 1960s, the emphasis changed from the Cold War era focus to addressing social movements such as the civil rights movement and the war on poverty. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became a mandate for states and local schools to oppose racial desegregation (Dallek, 1998). In 1965, the U.S. Congress under the leadership of President Lyndon B. Johnson voted the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) into law. The act provided an opportunity for children to break out of the cycle of illiteracy and poverty through public education (Dallek, 1998). Programs such as subsidized school lunches, Head Start and Title I came into existence as a result. The ESEA provided targeted resources to help ensure disadvantaged students had access to a quality public education (Gelbrich, 1999). The reform movement of the 1960s also had a new curricular emphasis. Public educators were inspired to use creativity to make learning interesting and participatory for the students. However, the reform movement of the 1960s did not produce the results needed to improve student performance. A drop in standardized test scores occurred. Student enrollment and the public’s confidence in teachers declined (Gelbrich, 1999). Consequently, many citizens voiced a preference for a back-to-basics curriculum which focused on reading, mathematics computation, and writing as well as teacher accountability (Dallek, 1998). Critical Issues in Education during the 1970s In 1975, Congress passed the Individuals with Disability Act (IDEA), also known as PL 94-142, IDEA provided for a free and appropriate education for all handicapped students. Local schools were mandated to provide disabled students with the opportunity of a free and appropriate education. The IDEA law mandated handicapped students be educated to the best of their ability and that an
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individualized education plan should be created to meet student needs (Gelbrich, 1999). Title IX of the Education Amendments Act also took effect in 1975. The act was an initiative to bar discrimination in federally funded educational activities and programs, particularly for female students. Critical Issues in Education during the 1980s In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE) published A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. The report was a landmark in United States history and challenged the country’s ability to compete in the global economy because of the “rising tide of mediocrity in our schools” (NCEE, 1983, p. 5). The report specified the unsatisfactory affairs within the K-12 curriculum as exhibiting low basic comprehension rates and high dropout rates. The report became the focus for administrators and policy makers who created what later became known as the first wave of education reform (Berends, 2004). As a result, a major paradigm shift occurred because of standardized tests. Even though the states across the nation already required standardized testing of students, the test results did not promote effective interventions for children who were scoring poorly (Carvin, 2007a). The publication of A Nation at Risk created an education reform effort known as the Excellence Movement. In the mid 1980s, many states extended the testing mandates to include more rigorous graduation requirements, more regular testing, and greater standardized test preparation. The goal was to increase higher standards for all students and educators, as well as adjusting teaching conditions in the classrooms (Hunt, 2008). Teachers were evaluated based on the demonstrated knowledge of subject matter to determine periodic performance-based raises and bonuses. Despite the vast developments of the reform, research now suggests the focus on standardization did little to improve student learning and comprehension (Carvin, 2007a). 8
Continuing into the 1980s, several international studies such as the International Mathematics Study (SIMS) of 1982 and the International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) of 1991, provided researchbased data indicating U.S. students were not performing satisfactorily compared to students in other countries. Compared to students from other countries, the overall achievement scores for U.S. students were average, which created worry because the U.S economy was now linked to global competition (Finley, 2000). The Excellence Movement did provide opportunities for administrators to engage in professional development. The Excellence Movement focused on public education in general and not on what occurred inside the classrooms (Hunt, 2008). The next reform movement, known as the Restructuring Movement, surfaced in the late 1980s. The focus of it was to involve teachers in shared-decision making (Hunt, 2008). The Restructuring Movement emphasized the empowerment of teachers, collaboration, bottomup instructional decision-making, and the decentralization of administrative authority. The new ideas came to be known as site-based management (Hunt, 2008). In addition, during the Restructuring Movement, districts were willing to loosen control and shift administrative responsibilities such as staffing and budget to the individual schools. The standardsmovement had a great impact on public school administrators. It shifted focus from the learning teachers present to the achievement of students (Hunt, 2008). Instead of emphasizing course requirements and teacher certifications, the movement looked at how students perform academically. School reform efforts emphasized the need for restructuring schools with the intention of clarifying purposes and goals, addressing new approaches to teaching and learning, and redesigning the organization of schools to ensure student success in today’s society (Darling-Hammond, 1993; Schlechty, 1997). In 1989, President George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, then governor of
Arkansas, held the first national education summit in Charlottesville, VA for all of the nation’s 50 governors. The purpose of the summit was to establish educational goals for the nation (National Education Goals Panel, 2002). The goals were announced by President George H.W. Bush and adopted by state governors in 1990. The original six goals were later expanded to eight, and envisioned to be achieved in America by the year 2000. The goals were as follows: 1. All children will start school ready to learn. 2. High school graduation rate will increase to 90%. 3. Students will become competent in challenging subject matter. 4. Educators will have the knowledge and skills needed. 5. U.S. students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement. 6. All adult Americans will be literate. 7. Schools will be safe, orderly, and free of guns, drugs, and alcohol. 8. Schools will promote parental involvement (National Education Goals Panel, 2002). Critical Issues in Education during 1990s and 2000s The Goals 2000: Educate America Act was enacted into law on March 31, 1994. The mandate provided funds to states and local educators to increase student achievement. Goals 2000 promoted a framework for implementing world-class standards, measuring student progress, and assistance for students. During the late 1990s, professional organizations of public education had established standards for all content areas, many states adopted and revised standards for the content areas as well (Bell, 1993). A second movement of the 1990s was to address the failure of topdown reforms by providing more autonomy to local public schools. The Restructuring Movement promoted site-based management placing greater decision-making authority to administrators, teachers, and parents as opposed to central office administrators
(Bell, 1993). The expectation was for educators at the school level to embrace the concept of site-based management, because it would give them the autonomy necessary to make decisions in the public schools and to respond in novel ways to local issues (DuFour & Eaker, 1998). Reviewing the reforms of the early 1990s, DuFour and Eaker (1998) gathered the following thoughts: The paired concepts of establishing national goals and providing local autonomy to achieve these goals seemed to offer a viable alternative to the failed Excellence Movement. National goals could address a national crisis, while job-site autonomy and individual empowerment seemed to be consistent with best practice in the private sector‌. Unfortunately, restructuring seems to have left students virtually untouched by the reforms around, but not within, their classrooms. So the Restructuring Movement, like the Excellence Movement before it, has been unable to make a real difference in the ability of American schools to meet the challenges they face. (p. 69) In 2000, President George W. Bush made a commitment to ensure all children receive a quality education and to have the potential of becoming productive citizens. In 2002, one year after President Bush first took office, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) passed with wide support from both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress. NCLB has led to higher standards and greater accountability throughout the nation’s school systems (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). NCLB has also added pressure to efforts underway in states to raise academic standards, measure results, and hold educators and students accountable for improving achievement. The NAR Report 1983, Goals 2000, and NCLB were important initiatives which encouraged educators at a local and national level to investigate reform initiatives needed to meet federal required results. Previous political mandates in education have encouraged educators to seek out novel initiatives to improve the success of all children (Bell, 1993).
Biography Rafael Silva Ed.D. Dr. Rafael Silva is a School Leadership Director for the Corpus Christi Independent School District. As a school leadership director, he works with principals, assistant principals, staff, parents and community to help ensure the success of all students. Dr. Silva attended Corpus Christi State University where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. He received his Master of Science degree from Texas A & M University in 1990. He completed the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership in December 2008. His teaching career began in 1987 at Moses Menger Elementary School. Dr. Silva taught at Menger ES for 10 years. In 1996, he became an assistant principal at Rose Shaw Special Emphasis School and worked at that school for four years. Rafael Silva became principal at Prescott Elementary School in the year 2000 and remained at Prescott for five years. After spending five years at Prescott, he was reassigned to Rose Shaw Special Emphasis School as principal in 2006. He served three years as principal at Rose Shaw SES. Dr. Silva also served as principal at Sterling B. Martin SES Middle School. He has successfully worked with the community and earned outstanding principal in the 2008 school year. He was also named outstanding principal of the year 2012 by the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals. 9
Yes, YOUR Child Could Become Crazy About Math! At Mathnasium Learning Centers, our proven Mathnasium Method helps children clearly understand math by teaching it in a way that makes sense to them. When a child understands math, their confidence soars. With soaring confidence, your child is able to do progressively more — more advanced work than they would have ever believed possible. Before you know it, your child could become crazy about math! Your neighborhood Mathnasium Learning Center is at:
3268 King George Blvd. Surrey, BC. V4P 1A5
Independent studies found 99% of our students improved their math skills, many in as quickly as three months.
604-385-3100
Call, click or stop by today.
www.mathnasium.com 210ND –12 T H GRADES • HOMEW ORK HEL P • T ES T PREP • S U M M ER PRO GR AM S
WHY DO I NEED MATH?
By Barindra Dua
“I hate math. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it”. This is a common quote I hear from many students. Often seen as intimidating, boring or confusing, math is rejected by many students. It is rather disheartening to see this rejection for math since math is used everywhere in our day-to-day life. Have you ever found yourself struggling to calculate the 15% tip on your restaurant bill? Or ever wondered what total price you will pay on your shopping basket after adding taxes? These are just a few examples of math in our everyday life. While not everyone needs to study advanced math topics like Calculus and Trigonometry, basic math and numeracy skills are indispensable regardless of career path you choose. The value of number sense and a solid math foundation goes beyond the basic day-to-day computations involving making change and calculating our restaurant tips. Learning math promotes logical reasoning and analytical thinking, which are invaluable skills for any life or career situation. Several research studies have linked strong math skills to success in life. Recent research conducted in the US showed that people with poor math skills are more likely to end up in foreclosures. Not only are math skills important, but how early in life kids acquire strong math skills is a predictor of their future success. A recent research linked strong math skills in early childhood to academic success later in school. Another study found math skills at age 7 to be a predictor of future socioeconomic success. So if your child finds math difficult or boring, don’t shun it as a subject they would not need, or think he/she is not born with that ‘math brain’. While some kids are born with a flair for numbers, learning math is not all about IQ. Researchers at the University of California and Los Angeles revealed that while IQ has some role to play, motivation to learn determines how successful we are at developing our math skills. As parents and educators, it is our responsibility to motivate children to overcome their fears and learn. By using the right techniques, math can be learnt and enjoyed by all. Barindra Dua is the owner and centre director of Mathnasium – The Math Learning Centre in South Surrey. Mathnasium has over 350 locations in North America that offer after-school math programs, summer programs, and test preparation for students in grades Pre K - 12. Mathnasium teaches math in a way that makes sense to kids. Its curriculum and teaching methods have been developed with over 35 years of experience.
Interview with Barindra Dua -Centre Director, Mathnasium of South Surrey How did you come to be a math teacher/ instructor?
My interest in math education sparked about two years ago as I started working with my son on his math homework. I felt the importance of building numeracy skills and logical mathematical thinking was somewhat lacking in today’s education. This lead me to the path of being a Mathnasium franchisee owner. I have been fortunate enough to have a solid math foundation, and the skills I developed as part of learning math have been instrumental to my career success. I am keen to help children develop strong math skills that will set them for future success.
How is Mathnasium different than other programs?
There are a few things that set us apart from other programs. We are highly specialized and teach only math. This focus means we deliver better results. Mathnasium curriculum and techniques have been developed and perfected over 30 years of experience. Each student at Mathnasium has a customized learning plan to address his/her weaknesses and build on his/her strengths. Our fun learning environment makes it an enjoyable place for children to learn math.
Are math programs like Mathnasium beneficial for students that have a good grasp of mathematical concepts already?
Mathnasium has programs for students at all levels – whether they need to catch-up, keep-up or get-ahead. Many students enrolled in Mathnasium centres across North America come for enrichment i.e. to learn advanced topics and get more challenged. Our customized learning plans enable this, and students who have mastered math skills at their grade level can advance to the topics in their next grade level or even two grade levels ahead!
How can I find out more about the Mathnasium methods of teaching math? There is a wealth of information about our history, teaching methods and success stories on our corporate website mathnasium.com. If you have any questions or need any information, you may call me at 604-3853100, or email southsurrey@mathnasium.com Learn more about Mathnasium at www.mathnasium. com/southsurrey or by calling (604) 385-3100
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Jessica Holmes
Holmes has opened for comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Leslie Nielsen, and Ellen DeGeneres, as well as hosted events for such visionaries as Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, and Oprah Winfrey! Although a comedian at heart, having performed with the Second City and Just for Laughs, Holmes has recently delved into writing: penning the book I Love Your Laugh: Finding the Light in My Screwball Life. Born and raised in Ottawa en Anglais et Francais, Holmes sat back and enjoyed the hilarity that was her family: a handful of older brothers, a mormon father and a feminist mother. Not a sitcom, just her family. She attended Canterbury High School for the Performing Arts, majoring in Drama. There, English teacher Jane Moore coached Jessica and her friends on the high school’s Improv Team. They won gold at the Canadian High School Improv Games, and Holmes has always incorporated Jane’s great teachings in her career. Jessica majored in writing at Ryerson’s Radio & Television Arts BFA program, and again ended up spending her free time involved in comedy: acting in and then directing the annual sketch comedy show, titled RIOT. There, a few of the performers dared each other to try stand up. Four of them, Jessica included, performed at amateur night at The Laugh Resort. Jessica was hooked on the terrifying adrenaline ride that is stand up comedy, and decided to try it on as a career. The Second City, Just for Laughs and TV shows like Little Big Kid and The Itch got her noticed as a funny, quirky presence in the comedy community. After her comedy special Holmes Alone taped, she was offered her own sketch series: The Holmes Show. A Carol Burnett style series with lots of characters & impressions. Holmes became known for her oddball personifications of Celine Dion,Liza Minelli and Geri Halliwell. Holmes was delighted to join the cast of Royal Canadian Air Farce (having applied to be their secretary five years earlier, and been turned down…they still have her typing test!). There she played politicians and celebrities; including Michael Jackson and Jessica Simpson. During her years on Air Farce, Jessica had two children, Alexa and Jordan, with her actor husband Scott. Holmes wrote her first book, I Love Your Laugh: Finding the Light in my Screwball Life, in 2010. Having fallen in love with public speaking, Holmes decided to deepen the scope of her material by becoming a Life & Career Coach through San Diego’s Life Purpose Institute. She now enjoys a mix of comedy & motivational speaking. 12
to laugh; I wish I had their life. I loved, loved, loved, my kids, but I was trying so hard to be everything to everyone. When I recovered from post partum depression I realized comedy was my heart and soul… And I like softening them up with a Celine impression and then throwing out some of the big questions! I like to ask people questions when I speak. Nothing they have to answer on the spot. Questions to take with them. Who are the three people you most admire and what are the qualities you most admire in them. I ask them to write it down and look at them. Those three qualities, according to Deepak Chopra are who you are at your deepest self. And that is the only reason why you could be attracted to those qualities in someone else. Happiness is lining up your life and your choices with those three qualities. Because your life is deeper and more fulfilling, your happiness level is raised when you live in tune with your own values, because you’re proud of yourself everyday.
Jessica Holmes Interview
There is no telling what will happen when three woman go to lunch and chat. For most of us everything is on the table in these meetings; Career, Family, Love, Ups and Downs. But rarely do you meet someone who can really make you laugh. It was in our most recent interview with the beautiful and talented Jessica Holmes that Metanoia was lucky enough to meet someone who could make our tummies hurt with laughter.
METANOIA Metanoia Magazine is about “A new way of thinking” – The moments in life when change occurs in such a dynamic matter as to create noticeable change and shift in paradigm. JH
That’s great! That how I feel my learning curve is. These moments of total change and clarity that make me reach for the next thing. I trained as a life coach about two years ago. I wanted to be a comedic motivational speaker. So I go to work with Loretta Laroche. She really represented my idea of the marriage between comedy and motivational speaking. I also felt there was no one doing this in Canada. It felt like my calling. I wanted to know how to legitimately ask the big questions so I went and trained. It was really important to me not to be a person who says something ridiculous like “the grass is always greener”. The first time I met Loretta she was sitting backstage listening to the woman (unnamed) on stage. The speaker had gotten there by some nepotism; she was sharing all these clichés with the audience that sounded like a bathroom reader book. Things like 100 tips to be happy #1 “turn that frown upside down”. Loretta was angry and saying “Pay your dues woman, I paid my dues!” I couldn’t help but agree. It was important that I pay my dues. It can be quite irresponsible to give people advice that is not proven. My big moment of change came after my second child was born and I suffered from post partum depression. I’d get up on stage and do my act, and watched people laughing. I’d feel jealous- I’d think it must feel so good
Another question I ask is: “Is there an area of your life where you feel you’ve gotten used to getting maybe a 5 out of 10 in satisfaction?” We should all be getting maybe a 7 out 10 in areas like health and relationships and other things. When I was depressed I felt there were a couple areas that were about a 3 out of 10. I thought, “Well I guess this is life and this will always be life”. I ask people to ask themselves this question, just to themselves. The rest is up to them if they chose to do something with the insight it gives them about their life. I want to help people get their spark back!
METANOIA Don’t you think humor can be key in dealing with depression? JH
In comedy they say tragedy, plus time, equals comedy. And I work it like embarrassment plus time equals comedy or stress plus time equals comedy. So now we so look forward to shitty things happening. We have even made it into a celebration every year. Every Christmas we get people together to bring their worst Christmas presents. We make themes like “It’s like they don’t know me at all” or “they won’t even accept this at Goodwill”. People bring things like negligees from your mom or my mother bought me a candle with Ricki Martin on it. Someone brought bad corn. It’s all about our funny stories and the hilariously awful gifts. In a former life I was a missionary in the Mormon Church. We went to Venezuela, where we were told to journal everyday. We were so far away and I was so home sick and I had the idea of having a funny journal: so it had nothing sad in it, only funny things that would happen to me. We weren’t allowed to flirt but one man was like (he was a missionary as well) “In two years when I am home I would like to look you up.We are to be married, I have received a signal”. And I’m thinking “but I didn’t receive a signal?” He would write me love letters, “I spent 6 years on the high school wrestling team” and I’m like “how do you spend six years in high school?” Just everything was wrong with it. Another guy who was really off, well he had a friend, his best friend for a long time and she was girl. And he 13
brought in a picture to show us of her just sitting on a log smiling. One of the other missionaries said, “Hey I can draw, can I have the picture to draw her for you?” At first glance you would look at the drawing and say, “Oh yeah that’s the same as the picture” but then you would noticed her posture and expression was a little more suggestive than in the drawing. So all these funny stories I would write down…
METANOIA How old were you when you were
a missionary?
JH I was 21 METANOIA Wow! That was young JH it was the hardest thing in my life. I feel like the
fact that I finished was because our mission president gave us this speech about finishing at a time when I was praying to get injured and go home- because I didn’t want dishonorable discharge…. I’d be jealous of the people who got horrible stomach bugs or hit by a car or whatever because they got to go home! But our mission president gave a speech about finishing, and said, “If you finish this you will know you will always finish things in life. That come hell or high water you will reach the finish line, and that’s how you win.” I learned it’s not about who gets there first or how gracefully you do it, it’s about “I said I was going to do this and I’m going to do it, because I’m a person who keeps my word.” When I came home I applied that thinking and that self esteem and pride to my career and how I approached it. It was magical. I was able to do five series within the first five years of my career. Even to this day I feel lucky. At 6 am today I got a call from my comedy partner. We’re developing a new tween musical for YTV- and shooting a web series this summer that’s really funny, with improv. I feel grateful for it all and I credit so much to motivational speakers that I loved. I did Tony Robbins at the start of my career; I’ve done Deepak Chopra, Loretta and I’m so grateful to all of them. It’s meant so much to my life. I want in my own tiny little way to carry that on and be that for someone else.
METANOIA What are some of the most valuable
things you’ve learned in planning your career?
business end of it. Mostly I enjoy making people laugh.
METANOIA You kind of wear a lot of hats: Producer, Writer and Actor. JH Yes and you have to in Canada. If I were to say, “I’m only going to do this one thing” I think they would be like, “Terrific you can work three months a year!” It may look like I work a lot on paper, but I perform maybe three hours a week. The rest is down time, preparation and paper work. I’m on and then I get a day like tomorrow where I can just reconfigure and get ready for the next gig. Usually I feel I aim high and I don’t always get what I expected but I get something else that is way more exciting than anything I could have imagined for myself.
METANOIA Here at Metanoia we have this saying, “Follow your fear”. JH Trying the scary thing usually pays off, and if it
doesn’t you learn something. Peter Guber says, “Run towards the monster, it gets smaller the closer you get”. If there is a phone call I’m dreading I will say, “ I am strong, run towards the monster and it will get smaller.” I make the phone call and get it out of the way and over with. It feels great! You can enjoy the rest of the day.
METANOIA Its like an instant upper after you have dealt with that monster. You didn’t know you were that strong. JH Doing the thing that you think you are weak at, makes you realize you are stronger than you knew. That’s why I ask the audience “what’s the one area or thing or project or person you are not dealing with? Will you consider thinking about that when you leave today? You can chose to not deal with it, or prolong it and stress until it’s done. Or you can deal with it.” Happiness for me is trying new things expressing new ideas, for me depression is being held up and afraid to do anything. www.jessicaholmes.com @happyfeetholmes
JH I think the most important thing is to be honest with yourself. For example just because you love comedy doesn’t mean you’re going to love to gamble and chase your work. It doesn’t mean you are going to love rejection. What is stopping you from having any other career and still having comedy in your life? Your career does not have to define you. For me I have acknowledged I love the thrill of the chase, I love the excitement. Every time the phone rings I ask, “Is it Christmas?” Or if I get a chance to perform somewhere I’ll say “It’s Christmas!” And if it’s a telemarketer… it’s that. It took me a long time to learn not to say, “the only thing I don’t like about my job is you never know where the next paycheck is coming from”. I said wait a minute I came into this with my eyes open, I know what to expect and I think I like this. I enjoy the Allison Patton, Jessica Holmes & Salme Leis
14
Lessons from the Edge and Tales from the Trenches; Royal Roads Alumni Leaders’ Summit By Dr Allison Patton
Victoria Brilz, CMO 4iiii Innovations, Dr Allison Patton, Gord Mawhinney, CEO Long View, and Kip Fyfe, CEO 4iiii Innovations
I am a fan of Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken is primarily an educator. More importantly he is a man who believes in living his life to the fullest-and in the process making a contribution to the evolution of humankind. He is perplexed by individuals who find virtue in living a balanced lifeas if there is one-as am I. It almost seems that there is a resentment by those who are unwilling to take on the challenges of living the big life and so justify their lack of effort by questioning the trade-offs and choices made by those who do. I want to leave this discussion for another time, other than present my story, which really involves, making the choices that have provided me with the kinds of opportunities that make my life exciting, fun and often times challenging. To begin with, perhaps the least important aspect of my endeavours has been my education. I have a BSc. Honours in Biochemistry and Psychology, my naturopathic doctor’s diploma from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine where I was awarded the John LaPlante Leadership Award for demonstrating exemplary leadership within the CCNM community, and my MBA from RRU where I was awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal for my thesis work. I say least important, not because I want to diminish my education, but because I want to emphasize the point-that many have similar or better education but failed to take on the greater challenges that follow a good education. My own story, really begins with having had a brief discussion over coffee about how I as a practicing naturopathic doctor could get on the path of becoming a player on the world stage, where the significant decisions about the future of the planet were being made. Our group had already met with numerous members of the well-known Bilderberg Group and
we began to ask ourselves the question on how one might become a member of such an illustrious group. The BC Conservative Party had just begun to revive the party and we contacted Brian Peckford, former premier of Newfoundland, who was part of the tactical advisory group to the BC Conservatives to find out how we might get involved. We were very quickly introduced to the executive and their somewhat quick assessment of me and my credentials were that I might be a star candidate. My enthusiasm for supporting the BC Conservatives and soon after the Leadership convention, the leader John Cummins, almost knew no bounds. This was the beginning of developing a constituency association with an executive and recruiting membership. I became the President of the Surrey-White Rock Constituency Association. We also provided a boardroom for other CA’s in the area, and very soon we became the centre for the meetings held by five CA’s. Our unbridled enthusiasm must have caused some consternation somewherebecause our regional director asked us to slow down because we were getting ahead of the plan. Dutifully, we slowed down until new orders appeared asking us to get more proactive. Again, we complied. More confusing directives came down on us first directing us to go in one direction, then to reverse and do another. The frustration came to a head when we were reprimanded for having essentially acknowledged that politics was a blood sport and that we needed to toughen up a lot in order to deal with the bullying and the sometimes vulgar displays of narcissism so prevalent in politics. The conflict became serious enough for us to leave the party, however cooler heads prevailed and it seemed that we were still embraced by the party as one of their own. But were we? We continued as if all was OK-but what we were not aware of was that behind the scenes, there was immense discord having nothing to do with us-but nevertheless undermining our efforts. John van Dongen, who left the BC Liberals to join the BC Conservatives, was trumpeted as the beginning of our campaign to gain favour with the electorate. Christine Clarke and John Martin were projected to win in the byelections. As we became more involved with the political process we began to make observations about the lack of strategic planning, the absence of a coherent voice in directing the CA’s and a leader who seemed detached and disengaged from the concerns of the CA’s. We, of course thought we were alone, in seeing the disarray in the party, and when the question of a leadership review came up, I took the position of supporting it. The support for that process brought untold recriminations to our CA and me
personally but it was not until the AGM was held and we met other leaders of different CA’s did we realize that a large number of CA executives were unhappy with what was going on. Not knowing about this lack of support for the leader, we had not organized ourselves into an elite group challenging John Cummins’ leadership. We had only taken a position that we had a right under the constitution of the party to vote on the matter. John Cummins and his supporters of course were organized and easily attained just more than 70% to retain his leadership. The so called winners, we felt, would embrace the 30% and John Cummins would speak to this. Instead, John van Dongen was allowed to leave and the letters of expulsion and letters of reprimand by the party executive started. The realization that “our” numbers had grown to a point where, despite the 70% support for Cummins, we could ask for his resignation. The pressure for him to do so would come from the resignation of the executives of 2 CA’s per week until almost none were left. This did not seem to me a strategy that would work-so the alternative was to ask all 27 CA’s who had complaints against the executive and John Cummins’ leadership to join Ian Pyper, Ariane Eckardt, and myself at a press conference at the Pan Pacific Hotel on Wednesday October 10th, 2012 as we asked that he resign as leader of the party. Rumours were afloat that John Cummins would announce his resignation during a CKNW interview so we were asked to hold back on our demands for his resignation by two hours. None was forthcoming and so we ultimately went ahead with the demand. Less than 20 of our CA’s showed up to support us. After that my life became a media circus. Every TV news channel had interviewers at my place of business. Newspapers, radio, the bloggers all became part of my life. I was inundated with requests for interviews and I was running back and forth between administering to my patients and answering reporters’ questions. Between politics and business I was often working 20 hour days seven days per week. After being expelled by the BC Conservatives, the phone began to ring from the BC Liberals. After all kinds of indications that I would get to run as a candidate for the BC Liberals-after much soul searching and consultation with advisors I joined the BC Liberal Party. But, I was not to run-another got chosen. We now know that the BC Liberals won by a vast majority and the BC Conservatives got 4.8% of the popular vote. Would I do it again-you bet-I loved every moment of it and would do it again in a heart beat and will if ever the opportunity comes. 15
Education The Rant
by Hank Leis Education is the enemy of ignorance. Or is it? Has mandatory education and the later optional higher education provided the individual with the knowledge and the ability to survive in the long term and to develop a lifestyle commensurate with the learning that the student has attained? The answer of course is a resounding “No.” The education system does not provide the internal discerning mechanism or a psychological base that responds to the incredible demands placed on us by the interactions with others and the behaviours and coping skills that make our existence possible. A larger and larger portion of society is marginalized early in life because the minimal requirements to be educated are not achievable. The majority in our society who manage to graduate from high school and the somewhat lower number who manage an undergraduate degree still have the reduced skills which make them somewhat employable but dependant on training and the vagaries of employers’ demands and expectations. This results in little time left over for rest and for self-administration. In other words, life’s a bitch and then you die. Then there is the small group of elite for whom the education process essentially has been designed. Their academic success propels them to profess and to perpetuate the process, which for them has been tremendously rewarding. For them the mantra of getting educated, pointing out 16
the failure of those who did not do so, is of course based upon a self-fulfilling prophecy because this type of education itself is the hallmark of their success and of course they conclude it could and should be for others. The notion that the education system is set up primarily for educators escapes them. Education as an apprenticeship is another matter-because the education is specific to actually living. But the apprenticeship system has been so much discounted that knowledge without the papers to back it up is as good as no knowledge at all. Four years of undergraduate work and 3-4 years of post-graduate work deems those individuals as successeswhile those who were equally focused on other endeavours go unrecognized, except perhaps being defined as failures. But these academic achievers are as inept and as incapable of making sound decisions as others in this hierarchy, if not more so. Generally they profess with a degree of confidence that belies their experience. The problem with high achievers is that those who succeed are part of the paradigm that defines success and those who do not succeed have already been marginalized or excluded. The democratic political system attempts to balance this out in some way but is always held captive by those who have a vested interest in maintaining it. Moreover the maintenance
of these systems from time to time reaches a level of corruptive behavior that becomes oppressive as viewed by those who are not part of the regime. The problem with the education system is that it is a ‘system’ and more particularly implicitly designed for the most part by educators to meet their own needs. That it is no longer relevant in providing skills to do jobs is only one argument against it and that it is in combat with those would be achievers is another. But more significantly, education does not embrace the value of complete knowledge compatible and combining experience with personal development of attitudes. Behaviour or actualization of knowledge is probably more significant than any other aspect of the endeavours we as humans undertake to survive on this planet. Confine us to any narrow or restricting avenue of thought and we begin to threaten and wreak havoc on the institutions that keep us there and institutions of education will not be exceptions. And because education creates and is part of a web that connects with every segment of our society, its impact is great for everyone because everyone is engaged in the process of living. Today almost every political system is under severe attack and how those currently in boundary spanning positions, handle it, will determine the extent of damage that is inflicted on our planet before changes are allowed to take place.
Dr. Allison Patton with Chardaye Bueckert and Stacey Morrison at the Victoria Legislative Buildings, August 2013
Dr. Allison Patton with Global BC’s chief political correspondent, Keith Baldrey at the Victoria Legislative Buildings, August 2013
Pepe Serna with The Temptations in concert at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California
Pepe Serna with the “The Four Tops”
Corey Wilson and Eli Zbar at the Victoria Legislative Buildings, August 2013
Victoria Legislative Buildings
THE GALLERY Panache&Parties
Michael Weintraub with Dr. A Patton and Salme Leis
Producer Jerry Weintraub interviewed by Vic Lindal
Global Leaders Summit Silicon Valley Panel Rapid Growth Lessons Learned Kenny Hawk CEO and co-founder of Brand Boards, Peter Nieh, Lightspeed VC, Ashley Giesler Sun Run, David Sobota, Google, Liz Hart, Cornish and Carey Commercial, Andrew Romans Founders Club General Partner
The Editor’s of Metanoia : Selfies after talking to Jessica Holmes at The Fairmont Pacific Rim
17
Leadership Vs. Management Can I be both a great leader and a great manager? By Seth Meltzer
Would you rather be known as a great leader or a great manager? Is there a difference? If so, is there a way to quantify it? These are some of the questions that I brought along with me to Paychex, Inc. headquarters in Rochester New York for a week-long training known as Leadership Essentials. I went to Rochester generally believing that managers look after people and chase them to get things done while leaders inspire and, naturally, I wanted to find out how I could ensure I end up a leader. In his book Jack Welch and the GE Way, author Robert Slater calls chapter two “Stop Managing and Start Leading.” Here is an excerpt: “Welch wants to discard the term [manager] altogether because it has come to mean someone who controls rather than facilitates, complicates rather than simplifies, acts more like a governor than an accelerator.” With this in mind it was clear to me that I wanted to be some sort of “anti-manager” dropping pearls every time I spoke inspiring people to achieve great success… I just needed to learn how to accomplish this! Paychex has 12,500 employees with a world-class training center that was ranked 23rd on Training magazine’s Top 125 picks for 2013 (the company’s 12th straight year on the list) which means I have ample opportunity to meet many talented people with many different skill sets. Out in the field for 10 years with the company I have watched many talented individuals rise through the ranks of management as well as seen other talented people rise, only to fall from positions of power wondering how something like that can happen. With the hope of getting some of my questions answered I sat down with the individual presiding over our world-class training center, Vice President of Human Resources Laurie Zaucha. The first thing Laurie did was stretch my mind by adding a third component for me to consider. Laurie challenged me to think of “leadership” as pertaining to vision, motivation, and the development of talent (VISION); “management” as pertaining to project management and meeting deadlines (PEOPLE); 18
L to R: Nate Gavitt, Seth Meltzer, Colleen Paddock, Joe Brown
and “supervision” covering basic tasks and ensuring the detail work is done (TASKS). So in other words I realized that what I thought of as “success” relying on “leadership” above all other skills was perhaps too narrowly defined. In hindsight I went in thinking that I wanted to be a leader and not a manager but now realize that I need the positive qualities of leadership, management, and supervision to be a well-rounded successful leader. I need to develop and communicate a vision, lay out a plan for its fulfillment, as well as inspect its implementation. Simply painting a picture of my vision and relying on others to implement and execute would be sure to leave me disappointed with someone else’s interpretation of my grand plan. My week at Leadership Essentials training was spent reviewing the fundamentals of leadership/ management including tips and techniques for setting effective goals, identifying the development level of individual contributors, and improving my ability to communicate effectively with others. Whether it’s raising children, managing peer relationships, or dealing with employees we need to consider how we interact with others, the impact we have, and the legacy we’ll leave. On that note, something Laurie said has stuck with me. “What separates great leaders from all others is getting ordinary people to do extraordinary things.” That’s a legacy I’d like to be known for.
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Arts Listings Books: Burdick’s Lost ‘The Ninth Wave’ Deserves New Life By Steve Tollefson, Special to the Planet Tuesday September 26, 2006
Resurrecting a book is probably like raising Lazarus. It can happen, but only with a little divine intervention. On the other hand, there are scientifically documented cases—like Their Eyes Were Watching God (and indeed all the works of Zora Neale Hurston)—in which books have been resurrected and have stayed with us. So it is with both fear and hope that I will now, ladies and gentlemen, attempt to raise a book from the dead. This book really is dead but should not be. Very occasionally you can find a copy in a used bookstore, but the only good sources for copies are libraries and the various online consortiums like abebooks.com and alibris.com. Nonetheless, this is a book worth searching out. The Ninth Wave, published in 1956 by late Berkeley Political Science Professor Eugene Burdick was, according to the cover blurb of my old paperback, a best seller, but I’ve never met a single soul, besides the friend who gave me the book, who has ever read it. Burdick achieved much more fame with his books Fail-Safe (with Harvey Wheeler) and The Ugly American (with William Lederer), bona fide best sellers in 1962 and 1959, respectively. His life was rather short, 1918 to 1965, but Burdick’s interests ranged far. He was a Rhodes Scholar; one of his stories appeared in the 1947 O’Henry Prize Stories; and he studied American voting behavior. An excellent short biography of him appears on the UC Berkeley “In Memoriam” website. The story concerns high school surfing buddies in Southern California beginning in 1939—how cool is that? In fact, on the web you will find the book frequently mentioned on surfing sites. And in the 25 year interval between when I first read, and then reread, the book, surfing was one aspect that stuck
out in my mind. However, surfing is really just the frame of the book. It’s not a book about surfing, although the passages on the water are incredibly lyrical and evocative. The friends, Hank and Mike, go off to Stanford (now just calm down, you Old Blues; after all Burdick was a professor at Cal, not Stanford). Hank becomes a doctor, Mike a lawyer and political behind-the-scenes man. The book’s got everything: class and race issues at Stanford, surfing, Hollywood, Coachella Valley, Fresno, Highway 99, Malibu, communists, the wine country, South of Market winos, North Beach, World War II, big time politics, California land grabs, sex. The first half is epic in its complexity: Hank’s early years in his grandparent’s boardinghouse in North Dakota; his ending up in high school in Southern California; Mike’s unhappy socialist father; Mike’s affair with his high school English teacher, and later, Mike’s convincing a drunk to jump from the Golden Gate Bridge. Actually, I think that’s part of its problem. There’s just too much; you get exhausted after a while, and put the book down. Then the next section keeps you up late into the night. It wants to be a serious novel, and it is, but it often reads like a pot boiler, and it seems to be one part Frank Norris and one part Raymond Chandler. The cover of my Dell paperback edition (“5th BIG PRINTING”) from 1963 doesn’t help sort out the various strands. A blurb from the Chicago Tribune appears above the title: “A powerful novel … Violent actions, startling sexual episodes … bold, brash.” (Lest a small percentage of you get carried away by the “startling sexual episodes.” They were probably startling in 1956. Today, not so much. Not bad, however.) And the cover art is an absolute cross between the cover of All the Kings Men and the poster for From Here to Eternity (Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster in the surf). Seriously, couple in the surf and politician in front of the microphone. No wonder, then, that the book has fallen on hard times. But the strength of the book is that it makes us see our world through new eyes. Some great books, like Their Eyes Were Watching God, tell us a story we didn’t know; others, like these, tell us a story we think we know. And we soon learn that we really didn’t know it at all. The Ninth Wave seems frighteningly modern. Actually, I think it speaks more to us today than perhaps it would have before 9/11. Mike devours everything he can read at Stanford, (while Hank
devours anything he can eat) and slowly develops an operating principle for his life. We see the first flowering of the principle in a very discomfiting passage. While at Stanford, Mike and Hank visit their philosophy professor, Moon, ostensibly to talk about some point from class, but the conversation takes a nasty turn, and as they leave, Hank says: “You son of a bitch. You had to let him know that you know he is a queer. Is that the only reason you stopped by his office?’ “I don’t get it,” [Mike said]. “Being queer is all right, we say. Maybe it’s better than being normal. Maybe it’s being superior. But we can’t talk about this fine thing. It’s very bad to mention to a queer that he possesses this fine thing.” “That’s not why you said it; to be nice and conversational,” Hank said wearily. “You said it to hurt him … You want to see if you can break through and find something that a person is scared of.’ Find the thing that people are afraid of and you can control them: “I just start to itch with curiosity when I see a guy with a perfect little world, everything consistent, everything balanced … the guy happy in the middle of the world. I don’t believe in it. I have to see if it’s real.” “And is it?” “No, It never is. Everybody is always scared of something.” Although it has taken a long time to get to this point in the novel, this idea— everyone is afraid of something; you just have to find out what it is—becomes the basis for the rest of the book. At every turn, Mike pushes. He gets engaged to the daughter of Napa Valley winemakers and here’s what he says to his future in-laws: I don’t know about breeding and good environment … Not a thing. But I know something about you. I know that both of you came from good old California families who left you a lot of money. And I know that neither one of you has earned a cent in your life. You even lose a couple thousand dollars a year on this vineyard. And I know that you run the vineyard because it’s fashionable and you can play like the country squire and his lady. And I also know that you run a winery so that you can have a good excuse to lap up a couple of gallons of wine every day. The first half is fascinating, but it’s the second half that becomes gripping, as Mike plays kingmaker for John 21
Cromwell, a well-to-do lawyer whose main talent is that he’s a riveting speaker with populist notions. What’s disturbing is that Mike’s philosophy— and that’s really not the right word for it—is not in the service of anything, neither right nor left. Not to make himself governor or to help people. It’s just because he can do it. Mike doesn’t rely on traditional politicking, but on the then-newfangled opinion polls and the shaping of a candidate to fit the polls. How Mike manipulates the Democratic nominating convention, and then the primary, is amazing and horrifyingly realistic, Premonitions of our last two national elections—as well as our California ones—run throughout the book. “Most voters don’t care about politics,” says Mike. “…They vote out of habit, because they’ve been told to vote. And they always vote Democrat or Republican. …But the really important ones are the eight or ten per cent that’re scared. They’re the real independents, the people whose vote can be changed.” One can’t help but think of those polls that showed a substantial “undecided” group in the last election, when the rest of us were wondering how in the world someone could not know what to think about the two candidates. Mike says that it’s no longer political corruption that runs things—it’s money, power, influence, and manipulation of the voters. It’s all legal. Burdick’s training as a political scientist infuses the entire book, albeit in an extremely depressing way. It is most clear when Mike is explaining the results of some polls he has conducted. He’s talking to Hank and to Georgia, with whom he is about to launch a desultory and long-lasting affair. She’s the daughter of a wealthy Jewish movie mogul. The second question in Mike’s poll is “In general, what sorts of things do you worry about?” ‘I don’t believe it,’ Georgia said. She stared at the paper. ‘Only eight per cent of them worry most about war and depression and the atom bomb. The rest are worried about their jobs and themselves.’ The third question is “What group in general do you think is most dangerous to the American way of life?” “The answers always fall into five categories,” Mike said. “Just like clockwork. First, the people who say Big Business or Wall Street of the Bankers or Rockefellers or General Motors. I call that the ‘Big Business’ category. Second is the ‘Trade Unions’ category. That’s obvious…Third is the “Communist 22
Conspiracy’ category. Fourth is a category you won’t like much. It’s the ‘Jewish Conspiracy’ category. That’s where you put the people who say the Jews or International Jewry or Bernard Baruch. The fifth group is the “Religious Conspiracy’ … people who say the Pope or the Catholics or ‘those snotty Episcopalians’ or ‘those Mormons and all their wives’ … that sort of thing.” Ask the question “What group in general do you think is most dangerous
to the American way of life?” today and just substitute a few words in the answers: “Muslim,” “Al Queda,” “gay,” “immigrant,” “environmentalist.” The only ones that we don’t need to change are “Big Business” and “Jews,” I guess. Not as much as changed in 45 years as we would like to think. As I was rereading the book, I could hear echoes of a recent TV ad proclaiming “Governor Schwarzenegger’s secret plan to discredit California nurses”—or something to that effect. I’m not normally a person who gives much credence to secret plans, but The Ninth Wave has given me pause. The book is not all politics, however. There are many telling small moments, moments that raise it beyond (if not above) being “simply” a novel about politics: love, marriage, friendship are all major concerns here. Mike is not
“evil” in any traditional sense-perhaps “amoral” is as close as we can comeand along with his brilliance and single mindedness, there is an overriding sense of emptiness. Although Hank drifts in and out of the novel (which is another problematic aspect, I think), it’s clear that the bond he and Mike share is extraordinary, and at the very end, devastating. Mike’s wife seems to accept his affair with Georgia: it’s clear-to us and to Georgia-that Mike is not going to leave his wife. And there are scenes of great emotional power beyond political maneuvering: a fight with some thugs on a beach; a card game in a dorm room. At one point, Mike and Georgia drive out Wilshire Blvd., past UCLA, and then past the Veteran’s Home that’s still there. Georgia comments that the veterans must hate it and Mike asks how she knows: I guess by looking at them. I think the sunshine and palm trees and salt air frustrates them. When you’re dying you ought to be in a cold, dreary climate. It would make it easier. They ought to build the veterans’ hospitals in the mountains and out on the deserts … where it’s lonely and bleak. It must be hard to sit around in the sun and watch people going by in sport shirts and know you’re going to die. That seems to me to one of the clear Raymond Chandler moments, of which there are many. Georgia herself, for instance, is one of those slightly damaged but strong women who could easily be spending her evenings with Phillip Marlowe. The book is for all its emphasis on politics a very atmospheric book about California. It’s astounding that Fail-Safe and The Ugly American were both made into movies, while The Ninth Wave has disappeared. It begs to be made into a movie—but the kind only Northern California’s own Saul Zaentz or Philip Kaufman could make: there’s a balance of depth of thought and great story telling that few directors could probably capture. (Saul and Philip, are you reading this?) If this novel were simply astonishing in its prescience, which it is, it would be worth resurrecting for that alone. But thankfully it’s more. Certainly, it should be on all “Best Books about California” lists, because the state is a major character. For all of its flaws, the book does have a claim to deserving a new life: it provokes the reader to look-at both the physical and political environments-through a new lens. Today, the story itself not new; we’re living it in many ways, but the books help us to see that.
THE NINTH WAVE
POLITICS IN REVIEW by Hank Leis
The Ninth Wave, a novel written by Eugene Reviews Burdick in 1966 still stands out today as the penultimate story about “realpolitik” in the United States. The Ninth Wave is easy to read and easy to understand, but not because it lacks profound thought or insightfulness. The central character, Mike Freeman is not a nice guy. He is someone who sees things in human behaviour that others filter out and he is as dispassionate about himself as he is about those he observes. He is obsessed by life and living it to the fullest, but absent of the narcissism that limits others. He is superman without the cape and the selfindulgence. The ‘awe generation’ looking for a pleasant read that indulges their every human frailty will find the book difficult. Eugene Burdick does not cater to their moral superiority or those concerned with “An intriguing novel, both being politically correct. for the vividness of its scenes, For this novel, Eugene Burdick won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship and the power of ideas.” Award. Some of his other better known -New York Post books include, The Ugly American and FailSafe. Both were made into movies. Eugene Burdick attended Stanford University, Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar and earned a PhD in psychology. He was a gunnery officer in the Navy in World War II and decorated for courageous action during a Japanese torpedo plane attack. He was professor of political science at Berkeley. In addition he wrote academic papers including those on American Voting behaviour. For an aspiring politician or just someone trying to understand how politics does work, “The Ninth Wave” is a beautiful read. The book is out of print but can be found on the shelves of many used book stores both in hard cover and paperback.
“Not for the timid. There are violent actions, profanity, vulgarity, startling sexual episodes and bold, brash political philosophy…Book of the year.” -Chicago Tribune
“Relentless and Irresistible.” -Dallas Morning News
“Teems with rigorous life.” -San Francisco Examiner
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Learning Without Limits: Improving Access to Education with MOOCs by Andrew Ng. This article first appeared in “Computação Brasil Magazine”
As a professor and as co-founder of Coursera, I’ve seen education evolve rapidly over the past few years, mostly due to technological advancements that have enabled the creation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). An experiment that started at Stanford University has grown at an incredible pace, with universities and organizations -- from the United States as well as many countries around the world -joining efforts to offer their course content online for free to anyone with an Internet connection. Online learning platforms like Coursera have the potential to bring a high-quality learning experience to more people than ever before. In the year since Coursera was founded, our courses have reached over three million people in more than 190 countries around the world, many of whom would never otherwise have access to any type of higher education. Online learning platforms also, however, have revolutionary potential as a tool for instructors and students seeking to improve learning outcomes in college classrooms. The traditional model of a professor standing before a class, lecturing students while they take notes, makes less sense in today’s world. The Internet provides a much more efficient medium for broadcasting content, while the flipped classroom, which combines online video lectures with active, in-person classroom interactions between students and professors, is emerging as a more effective way to teach students on campus. In the flipped classroom model, all lecture-based instruction takes place online, freeing up classroom 24
time time for faculty to engage actively with students. This is in-person teaching the way it was meant to be: not orating to students in a one-to-many lecture model, but sparking discussion, facilitating debate, and allowing
online quiz, a professor teaching their course through an online platform can export and examine the quiz metrics to recognize that students are having trouble with certain concepts. The professor can then adapt their teaching
instruction, any single institution can provide a much richer and broader curriculum that may support more specialized student interests and open up new career opportunities.
“Online learning platforms like Coursera have the potential to bring a high-quality learning experience to more people than ever before.” students to learn through hands-on interaction with the course material. Students and instructors develop deeper relationships, and students get much more individual help with concepts and assignments. Pedagogical research confirms that classroom models that emphasize active learning, including the flipped classroom model, offer real and significant benefits to the student. For example, in a 2011 report, Louis Deslauriers, Ellen Schelew and Carl Wieman describe an experiment that compared student engagement, attendance, and test scores in an introductory physics class that used a traditional lecture model against one that used active learning. Student engagement in the active learning group nearly doubled, attendance increased by 20%, and average scores on the same test increased from 41% to 74%. Online learning platforms also offer professors the opportunity to systematically study data on study performance, and to quickly glean insights into the effectiveness of their own teaching methods. For example, if a large percentage of students get the same answer wrong in an
strategy to ensure that student understanding improves before the class moves ahead. The ease of data management within an online platform gives professors the benefit of an analysis that might have required hours to perform in a traditional course without sacrificing time that they can better devote to actually addressing the needs that the analysis reveals. As with any new education technology solution, many universities and their faculty may not have the skills or resources to create and manage effective online courses. MOOC platforms like Coursera give these schools the support that they need to make flipped classrooms a reality on campus. A few institutions in the U.S. are even beginning to enter into agreements with online learning platforms to license course content, allowing professors to utilize content hosted on these platforms as a resource in flipping their classrooms. Most small institutions do not have the staff or the expertise to offer all of the classes that MOOC platforms offer; by sharing these outstanding educational resources between schools, and complementing them with effective on-campus
While MOOCs could never replace university degree programs, they’re becoming a very real solution that can improve access and quality of education both on and off campus. Online learning platforms offer professors the incredible opportunity to reach millions of students who would never otherwise have access to higher education, while at the same time allowing them to rethink and enrich the oncampus learning experience. Not everything that happens in an in-person classroom can be replicated with an online course, and the two experiences will never be the quite the same. What MOOCs are doing, however, is revolutionizing our concept of higher education both in the classroom and around the world. BIO: Andrew Ng is the cofounder and co-CEO of Coursera, and had led the development of Stanford University’s first MOOC platform, on which he taught machine learning -- one of the first MOOCs -- to 104,000 students. He is also an Associate Professor of Computer Science and the Director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. 25
The Dan Walker Chronicles
Lijiang to Shangri-La Part II Dan Walker is an adventurer, a businessman and raconteur. He has visited every country in the world. His trusty Rolls Royce has taken him across many continents. He includes his grandchildren in some of his travels allowing them to select the destination. Originally, he hails from Victoria, British Columbia, but now resides in Costa Rica. At our request he has honoured us by writing a journal of his most recent trip to China. We are pleased to present the Dan Walker Chronicles.
Our first stop was the old tea caravan town of Shigu, located on the First Bend of the Yangtze River, where we were not unhappy to say goodbye to our guide. She is one of the highly programmed old style guides where everything must be done exactly per a fixed program. She understood very little English, and explained little not specifically in the program. Marilynn had more patience that I did - she interrupted the guide’s non-stop discourse with the driver to try to get information on what we were seeing, but it was very frustrating. There are many old Mao era vehicles still on the road. They seem to be powered by one or two cylinder engines, which are mounted externally in the front of the truck. Another model that we saw frequently on our 1985 visit to China is like a two wheel garden tiller attached to a trailer. It has hand brakes and a steel gas pedal on the floor. They sound like the old East Hope one cylinder boat engines (tunk, tunk, tunk) and are desperately slow, particularly on a hill where they
The ancient Shigu Town located on the First Bend of Yangtze River
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invariably have steam pouring from the engine. When the guide was gone Marilynn climbed in the front seat beside the driver and we had some laughs. The driver had very few words of English but he was quick to pick things up and had a good sense of humour. Our new guide, Tsering Nayma, a Tibetan, joined us at Tiger Leaping Gorge. The drive has been spectacular, on narrow highway winding around harrowing curves on the side of mountains. There is little sign of civilization - just miles of pine, cedar and fir forest. Tiger Leaping Gorge is a narrow gorge set between high cliffs where the mighty Yangtze River, the third longest in the world at 6,300 km (3,917 mi), is forced to squeeze between high canyon walls. The total gorge, which is almost 20 km (12 ½ miles) long, has a vertical drop of 213 meters (700 ft). At its narrowest point it is only 20 meters (65 feet) wide. As we neared Shangri-La the countryside became very Tibetan with stupas, prayer flags and herds of yaks. The city was renamed from Zhongdian after the fabled lost paradise in an effort to increase tourism. The altitude is 3,400 meters (11,152 ft) and the population is 50,000, a small town by Chinese standards. Our twisting, narrow route today was paralleled by another super highway in construction. This road will connect Lijiang to Shangri-La and eventually to Lhasa, Tibet. This will further tie this reluctant autonomous zone to China. The first step to remove Tibet’s isolation was the completion of the Chengdu to Lhasa railway - it was nearing completion when we were in
One of the streets in Lhasa, Tibet
Lhasa. Tibet was closed to all foreign visitors on May 25 this year following two Tibetans burning themselves to death. There is also an illegal celebration on the date of the uprising against the Chinese in 1959 which is annually suppressed. The new links should increase Chinese immigration into Tibet, and provide quicker military access. Marilynn noticed both our driver and the guide have one long fingernail, and asked why. It is to have a convenient item for scratching the ear or nose. Our hotel is a restored old Tibetan style building and our room is on the third of four floors. There is no elevator and with the altitude we were puffing after scaling the stairs. The room is beautifully done in old style furniture but with all the modern conveniences, including wifi. Before entering the hotel we were required to turn in our shoes and put on supplied slippers - a bit of a problem with my big feet. The best we could do is to crush the back of the slipper and let my heels hang out. We were seated at the window overlooking mountains and pasture where farmers wearing traditional Tibetan garb watched over the yaks. The food and service was great. We are delighted that we will be here for three nights.
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MISSIVES FROM DONALD J BOUDREAUX This note is to someone who identifies himself as a high-school socialscience teacher. Dear Mr. Sweeney: You accuse me of being a poor economist because I argue against government-supplied trade-adjustment assistance for workers who lose jobs when Americans buy more imports. Your argument is that such job losses are “a social cost of trade” - a cost not fully accounted for by economic decision-makers. Asserting that workers “don’t do anything to deserve import induced unemployment,” you insist that taxpayer-funded tradeadjustment assistance “internalizes the social cost of free trade.”
More mysticism about manufacturing. Dear Editor: Martin LaMonica uncritically summarizes Suzanne Berger’s case for government intervention to ensure more “domestic production” - that is, for subsidies and other politicized efforts to artificially promote more manufacturing employment in the U.S. (“Suzanne Berger argues for domestic manufacturing,” Aug. 21). Several flaws mar Prof. Berger’s analysis. For example, she mistakenly presumes that manufacturing output and manufacturing employment necessarily move in the same direction. In fact, however, a fall in the latter does not imply a fall in the former. Precisely because of the technological advances (such as 3D printing) that Prof. Berger rightly praises for increasing workers’ productivity, manufacturing output can rise even though manufacturing employment falls - which is what has occurred in America over the past 35 years.
With respect, your economics is faulty. Most obviously, you miss the elementary distinction between pecuniary externalities and technological externalities. Therefore, you miss the fact that even in principle only the latter call for corrective government taxation or subsidization. Job losses due to changes in the patterns of consumer demands are pecuniary externalities and, thus, even in principle require no correction by the state.
Also questionable is Prof. Berger’s presumption that because (in Mr. LaMonica’s words) “manufacturers and suppliers are smaller today ... [t]here are fewer resources to fund research, train workers, and scale up new ideas to commercialization.” The economic historian Joel Mokyr reports, in contrast, that “the evidence suggests that small firms tend to be superior in the research and development process. Only in unusual cases are the costs and risks of an innovation so large as to require the resources of a large firm to carry out the work.”*
Relatedly, let me ask if you think that consumers should be taxed every time market forces lower the prices of food, clothing, and other household goods. Consumers, after all, “don’t do anything to deserve” these lower prices; these lower prices are delivered to consumers gratis. To be consistent, you ought to favor such taxation: if people “should” be protected with subsidies by government from one of the ‘undeserved’ costs of participating in a competitive economy (namely, having to compete), then people should also be taxed extra amounts so that they are disgorged of the gargantuan undeserved benefits they enjoy from participating in that economy.
Sincerely, Donald J. Boudreaux Professor of Economics and Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 * Joel Mokyr, The Lever of Riches (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 267.
Sincerely, Donald J. Boudreaux Professor of Economics and Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030
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Your
HOROSCOPE
QUOTES
Libra
Aries
SEPTEMBER 24-OCTOBER 23
MARCH 21-APRIL 20
“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” Albert Einstein
“Education doesn’t change life much. It just lifts trouble to a higher plane of regard.” Robert Frost
Scorpio OCTOBER 24-NOVEMBER 22
Taurus
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Aristotle
“Change is the end result of all true learning.” Leo Buscaglia
Sagittarius
Gemini
NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 21
MAY 22-JUNE 21
“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your selfconfidence.” Robert Frost
“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” Malcolm Forbes
Capricorn
JUNE 22-JULY 22
DECEMBER 22- JANUARY 20
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Benjamin Franklin
APRIL 21-MAY21
Cancer “To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.” Thomas Jefferson
Aquarius
Leo
JANUARY 21-FEBRUARY 19
JULY 23-AUGUST 22
“I am a part of everything that I have read.” Theodore Roosevelt
“Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.” Gilbert K. Chesterton
Pisces FEBRUARY 20-MARCH 20
“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” Albert Einstein
Virgo AUGUST 23-SEPTEMBER 23
“The doer alone learneth.” Friedrich Nietzsche 31
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