Geographical Insights Into Pain Management

I'm a geographer, not an expert in palliative care. For those who may not have heard of palliative care the term refers to a type of care provided to patients who suffer from terminal illness, long-term illness, or incurable conditions and the associated pain.

The pain I describe is not simple, immediate, and temporary pain associated with a cut, broken bone, or closing fingers in a car door. I am talking real pain, the 9-10 scale pain suffers have 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Yes, pain like this does exist.

My dad has cancer and has survived cancer for about 1o years. Part of his throat, tongue, and nearby tissue have been excised to remove cancer cells. All of the lymph nodes from below his right ear to his right scapula have been removed. He underwent a serious number of radiation sessions early in his treatment. The radiation sessions fused his lower teeth to his mandible and destroyed his tear glands and salivary glands. Chemotherapy treatments didn't seem to create any long-term health issues.

The radiation also complicated recovery from a broken neck. A bicycle accident, which ultimately led to discovery of cancer, broke his C5 and C7 vertebrae. While convalescing from his bike injury, a physical therapist noted odd lumps in his shoulder and back. Following her recommendation, he went for tests and the cancer was discovered. Working through the University of Kansas medical center, dad went through extremely aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatments. The radiation blasted the cancer into remission but left behind spinal stenosis as well as the other concerns.

Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal column, a constricting of the channel used by the spinal cord. Minerals build-up, like calcium deposits, similar to bone spurs people frequently get. Except the bone spurs grow on the inside of vertebrae and put pressure on spinal nerves, creating unceasing pain.

Had the spinal stenosis occurred lower in his back, surgery might have been an option. If he had not had his cervical bones fused by radiation, surgery might have been an option. Surgery is not completely out of the question; the probability of permanent paralysis or death is greatly increased, though.

And, he has lost the ability to swallow. Of all the movements our bodes accomplish over a given day, having a bowel movement and swallowing are two muscular contractions we probably don't give much thought to. Unless we can't have either. Being constipated can become extremely comfortable, feeling like we are walking around with a broomstick shoved up our backsides. Emergency rooms can help people poop.

Think about how often you swallow. An article in the Journal of Dental Research [first page] suggests the average number of swallows per day ranges 1,200 - 2,400. Emergency rooms cannot help you swallow if you have lost the mechanical ability to swallow. He has a brand-new gastric feeding tube to help him overcome the inability to swallow and to ingest calories. A person cannot effectively take in enough calories to maintain body weight without the ability to swallow. Swallowing not only diverts food into our stomach but also away from our lungs. Aspirating food will eventually lead to pneumonia.

Palliative care is being used to help manage dad's pain. He has invested in some new bedroom furniture, a new chair for the living room, and some new boxes of liquid protein for meals. But, in spite of all the above dad works on his motorhome, his Jeep, and takes his dog Buster to the dog park, and visits his daughter and grandchildren.

He recently spent some time in the Emergency Room for pain. Later, the pain became exponentially worse and he was moved to ICU for a while. In communicating with my mom during his stay in the hospital she mentioned he was given Dilaudid for pain management since the Morphine really was not working. According to the Wikipedia entry for Hydromorphone, Dilaudid is about 6-8x's more potent as morphine.

Teaching World Geography exposes me to a lot of topics which is why I like teaching. Teaching is not only about the communication of information but also about the learning and gleaning of information which can be passed along. I speak on the Opium Wars fought between Great Britain and China in the mid-1800s, the movement of opium between India and China, and the use of opium in popular society in Britain and the United States.

Diluadid is a derivative of morphine which itself is derived from opium. Today, many substances are the focus of international law enforcement organizations (LEO). Opium, cannabis, and ephedrine  capture the scrutiny of international LEOs. Opium and ephedrine are both classed as "medicines" which gives them special legal rights and protection. Cannabis is termed a "drug" which allows for no special legal protection.

[caption id="attachment_1001" align="alignright" width="300"] Common drug routes for opiates and non-opiates (Wikipedia).[/caption]

I use the term "special" to discriminate between the legal economy of opium and ephedrine and the illicit economy of cannabis. The United States, for example, purchases opium from Turkey and India for medicinal purposes. Ephedrine is legally manufactured in many countries but has been increasingly controlled due to use in the illicit manufacture of methamphetamines. Possession, growth, or manufacturing of cannabis is likely to get your butt through in prison, however.

Opium as a source of medical treatment has been part of humanity for 3,000 years or longer (DEA Museum, PBS/Frontline). Upon investigation of cannabis, I discovered a similar historical timeline - even coincident geography! The earliest cannabis cultivation occurred in South-central Asia, essentially in the region encompassing modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (PsychologyToday, Narcanon).

You can probably see where I am going:

"Why is opium acceptable as a medicinal use today, and cannabis is not?"

The pursuit of cannabis legalization has divided many states. Not only has cannabis legalization divided states but has also divided Several U.S. states have initiated efforts to decriminalize cannabis in flagrant disregard of federal statutes. Most of us are familiar with California and legislative efforts to bring "medical marijuana" into the treatment battery for suffers of chronic disease and pain or the treatment of the side effects associated with other medical treatments. I was not aware of the some of the other supporters, like Nebraska, Mississippi, Maine, and Ohio. I am surprised by the absence of Washington; I figured Washingtonians were more progressive.

 

Both opium and cannabis share a rich history of use as medicines, tinctures, and for achieving religious or spiritual enlightenment or simply used for pleasure and enjoyment. Great Britain essentially pushed opium onto the Chinese masses in order to undermine the Manchu government in pursuit of favorable trade deals and silver.

Why the extremely divergent paths for two natural plants?

The answer is probably not as complicated as I am going to make it but I am going to make an educated guess. Opium has pretty limited use. Poppy seeds are used for cooking. Poppyseed oil is used in cooking and in food products. Opium is used to derived medication, analgesics for the most part. Opium does not pose a threat to any other industry. Houses cannot be made from opium, nor newspapers, nor clothes, and opium is not a good substitute for iron ore, coal, and from what I discern, is completely inappropriate for use in a smartphone.

Cannabis is different. Cannabis grows like a weed. Cannabis is woody, like vines and bushes. Cannabis has bark which is just as rich in cellulose as other woody growths, like trees. Cannabis is known by two other common names, at least, "marijuana" and "hemp." Now, hemp is important to the my answer. Hemp bark has about the same cellulose content as other fiber-producing plants, about 58%-74% cellulose. The main stem does not have this cellulose content but the bark does. Hemp was an important source of fiber in clothing and fabric products in the late 19th century and early in the 20th century. Hemp has lots of competition from actors beyond medicine.

The publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst was interested in paper and was friends with Andrew Mellon. Andrew Mellon was the world's wealthiest man and also the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Mellon was friends with and heavily invested monetarily with the du Pont family. The du Pont family is famous for a significant number of contributions to U.S. industry and one such contribution was the invention of nylon. Hemp and nylon would be natural competitors. Both are fibers used in textiles. As the conspiracy theory goes the small cabal of men organized efforts to demonize cannabis among U.S. society. Hand-in-hand with these efforts were other national temperance efforts to outlaw alcohol. In fact, any and all "addictive" drugs were to be outlawed or placed under government control. Even opium was placed inside this wide-cast net. Over the decades, many illegal substances would gain their freedom (alcohol) or would be classified as "controlled substance" and would require certain government licenses or permission to be allowed use or access. Cannabis has really never made the cut.

The United States Congress appears to be the entity to blame. Environmentalists and U.S. Congresspeople rail against Brazil for decimating the Amazonian rainforest and the loss of potential medicines from indigenous plants yet Congress remains constipated against medical research into cannabis. A recent story in the Toronto Star highlights a California study conducted with Multiple Sclerosis patients.

"Marijuana relieves muscle tightness, pain of multiple sclerosis" (Toronto Star, 14 May 2012)

As late as July 2011 the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart stated “ [cannabis] has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” and “lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision.”

Interesting comments, seeing Canada appears to differ. Not only Canada but Germany, but also the United Kingdom, Spain, New Zealand, and Denmark. Each of these countries has allowed treatments based on cannabis.

"Sativex, a cannabinoid medicine for the treatment of spasticity due to multiple sclerosis and in development for cancer pain." (GW Pharmaceuticals, 2012)

For a better researched discussion of the United States government opposition to pursuing medicinal cannabis I refer you to a recent blog written by Paul Armentano, writing in the Huffington Post.

"Change We Can Believe In? Not For Medical Marijuana Research" (HuffPost, 16 Feb 2011)

Please do not misunderstand me; I am not an advocate for smoking dope, getting high, getting stoned, losing control, or chilling in front of my LCD-TV watching Cheech & Chong's "Things Are Tough All Over."

What I am advocating is for a logical, scientific approach to the study of all herbs, fruits, vegetables, plants, poisons, toxins, etc. for exploration and discovery, to enhance and advance human knowledge and experience.

For our Federal Government to turn its figurative back against research is simply stupid and ignorant and flies in the face of reason.  For bureaucrats to argue against the pursuit of knowledge based on nothing, no research, or worse, bad research conducted 40-100 years ago is simply insulting and demeaning to scientists everywhere. How do these peoples even attain office? By being hired by other complete nitwits? My personal belief is bureaucrats use "feelings" and "beliefs" rooted in religion rather than science, logic, and reason. I don't think I could ever be elected to office due to my own intransigence to dealing with anything other than science, logic, reason, and critical thinking.

"People don't want logic, they want to "feel" like they made the right choice."

The job of a bureaucrat is to use unbiased data, information, and research to help make good policy decisions not to make policy decisions which affect the livelihoods of perhaps millions of people. They mights as well state "you can make any kind of wheel you want as long as it isn't round. Round objects roll; rolling things hurt people, ergo nothing that rolls should be made due to the potential for harm."

A home-health provider could have come to my dad's house. She (or he) would have brought a morphine pump. Both she and my dad would have engage in a morphine dance, she leading and my dad following all under the watchful guise of the Federal Government. Pay no mind morphine has the potential of being more addictive than cannabis. Nicotine has a lethal dose; a person can die from overdosing on nicotine. Dying from cannabis overdose is next to impossible.

Again, I am not advocating people going out and getting toked-up. One of my least favorite things to do is engage in conversation with someone who is  stoned, or deal with people who are stoned. My point is our civil engagement with the study of cannabis is not in proportion to the alleged societal danger or societal cost or opportunity cost.

I can make no sense of out of the fact my dad can have all of the morphine he wants, or dilaudid, at least in theory, yet our Federal Government remains stalwartly idiotic regarding research into the positive uses of cannabis.

The governmental warning (left) is ironic. Young impressionable girls are warned about the shrewd friendly stranger peddling "marihuana" which promises Murder! Insanity! Death! You might even find some in your tobacco cigarette - which, of course, is part of every day life and never mind tobacco executives lied under oath about not knowing about the long-term health effects of smoking, and why would our government allow something dangerous to be sold to us?

If a process exists for opium-derived medicines to be available for people who suffer chronic pain, then a process exists for people who want access to cannabis-derived medicines. If a process exists for medical research based on opium, or coca (heroine), or willow trees (aspirin), or artichoke (cynarin), or tobacco (nicotine, used as an insecticide), then cannabis should have the same rights and privileges any other plant from which medicinal treatments are developed. I wonder if we changed the name to "hand weed" based on the arrangement of the cannabis leaves the plant might gain some legitimacy.

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Confederate Flag as Conceit, not Hatred

In the United States a definitive symbol of our history of racial tyranny is the Confederate flag. Other than the white robes of the Klu Klux Klan, few other symbols of U.S. culture evoke the same depth of visceral response. Apropos both the robes and the Confederate flag should both share the same regional ancestry, i.e. Tennessee.

Personally, I have the same distaste for the Confederate flag as I have for the Nazi swatika. Both symbols have their places in history in each of their respective countries, though Nazism has spread its poisonous tentacles throughout more societies than the Confederacy could claim.

A group in my current state of residence has obtained a small parcel of land near Interstate I-24, has erected a 60ft (20m) flagpole, and is now flying a large 12ft (4m) x 18ft (6m) Confederate flag over the city of Paducah, Kentucky (photo) and in full view of all travelers of Interstate 24. The photo does not do the flag justice. Had I not been perturbed upon seeing the flag I might have pulled over to snap a photo. I still might go back and capture one.

I don't  like emotions getting the better of me. Seeing the flag upset me, true, but I consider myself an academic and as such cannot really allow the anathema I feel towards the flag to cloud my ability to contemplate the history and geography of the American South.

I'm not going to turn my post into a history lesson. Too many Civil War sites exist for people to peruse at their leisure for me to even attempt a summary here. My intent is only to draw out some historical and geographical details.

The Civil War began April 12, 1861. After fives days, 11 states had formed an alliance against the Union. Representing the Confederacy were 9 million people, almost half of which were slaves. Texas would join against the Union, an action which bewilders me at times. Only 15 years earlier, the Republic of Texas had voted for annexation  essentially to stave off continual Mexican militancy. Then, on April 17, 1861, only a teenager, Texas declares war on the United States. Kids rebelling against their parents.

On the other side, the Union would eventually comprise 21 states and over 20 million people. The Union also had the bulk of the transportation infrastructure, railroads and canals, the vast majority of the wealth, the educated, and the manufacturing centers.

In geography, we talk about regions. In particular, we discuss perceptual regions. Perceptual regions are regions we create based on our knowledge, facts, and feelings. If I were to have a class of 20 students shade a map of the United States according to those states which they identify as the "American South" I might end up with 20 different maps. Sure, some overlap will occur; Tennessee and Alabama will appear as a Southern State always. But, what about Kentucky? Or, Texas? Look at the maps below and see if they compare to your mental maps of the South.

[caption id="attachment_983" align="aligncenter" width="468"] The American South, as defined by the Bureau of the Census (2000)[/caption]

The Mason-Dixon line is clearly delineated. For those unfamiliar, the Mason-Dixon line is the line of survey determined by surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in order to settle a boundary dispute. The Mason-Dixon line has come to signify the cultural boundary between the American Northeast and the American South.

[caption id="attachment_992" align="aligncenter" width="438"] The Mason-Dixon Line separates four states, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_984" align="aligncenter" width="468"] The American "Deep South"[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_985" align="aligncenter" width="468"] Another perspective on the American Deep South[/caption]

The American South is also characterized by the self-identification of possessing strong spiritual values. To support the notion of people in the American South belief they possess strong spiritual values, I provide the map below.

[caption id="attachment_986" align="aligncenter" width="468"] The percent of people in each county professing adherence to the Baptist faith (2000)[/caption]

As the above map illustrates almost precisely, the Bible Belt overlaps very nicely onto a map of the American South. Apparent deviations in adherence should be noted along the Texas-Mexico border, south Florida, and an apparent weakening of faith in West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. Must be the liberalizing influences of all those atheists living in close proximity of Washington, D.C. The other religion which is finding expression in the light areas in the South is probably Catholicism. Again, geography.

Many proponents of the Confederate flag state the following when asked why they fly the flag: "It's history, not hate." In all honesty, I have to admit the supporters of the Confederate flag are probably right.

Because I admit the supporters are right does not mean I condone their actions, nor support their actions, nor agree with all the Confederate flag has come to symbolize.

What I am saying is the Confederate flag is not about Hatred. Nope.

What the Confederate flag symbolized then and I would argue still symbolizes is racism and the belief of racial or cultural superiority of white people over people of color. Additionally, I cannot limit my definition to only people of color. Southern Whites also appeared to have little regard for the Irish or Scottish and I suspect they possessed some disdain for the Jew.

Racism cannot be equivocated with hatred. Racism does not say, "I hate you." Racism says, "I am better than you because I am White and you are not White."

See, I think the opponents of the Confederate flag are wrong if they think the Confederacy and the flag of the Confederacy was about hatred of blacks, Jews, Irish, or Scots. The Confederacy was not about hatred. A white living in the Confederacy at the time did not hate blacks any more than they would hate their bull, their dog, their tobacco or cotton crops or anything else for which they invested good money. Would you hate your Fidelity mutual fund or your Harley-Davidson motorcycle?

The Confederacy was predicated on the ideal, a Christian ideal, by the way, slavery and the subjugation of non-White, non-Christian entities was not only acceptable but Divinely Mandated. Why did I say "entities?" I hesitate to say "human beings" as ample evidence exists supporting the idea many whites, including Western Europeans, doubted blacks and people of other races were actually humans, not true God-fearing humans. With the strong belief blacks were a form of sub-human, southern Whites were able to concoct essentially a fantasy with the guiding principle of economic success through the subjugation of inferior sub-human races.

After all does not even the Christian Bible proclaim,

"Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. (1 Peter 2:18)

Southern Whites felt they were literally commissioned by God to own slaves. Truth be known, God was not advocating slavery but merely telling those who were slaves how to conduct themselves in the face of adversity.

I've been talking the presence of the flag up among the people I know. Everyone I've spoken to wants the flag down. To the progressive, reasonable, and rational folk among society, the flag is essentially the analog of flying the Nazi flag in Regensburg, Germany. Except no one will ever see a Nazi flag flying in Germany, nor any where else in Europe because civilized countries have made doing so illegal.

The Confederate flag symbolizes nothing positive from what I can gather. No one I've talked to can point to one positive attribute the flag or the Confederacy represents. I have not found a single logical, rational, or reasonable discussion on the Interweb detailing any positive characteristic of either the symbol or the subsumed state.

However, I can find copious arguments to the contrary, a litany of traits and characteristics which run the spectrum from "embarrassing" to "reprehensible" and ending with "criminal." Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Lt. General and superior tactician, was accused of war crimes at the Battle of Fort Pillow, near Memphis, for which he earned the nickname "The Butcher of Fort Pillow." In all honesty both sides had their saints and sinners.

The Confederacy advocated a class structure based on gender and race. White men constituted the upper echelon of the economic structure. Women were not generally allowed to own property or vote. Blacks formed the basis of labor along with Irish and Scots. Education was allowed to a meager few.

Unlike legislation undertaken by our European counterparts to prohibit the display of Nazi memorabilia, I am not advocating any one do anything. I want our society to open, and for people to be able to express themselves. In part, I want the really ignorant people to expose themselves, to hear how ignorant they sound, and for the greater progressive society to train themselves, their children, and their children how to conduct themselves. I want the Progressive portion of society to engage their brains and the brains of their children to develop Critical Thinking skills which will ultimately prevail and undermine the Fallacies of the Ignorant.

As much as I loathe racists, bigots, and racist bigots, to restrict their voice means restricting all voices. Then, the argument becomes "who gets to choose what is offensive?" Encroaching upon the Nature of Offensiveness, the argument could easily mutate into "your religion is offensive" which potentially leads down a dark and ugly alley and why I posit all politics should be void of religious context and content. Ideally, I'd like everyone to engage in mutual respect, but I realize my ideal is far too naive.

To argue the flag is a symbol of rebelling against injustice is a delusion. So, yeah, I don't understand some peoples continued allegiance to the Confederate flag. But, the flag is not about hatred.

The flag is about false ego, narcissism, arrogance, and conceit.

Fostering Education Through Student Incubators

Technology is challenging to stay on top of. Seems like every day a new tablet, a new smartphone, or a new version of Android is released. The changing legal environment of social networks adds another dimension to technologies complexity. The number of programming languages required for technology development only Zaphod Beeblebrox would be able to count on all hands.

Colleges and universities struggle against rapidly changing technological needs, cuts to financing, and striving to educate students with necessary skills to be productive in a rapidly globalizing workforce. With online educational opportunities such as those offered by OpenCourseware and Coursera growing in popularity colleges and universities could find themselves fighting for relevancy in a few short years.

How, then, to educate, train, and remain relevant?

One opportunity gaining some legs is the idea of "student incubators."

What is a "student incubator?" A few years ago the buzzword zipping among campuses   across the country was "business incubator." The idea of colleges and universities hosting business incubators was to attract businesses and industries to higher education facilities in order to foster a greater level of involvement between public and private entities. The private sector has the knowledge of the business world and money, while colleges have access to research dollars, students needing to gain experience, and faculty interested in research. The Federal Government encouraged cooperation by tying grant funding to proposals which detailed private and public interactions.

At Ivory Tower State University, a "business incubator" was built 1/2-mile from the main campus. With funds from the Department of Commerce, the Commonwealth, and Ivory Tower State University, an attractive, two-story brick building was constructed on nice property on a busy two-lane state highway. The Innovation and Commercialization Center (ICC) opened in 2002 and has enjoyed pretty much zero  tenants. The building was essentially a shell, with the inside to be completed by whoever decided the lease the place. With millions of dollars of construction yet to be done, few startups wanted to dump their investment capital into architecture and design of office space. My point being, the "business incubator" idea was sort of a flash-in-the-pan.

Over the weekend, I ran across a piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education which referred to "developing student entrepreneurship." Student entrepreneurship was to be fostered through "student incubators." Rather than try to work with mature business and industry partners, colleges and universities are recruiting high school students, community college transfers, and current students. These students are then given the opportunity, supplies, some financial resources, as well as faculty guidance in assisting them with a startup.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Oklahoma State University

Florida State University

For more on student incubators: 

Bloomberg Business Week, Sept 23, 2010

Bloomberg News, May 17, 2012

Statesman.com, Austin, TX, May 3, 2012

MichiganRadio, Ann Arbor, MI, April 26, 2012

UCDavis News & Information, University of California - Davis, CA, May 8, 2012

Of immediate concern to many universities is drastic cuts in state funding. In recent memory, universities were able to farm out work to application developers, consultants, and independent contractors. Honestly, many colleges and universities were living high on the hog, and were not doing much to restrain costs. Times are now different, and will remain so for years to come.

Ivory Tower State University is no different. Looking at how ITSU funds projects, I wonder if some of ITSU's efforts might be better directed to using on-campus expertise. For example, ITSU contracted with an outside developer for a new web site. The only users who enjoy the new web site are those who contracted out the work. The rest of the user community, i.e. the world, believes the new web site is an atrocity. Adding insult to injury the cost of the new design was the equivalent to a new Harley-Davidson Softtail. Personally, I'd rather have the old web site and the new HD.

Why could a new web site not have been created in-house? Could a new web site not be developed by the in-house web team? Or, could the faculty, staff, and students of the Computer Science department have been invited to submit a number of web site prototypes? Or, perhaps even better, why could not a campus-wide contest be offered for the design of a new ITSU web site? Instead, ITSU is suffering under a crappy web site which no one wants to update.

An ecosystem of education, training, development along with the cost-benefit savings of conducting activities in-house could go a long way towards providing real-world experience for students and teaching moments for faculty. A college web site administered by faculty-student teams could provide opportunities for considerable involvement for all parties; the college gets a fresh, up-to-date, low-cost web site, faculty are able to research, explore, develop, and mentor, and students gain exposure to a variety of Internet technologies. Everyone wins.

Colleges and universities need to avail themselves to local talent and encourage, mentor, and nurture students wanting to expand their horizons. Colleges and universities have missions to serve their communities, provide opportunities, and public higher education institutions should be committed to ensuring responsible use of state money. "Incubating" students knowledge and skills seems like a no-brainer to me.

 

End of Census Heralds Beginning of Moronocracy

The United States government is on the verge of committing one of the gravest mistakes in the history of any modern government - eliminating the U.S. decennial census.

Every legitimate, and in the case of North Korea and Syria, illegitimate government conducts a census of all inhabitants at some regular interval. Even the Soviets collected data on every person in every region throughout its holdings in Asia. Yes, the Soviet Union was a police state, but don't confuse the issue. Every government needs good data on its inhabitants and practices, period.

The very first census was commissioned in 1790 after the Revolutionary War. Even before the United States was ratified into being, the Commonwealth of Virginia conducted a census of all residents.

Collecting data and information about our country is part of our blood, even as much so as collecting taxes!

Inarguably, the United States is one of the most vastly interesting, dynamic, robust, controversial, and diverse countries found on our planet. Collecting information about us helps us understand us. Yes, I understand I have nearly created a tautology in my description of need. However, without information we will eventually be adrift in an Ocean of Ignorance.

Look, our Decennial Census is super-important. The number of representatives in our local Houses and our National House of Representatives is determined by our population, first of all. Secondly, and perhaps most important of all, is the allocation of our tax dollars. Regardless of how you think our tax dollars are to be spent, the allocation of those dollars is based on population.

Allocation to state, regional, and local levels is often based upon "block grants." Block grants are sums of money allocated back to states, based on need, portioned by population, and typically go to schools, law enforcement, and community development. Block grants are determined by population. Larger populations get more money than smaller populations, which makes sense; providing fire, police, and public safety for 100,000 people costs more than for 10,000.

I can also see a problem developing. Say the Republicans are successful in abolishing the Census and the sister product, the America Community Survey, leaving all Americans in the dark as to the current and future social and economic changes coming our way. How are we to know precisely if our communities are receiving their correct appropriation of Federal block grant monies? Are we going to rely on self-reporting of population figures from local communities? Really? I can see where some communities would be more than happy to "augment" or "enhance" some figures, like schoolchildren, in order to receive more money. I can see cases where communities might want to "round down" when reporting such details as Median Family Income, making their areas appear more poverty-stricken than they really are. One only has to look at the fudging some school districts have done when reporting the results of standardized testing to see the possible ramifications of removing federally-sanctioned information gathering and relying on self-reporting.

“This is a program that intrudes on people’s lives, just like the Environmental Protection Agency or the bank regulators,” said Daniel Webster, a first-term Republican congressman from Florida who sponsored the relevant legislation."

Mr. Webster is not the genius his name might suggest. Floridians must have a choice between voting for Webster and an alligator, and opted for the worst of two evils. I don't know.

Yes, how dare the EPA reduce the amount of mercury in my air! I love Mercury! It's my 3rd favorite planet, after Mars and Hollywood, after all.

And, after the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fiasco of 2008, AIG, the collapse of the housing, and the recent $2B loss by JPMorgan, we have plenty of examples of wonderful, careful, and prudent financial management. Why would we ever want to regulate any banking system? That financial institutions themselves are suggesting more oversight is in ordering is simply crazy-talk. What do they know? They only deal in money which doesn't exist, and derivatives of money which doesn't exist. Not real money like real people use to buy cars, pay rent, food, or maybe put away for retirement. Yeesh!

Seriously, according to the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, methinks Sir Webster qualifies as either "dull," or "borderline deficient."

I'm not sure how he was able to beguile so many Floridians to vote for him. The incumbent, Harvard graduate Alan Grayson, is no moron, not even close. He holds a Degree in Economics, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He successfully prosecuted Iraq war-profiteering, winning a judgement against Custer Battles for $13 million dollars, the only successful fraud prosecution against Iraq War contractors. I'm guessing Mr. Grayson's "Bush Lied, People Died," bumper-sticker did in his political career.

This only proves my point that people get the government they deserve; morons voting to put morons in office results in a Moronocracy.

Oh - I like that word. In foreign policy, we talk about Russia as being a mafiacracy. Some people believe the United States is a plutocracy, a government run by the wealthy.

Sure, I can see this: the plutocrats, some of whom will run for office, will buy their way into the graces of the moronocrats, or will pave the way for the easy-to-manipulate moronocrats to attain office. Those of us who are too busy working for a living will be too consumed with the details of our lives to care or notice. And some Americans, the Mark Zuckerberg's, the American Creative & Entrepreneurial Class are too busying developing the next best tablet/smartphone/social network - people who are actually contributing to society - to really care about their impeding rule by Plutocrats and their Moronocrat minions.

“We’re spending $70 per person to fill this out. That’s just not cost effective,” he continued, “especially since in the end this is not a scientific survey. It’s a random survey.”

Is this a joke? With all due respect to Mr. Webster, he cannot be this stupid. Granted, $70 a survey seems high to me. But, I question is dollar amount, especially when taken into consideration with his other comment about the survey not being scientific because its "random." Seriously, that is an embarrassing comment, and all of our educated European cohorts must be trying hard to suppress giggles. On the other hand, our Chinese friends to the west nod sagely, watching our U.S. technological and societal lead fragment, guided by incompetent hands of moronocrats. The Government Accounting Office places the cost at $42 a person, by the way. The Economist magazine has a good article about census efforts by other countries.

But, those are my thoughts. What do important people have to say about Tea Party Republicans like Daniel Webster.

“Mr Webster is a stupid turd. Knowing what’s happening in our economy is so desperately important to keeping our economy functioning smoothly,” said Maurine Haver, the chief executive and founder of Haver Analytics, a data analysis company. “The reason the Great Recession did not become another Great Depression is because of the more current economic data we have today that we didn’t have in the 1930s.”

Ms. Haver did not say, "Mr. Webster is a stupid turd," but I have no doubt she was thinking something along the line. Many, many, many companies use Census data for their business. I know; I have worked with some.

Years ago, I did research for a government development agency. One of our business recruitment tools was Census data. Companies, business, industries desperately need to know where their consumers are located, and not simply consumers, but also their labor force.

Site Location & Analysis is a field in geography devoted to the examination of characteristics which make some places attractive for business and other areas not so much. Knowing how educated a work force is can tell a company whether or not they will find an appropriate number of qualified people to work in each company division. Knowing something about wages and income will tell them about the labor markets wage structure and composition. Knowing something about household income will help them determine if and where stores or products might be most successful.

The Census is one of the most economically important efforts our government performs for the benefit of all U.S citizens.

I know the data I examined and the maps developed from said Census data helped bring industries into my region. I know use of the data back in the 1990s helped my area obtain a competitive advantage over other areas as I was told to my face by company personnel no one had included Census maps in their marketing packages. Those maps grabbed their attention, for good or bad, but the knowledge the data and maps imparted was invaluable to siting industry.

TARGET went so far as to make a video in support of the Census, citing data use to help locate new stores and find employees.

“What really promotes business in this country is liberty,” he said, “not demand for information.”

Eh, maybe I was being too gracious earlier in my reference to his intelligence. Yes, that is precisely what businesses want, maps that help them find "liberty." "Can you should me places with your computer-gizmo where there is a large amount of liberty? That's going to be a great place for my store. I'd like to see 5-, 10-, and 15- mile radii showing me Liberty Catchment Areas."

Has Mr. Webster ever picked up a copy of the Miami Business Journal? Or, the Orando Business Journal? Or, even the Wall Street Journal? Yeah, those business rags are always clamoring about the deficit in data on "liberty.

Mr. Webster and his moronocrat minions even suggest the Census is unconstitutional. Hmmm...

From the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3: "The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."

I think Mr. Webster (R-FL) read the word "power" in the first Article and the notion went right to his brain cell which lacked a partner to tell him to hush before he made a fool of himself.

The impending disaster is larger than Mr. Webster seemingly overtaxed neuron. Republicans and spineless Democrats are actually debating about making the Census "voluntary." Hey, if anything is "voluntary," that pretty much means I'm not going to do it. So that means we end up with a bunch homeless people, winos, bored people, or people who simply like filling out surveys filling out surveys upon which $400 BILLION DOLLARS IS DEVIED OUT TO STATES.

Yeah. Sounds about right.

Oh sure, there might be a few civic-minded people who will do an honest job, but, really, we can't even turn out to vote for the President of the United States. More people turn out to see Bruce Springsteen or Lady Antebellum or Justin Beiber than turn out to vote.

I find all the negativity directed at the Census by the Grand Obsolescence Party (GOP) and pandering Democrats as strikingly odd. In Education, we have been invested for decades in data collection in the forms of assessments and Standardized Testing with the idea of using the data to improve all educational efforts. To not report information results in punitive measures against states. Yet, our Congresspeople want to eliminate all data collection efforts which would help assess and evaluate our country, as a whole. Even more insidious, though, is the potential for mismanagement, misguidance, or even deliberate obfuscation of information by our political leaders to distribute tax payer dollars based on Good Old Boy Networks and encourage the expansion of Pork Barrel Politics. After all, if no one really knows where the real need is, who can really question how the money is spent?

What better way to avoid Transparency in Government than to simply not collect information?

With the Census, as with any data collection effort, garbage in=garbage out, and the time, money, and effort is simply a waste. Dr. Kenneth Prewitt summarizes best:

“If it’s voluntary, then we’ll just get bad data,” said Kenneth Prewitt, a former director of the census who is now at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. “That means businesses will make bad decisions, and government will make bad decisions, which means we won’t even know where we actually are wasting our tax dollars.”

Moving into the future, we need information - good information. For the U.S. to remain economically viable, perhaps even solvent, and be prepared to meet any economic challenge head-on, the U.S. needs good data. The errors of the past, i.e. Iraq, the Challenger Space Shuttle, Vietnam, Korea, Nixon's Price Fixing Scheme, the Great Depression, both tactical and strategic, do not need arise again simply because the lack of vision of a few misguided moronocrats who want to save a few bucks.

If you haven't been to the Bureau of the Census web site, well, you should visit. You help pay for it, after all; you should see what you get for your money. Honestly, the web site is not the easiest to navigate. If you are willing to spend the time, though, the Census site is a fascinating look into our country, and other countries, and is a product and service which has real and immediate benefits to nearly any user.

World-building and Geography in Fiction

Some authors have an innate ability to create an instant rapport with me. Their words, compounds and elements, with pages as catalyst, crystallize in my mind. James Lee Burke is such an author. I discovered him a year ago, or so, after finishing another series of character-based novels, and wanting to develop a new reading relationship. "Last Car to Elysian Fields" was my first Burke novel, though not his first Dave Robicheaux novel. But, James can write; his stories are rich with history, geography, interesting characters with human foibles. Like a bowl of New Orleans jambalaya, Burke stories are great melange of sights, flavors, and aromas.

"In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (1993)" makes for a nice exploration of geography in a literary effort. Burke's writing is infused with geography. His very first opening sentence, in fact, describes the effect of a recent storm passing over New Iberia, Main Street, and Bayou Teche. Dave was on his way to collect three crayfish dinners, the air "cool now, laced with light rain, heavy with the fecund smell of wet humus, night-blooming jasmine, roses, and new bamboo," with the recent death of a young girl on his mind.

Many authors build a unique world for characters. These worlds are amalgams of real places, places which seem familiar to us, yet have different toponyms (place name). Towns, streets, and businesses have their names changed, maybe to protect the guilty or the innocent. Some places are legendary, such as the Cafe du Monde, in New Orleans. No story about New Orleans would seem credible if the characters did not stop for chicory coffee and beignets. In "A Stained White Radiance," Sheriff Dave Robicheaux sits to think and people watch at Cafe du Monde while running errands through the French Quarter. Dave also has a history as a former NOLA police officer before becoming a Deputy Sheriff and detective in New Iberia Parish. I have a personal connection with Robicheaux, as I have walked some of the very same paths, and, yes, eaten warm, sweet beignets with coffee at Cafe du Monde a few times.

New Iberia is a real place. I've clipped an image from Google Earth to provide a bird's eye view of the city of 30,000 and home to Dave Robicheaux, Louisiana detective, sheriff, and former NOLA police officer. Bayou Teche is nearby, the thin green cord entering the image in the lower-right and exiting in the upper-right. Bayou Teche figures prominently in all of JLB's books I've read, to date. Good place for a body to be discovered. Or, in some cases, for body parts to be discovered, as the area is renown for alligators. New Iberia figures as Det. Robicheaux's home, office, and plays a center part in all stories, serving as a home base of operations for all action. However, not all action occurs in New Iberia.

I've provided a smaller scale image depicting the larger region found in Burke's novels. In the northwest is the town of Breaux Bridge. South of Breaux Bridge is St. Martinsville. Main Highway, or HWY 31 connects St. Martinsville to New Iberia. Lafayette and Broussard are short drives to the northwest of New Iberia. Morgan City and Jeanrette fall off the image to the southeast.

The large green area consuming 1/2 the right-hand portion of the image is portion of the Atchafalaya Swamp, and the Atchafalaya River runs from north to south through the swamp. Both the swamp and the river become characters, or almost so, in the Robicheaux books I've read so far. Each has sounds, odors, histories -  a presence, really - which seems to drive James Lee Burkes characters into desperate acts of violence and self-destruction.



The last image I present is Angola State Penitentiary. Today, Angola is known as, "Louisiana State Penitentiary." Angola is located at the elbow of Louisiana, northeast of New Iberia. Not long ago, Angola was referred to as "Alcatraz of the South," and is currently the largest maximum security prison in the United States. Over 5,000 inmates call the 18,000 acre facility home, and about 1,800 people punch a clock at Angola. Angola features prominently in Burke's novels due to the fantastic history of the prison, and the plantation grounds upon which the prison now sits. Angola has featured in many songs, by Leadbelly, Freddy Fender, and Aaron Neville (wikipedia). Burke serves up Angola as a source of trouble, former felons who have been released only to turn up in New Iberia or Breaux Bridge or Morgan City and unable to find an honest income.

James Lee Burke's novels featuring Dave Robicheaux are compelling reading. The real-life geography and history Burke weaves into his stories make his tales even more enjoyable. Robicheaux often recites histories of his time spent in New Orleans, working a beat, walking the streets of the French Quarter and the Garden District. Having been those places myself, I feel part of the story, part of the events, and even though events portrayed are fictional, I'm instantly connected to the milieu of Det. Robicheaux. I envy those writers who can tightly combine history, social commentary, the physical setting and geography, and complex characters in such captivating way.

The Monkeys of Typewriter Island

I write because I think. My thoughts need a form. I give them a form through the laborious machinations of word selection, ordering, and penning them on some hard- or soft copy media, following generations old rules.

My favorite author of all-time is Ray Bradbury. His prose is poetry. The meter, tone, tenor and lyrical nature of his writing captivated me early in my life. Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke are my other literary gods; Bradbury will always remain the pinnacle of the trinity for me.

Reading is a passion of mine. As a youth, I would hide under my covers with a flashlight so as to prevent any light from spilling out under my door, giving away my late night foray into adventure. Another decent trick was to take clothes from my dresser and push them against the bottom of my door. I would read into the wee hours, through Royals baseball, and into the radio show which dealt mostly about UFOs, Bigfoot, and government conspiracies.

My father asks, "Why do you buy so many books? Why don't you just use the library?"

The library was my home away from home, growing up. Located beneath a grocery store in a shopping center three blocks from home, I would spend hours every day during summer vacation reading and wandering among the shelves. Little stickers on the binding would give goers a hint about the book; a magnifying glass was "mystery," a rocket ship meant "science fiction." Other stickers might have existed, those were the two I cared about. I would read my books, write the titles on a pre-lined form, and upon reaching 25 titles, I would turn the list in to the librarian and I would receive a free book from a selection of brand-new books arranged on a table near the check-out counter.

But, for me, the library also had a downside. I had to give the books back. Spending a day, or three, or a week, developing a relationship with the characters, and indirectly the author, and then having to give the book back felt appalling. Would you play with a puppy for two or three days, then return the puppy to the shelter? Some would, I imagine. Not me. Characters, themes, scenes, story arcs, and the energy the author placed into developing his or her fictional world was a relationship to me, albeit a very one-sided relationship.

For some, sure, reading is purely entertainment, nothing more and nothing less. I am no different. However, I also consider the time, effort, energy which a book has been imbued by the author. A book is not merely a pulp-based product containing letters and words arranged in clever ways. Well, actually some books are not much more than a collection of words which at first blush appear to be intelligently arranged yet upon further inspection lend credibility to the existence of The Monkeys of Typewriter Island. I think Typewriter Island might be part of the Self-Publishing Archipelago; being a geographer one might think my geography skills should be more attuned.

For some, those who don't read and their counterparts, those who don't write, writing is seen not simply as drudgery but as a form of torture. I'm pretty sure water-boarding of most Americans would be unnecessary:

"You have a choice: write a 3-pg essay on the Man vs. Nature elements of The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, or water-boarding."

I'm pretty sure most college students would elect water-boarding.

In my college-level geography classes I pose the following essay question:

You are a technology entrepreneur and have been working out of your garage for the last 18 months developing a new technology. You wife and family have had enough, and thankfully, you now have some financial backing, i.e. venture capital, to relocate to more substantive environs. Given the nature of your efforts is technology, locate three cities in North America which could make a good home for your new technology company. Then, narrow your selection to one city. Explain your selection process using the 7 Traits of a Technology Hub as discussed in class."

Sometimes, the responses (which I have captured, errors and all, below) border on literary bankruptcy:

"I would either go to California or Texas or Florida. California would be a nice place to continue a business it has a high yeild to gain economic profit and so does Texas. Californica and Florida are located on the ocean so they would have easier shipping access for products. All three states for the most part have a high level of population. All three have about the same amount of rail way routes but since Florida is a smaller state it seems they would have more travel consumptions to other states. Florida and Taxas are smoother flatter states as to California has the rocky mountains making vehicle travel harder but if i had to place to continue the business i would settle in Miami Florida because it has the best of the most the features i mentioned."

"The three cities I choose were Atlanta, Philidelphia, and Dallas. Each of these cities are driving more than every and are continuously growning...One reason is beacuse the city offers tax incetives for new jobs created. Another reason is because there are colleges there. Which intern means, newly educated people looking for employment."

Frequently, I boggle at the presumed importance of barge traffic, river systems, and the need for unskilled labor in response to questions about technology-based businesses. While the importance of UPS and the USPS is without question highly important in the delivery of books to my doorstep, and the delivery of consumer electronics to Best Buy, Target, and Wal-mart is also highly desirable, I fail to see how Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, or Twitter might even remotely find barge traffic part of their business plan.

After reading about globalization, non-governmental organizations, broad issues of immigration, and the growing interconnectedness of our global societies, I pose another writing assignment.

After having read about the nature of Globalization, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and a number of societal issues and concerns, I want you to communicate your own personal geography. You drive through your town, the countryside, on your way to work, school, church, and now, with a little bit of training, you are hopefully more aware of the life going on the other side of your windshield. Describe your Personal Geography."

Think about your personal geography. Let your mind ferment some thoughts as you read these responses.

"I see geography at work all the time, especially what I was younger and we went on road trips. On those road trips we would drive through the mountains and they were so beautiful. There was so much definition it makes you wonder how they got to be that way. I have also been through the dessert. Even though there is really nothing out there to see but the sunset and how everything grows...It is amazing to realize that all this goes on and how it affects us in our everyday lives but also wiht geography...We can always count on our surroundings and our environment to always be there for us."

"In this section of studying its made known that peoples geography is much different than other peoples geography...someone who lives in the United States has total different geography than someone who lives in the Country of Asia, Australia, or Germany."

"In my everyday life i use geography in more of a younger way. For me being a Freshman college student I use geography for simple things. Like mapping out how to get to ____ from louisville, How to get around a mall without back tracking, and also how to use development to pick where i want to go to school at. Geography is not that big thing in my everyday life sense i am so young."

"The area around us is very unique, we have two large rivers that combine to make a larger area that formed into a larger lake because of a dam. Also to the east of us we have the appilation mountains that forms a location of intrest if your into high altitudes hiking or into snow sports. The demograhics have a major influces in the how you live to because the different age ranges of people means you cant just talk to people about local gossip if thier 80 years old and doesnt no about that."

These are actual responses from college students. College students, meaning these individuals have been passed along through our U.S. educational system, from kindergarten beyond high school. These people either graduated from high school or worked to earn a GED.

Reading and writing is fundamental to education. Reading provides us with examples of how are written language should appear, the form and function our language should assume. Reading helps our brain create imagery, trains our brains to transform symbols into meaning and then into images. I'm describing communication and I feel stupid doing so. Everyone should have basic fluency in reading and writing skills. U.S. citizens proclaim, "ya gotta speak English if ya want to live in this here country!" Yeah, well, apparently reading English and writing English isn't all that necessary, even for natural-born citizens.

Reading truly provides us with brain "food" for thought. Writing, on the other hand, helps us sow more brain "food," by helping us not only train our brains for thought but also aids us in communicating those ideas and notions to other people. Writing, to continue my agrarian-themed analogy, is pollen, seeds of thoughts, notions, ideas, and images which take root in and yield potentially yield luscious fruit. Or, fall lifeless in the desert of Dogma, awaiting for the literary equivalent of Climate Change, er, "Idea Warming," as in, "I'm warming to your idea of selling cupcakes door-to-door."

Meanwhile, China, India, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and an entire host of other countries cannot learn English fast enough. Many of my international students struggle with American English. Rightly so; American English is the 4th hardest language to learn, behind Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. I would throw in Korean, too.

Our American Education System cannot continue to dilute the importance of reading, math, and science. As a society, we will ultimately fail. Social fragmentation along income and educational lines will occur, and these ruptures could potentially fall along regional boundaries. The New England states do very well in school-aged spending, median family incomes, ACT scores, and overall academic achievement. The Southwest states of Arizona, New Mexico, along with Oklahoma do not fair well, and neither does Tennessee, Mississippi, or Louisiana.

I provide writing samples simply to illustrate efforts by recently enrolled students in Higher Education. These students have been passed along through Primary and Secondary Education, and now find themselves in Higher Education. As new adults, students often do not recognize they are now responsible for their own effort, not Mommy or Daddy, and they now have to engage their brains and use what they should have been taught in high school. So often, I am told, Standardized Testing rules the classroom, with little room for creativity. Additionally, with "blended" classrooms containing Special Education students through gifted, teachers are often forced to "teach to the middle" abandoning either end, or focusing on the time-consuming needs of the learning disabled to the detriment of other students. In the end, the students lose, and the loss permeates our society creating fractures in our economic and social systems about which I have previous posted.

I hold students accountable for their efforts. One cannot simply say, "that's what I was taught," or "I was't taught that." As an adult in Higher Education, a student has to bring an effort to the classroom and not simply be a respirator of oxygen anchoring a chair. However, I also want to say to administrators and drafters of previous education reform efforts, "thanks for making my life difficult and creating class after graduating class of adults who are barely literate and are unable to abide the rigors of college. Furthermore, you should be ashamed of what you have wrought upon these people, in molding them into people unprepared for Life outside of high school, and setting them up for failure. Only by their own graces will these students be able to correct the damage your policies have inflicted upon them."

Education is a fundamental right, not a privilege.

Accolades to my Map Use & Analysis Class

I'm sure I'm like many college faculty. We become so frustrated with our students. Frustration builds like a storm as we feel stymied class after class by the apparent lack of knowledge absorption by our supposedly eager students.

"What can I do different to encourage them to soak this stuff up?"

The reality is we have limited control. Student must provide their own energy to learn, even in the face of lackluster performances of faculty. What you get out of Higher Education is more often than not what are are willing to put into your education.

On the other hand, there are students and classes which are completely validating. One student in a course can make the course completely worthwhile, and at times, an entire class becomes infected with a desire to assemble knowledge gained in other classes, or extracurricular activities, and do something interesting.

My Spring 2012 Map Use and Analysis course did some nice work this semester I thought I would share (with their permission.)



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What makes these maps different, you ask. People can use many web apps these days for creating maps, so what makes these maps and these students different?

They are using the industry standard GIS software, ArcGIS, from ESRI. The software is notoriously challenging to use, regardless of the propaganda issues by the company. At one time, the number of programming objects available in the software was second only to Microsoft's .NET programming environment. The software is way-powerful, though, and if the functionality is not present, nearly every language is supported for coding the needed functionality. ESRI's software controls about 45%-50% of the global mapping market and people skilled in ArcGIS are typically in demand at local, state, national, and international levels, in both public and private sectors.

Students are learning about what I call the "backstage" of mapping activities. Its one thing to sit down to a web app running in a browser and pump out a map. There is still a need for a entire industry of people to know how to create, alter, edit, and manage all of the geographic data floating around the Internet. Those cool map apps do not magically appear; humans fluent in the use of spatial data are making those apps happen. Some of the backstage mapping activities are what my students are learning.

My students are developing an understanding of appropriate uses of data. The Internet represents an overwhelmingly vast repository of data. Literally anyone anywhere can grab an Excel XLS file, or Access MDB file, or a simple comma-separated value (CSV) text file, and push numbers around. That anyone can do this does not mean everyone knows what they are doing, though. Learning how to "lie with maps" is tantamount to learning how to "lie with statistics." Maps, in one sense, are the visual representation of numbers, and if you know how to manipulate numbers then one can also manipulate the message of a map. And, as we all know, a "picture is with a thousand words." People who control maps can steer public sentiment and public policy, and in some cases, foreign policy. Think of Colin Powell and his use of maps to incite the discourse in the run-up to deposing Saddam Hussein and the alleged Weapons of Mass Distraction...

Yes, I teach my students how to "lie with maps." I even bought them the book of the same title by Mark Monmonier, "How To Lie With Maps."

My students chose their own topics, collected their own tabular data and their own spatial data. While I had hoped someone might have selected topics outside the United States. Often, U.S. data is easier to access, and understanding data limitations can be challenging when a language barrier is involved. The only advice I gave them was to pick a topic meaningful to them.

Surprisingly, I was involved very little this semester, as most student sought out each other for help and advice. I took some pride in that; frustrating as it may have been to the students, the most valuable learning experiences arise from overcoming obstacles on one's own. In one case, I spent about 30 minutes with a student whose database file was uncooperative. We fixed the problem but I could only speculate as to the cause of the issue, as the problem was not self-evident.

Every student adopted a topic not only meaningful to them, but also has the potential of being a stepping stone for further research. Crime and Education, Education and Child Abuse, Prevalence of Community-Supported Farms, Retail Site Location, and Use and Type of Energy Products are all current U.S. domestic policy concerns. I was glad they avoided, "Prevalence of Bigfoot Sitings 1970-2011," genre of topics, though there is a place for those, too.

The technology behind many of today's iPhone, iPad, and Android apps arrives via people skilled in knowing how to weave computer technology, programming, and geospatial skills together. And, that is the knowledge my students are working diligently towards.

Are You Raising A Global Child?

A good friend of mine lived abroad when she was of middle-school age. Her mother was in the military, stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Living abroad when old enough to notice the life going on around you, having a life in the States to compare to, and being old enough to appreciate the details and differences of people with whom your rub elbows with every day has an effect on a child. I would argue a good effect. While living abroad is rough on a young person, away from friends, having to learn to adapt to a different culture, she learned to appreciate the differences she saw. Having to adapt meant having to develop initiative to problem-solve, learning to use the subway, buses, eat a different diet, work at a different pace, and perhaps be differential towards elders.

Children, foreign nationals living outside their country of birth, may have a distinct advantage above children which do not live abroad, or later in life, choose to "study abroad." Children exposed at early ages to different food, a different set of cultural or societal rules, different languages, and even different climates should develop skills and attitudes which should make them more successful later in life than their stay-at-home peers in our increasingly globalized world society.

I see adult students every day, living in fear of moving to another county or an adjoining state for education. Students, male and female alike, literally tremble at the thought of the unfamiliar a mere 60+ miles (90km) away. Meanwhile, 10%-15% of campus is comprised of students not hundreds of miles from home, but 8,000 miles or more from home.

The United States' geography is both blessing and course. The U.S. has avoided the devastating effects of two world wars. Historically, North American was not the convenient cultural crossroads of Asia Minor or Europe. The benefit of distance has encouraged us to be aloof, buffered from political, economic, and cultural interactions common throughout Europe. Sure, we have experienced our own discord, our Civil War, our Civil Rights, literal battles over organized labor. We have had the added benefit, though, of not also having to worry about disagreements brought about by cultural factions, as evidenced by the controversial European Union, language barriers, or multiple currencies, to name only a few complicating forces.

Our geography has made us aloof, given us a sense of protection and ease, which few other global realms enjoy. We have only two immediate neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Canada is very similar to the United States culturally, politically, and with a shared British and French history. We expect immigrants to conform to our society and make little to no allowance to accept theirs. Immigrants fare better in urban areas where cultural diversity is normal and people from the same ethnic background offer support. Rural areas, locations of most state colleges and universities, immigrants and foreign students are met with more varied reactions.

The remainder of the world, I argue, does not realistically have an option to ignore or downplay the influence of their neighbors. They are forced to learn, listen, cope, i.e. interact with their neighbors as a part of doing business.

Children capable of handling diversity, being introduced to diversity in language, arts, culture, and expression I see as being the future.

For more reading: How To Raise A Global Kid (Lisa Miller, Newsweek)

The above article highlights many issues associated with the increasing amount of global interaction our current generation is a part of. But, we cannot simply be a part of the interaction without some analysis of how to better prepare both ourselves for what lay ahead tomorrow and prepare our children for lies ahead for them.

"I a worried that in this interconnected world, our country risks being disconnected from the contributions of other countries and cultures" (Arne Duncan, U.S. Education Secretary, 2010.)

I am worried, as well. I can't raise a global child; I don't have any children. I spend most of my time attempting to convince adults to become "Global Adults." My hopes are my students will accept some of what we discuss in class, what they learn themselves by reading English-language editions of foreign newspapers, and what they read in their textbooks, and through what little exposure I coach, the realization will dawn on them how much they need to pay attention to current events, if not for themselves, but for their children, and their children's children.

200 million Chinese schoolchildren are studying English

Some U.S. citizens say, "Yeah, our language is important. Good for them!" I don't disagree but the problem is the learning transaction is only one-way. Few of us are learning Chinese. They have a greater ability to understand us than we have of understanding them - and there are 4x's more Chinese than U.S. citizens.

"South Korean parents ... demand that their children begin English instruction in the 1st grade, rather than the 2nd grade."

Again, no argument from me, yet South Korea is one of the most important economies in all of East Asia and Southeast outside of China. Having competent people who can play well with others, and raising competent people who can play nice can has all sorts of benefits, from the individual to our general U.S. social fabric.

"Not training our kids to be able to work and live in an international environment is like leaving them illiterate."

Raising a global child is about helping your kids be successful. Traits developed in making them a "global child" also make them into good people. There is no downside. Essentially, parents of "global children" are helping their children be "globally literate" and "globally functional." Our geography impairs us, creating a sense of aloofness, a false sense of security, and an inflated ego, that we are better than we really are.

We can see evidence of our national ego today. Our foreign policy certainly exemplifies our national ego, e.g. "You either stand with us or against us," and our unilateral policies associated with Afghanistan, Iraq, and our demands for China to devalue its currency against the dollar. We can literally stand apart and command without having to face any immediate threat or retaliation, unlike South Korea, Taiwan, or Israel.

Some U.S. schools are making some progress. Last year, I wrote a brief post on a Delaware school introducing Chinese language classes ("Red Clay CSD Building Chinese language program".) I have not followed-up with the program, and one of the concerns voiced was how well the program would fare in light of the demands of state and federal curriculum standards and assessments. To wit, I respond with, to hell with those standards; those standards obviously not only do not set a very high bar, they do not address the future needs to students, the state of Delaware, or our country, in general.

At times, I often wonder why "algebra" has not been banned. Or, perhaps not banned, but legislation written, changing the name of the bane of all high school and some college students to a more Anglo-friendly term, like "Freedom Math," or "Patriot Math," or other nonsense. Our so-called "English" language is rife with foreign words and derivatives and I await the pronouncement from some heretofore anonymous group to announce they have written legislation removing all Arabic, Chinese, or African words from the American language lexicon. Yep, I'm cynical.

See, the another danger of being so physically remote from other cultures is the perceived threat Americans have from those different from us. Should our children learn Chinese, they could become stark raving mad atheist Communists. Or, even worse, should they learn Arabic, they might come home one day with a mullah beard, reciting the Qu'ran, and proclaim the house and all which falls under the roof as the "domain of Allah."

Recently, in Arizona, some people were upset over the term, "haboob." No, not because the second syllable references slang for human anatomy, but because the term is of Arabic origins, meaning "dust storm." No seems upset over "alcohol" or "banana," though.

For further reading: "Haboobs cause storm of complaints" (July 12, 2011; Time)

Antagonism towards diversity has only negative consequences. At an individual level, antagonism to diversity inspires fear, trepidation, bigotry, and bias. We succumb to stereotypes and myths are are no better off today than yesterday, and the future won't be much different. Adults who ascribed to these traits pass them along to their kids. A mother in one of my classes related how her son was called names and berated for looking Arab during local high school games. Even more disgusting, the coaching staff of the opposing team not only did nothing to stop the abuse but assistant coaches were right there with the players shouting the same insults. The family was not Arab but Greek, but dark-skinned. The family has since moved from the area.

Old news, from last year, a Texas school tried to institute Arabic language classes. Community outcry halted progress on implementing the language program.

For further reading: "Teaching Arabic Is No Cause For Fear" (February 2011, CNN)

As long as all domestic policy is viewed through the lens of 9/11, we will never be as free, as creative, or as adaptable as we need to be in order to ensure our long-term economic and social success. Yes, 9/11 was tragic, yet the more insular we become, the more fears of diversity we harbor and pass along to our kids, the weaker our society becomes. Our leaders, from local school boards, governors, to National figures, have allowed our society to be compromised and undermined and weakened by the actions of 19+ men. Even Europe has overcome aversion to Germans, the Wehrmacht, and the Nazis, for the most part.

So, to you parents coaching yourselves to be "Global Parents" so your kids will be "global kids," you tuck the Fate of the World in every night. You should be proud of that.

Education, Economics, and Kurma the Turtle

Forbes magazine ran an article 6 May 2012 alluding to "creating innovators." Tony Wagner is an Education Fellow at Harvard, and author of The Global Achievement Gap. His research on identification of skills necessary for people to compete in the 21st century global workplace is outlined. More interesting is his web site, TonyWagner.com. I am not familiar with Dr. Wagner's work, though I apparently will need to find a copy of his book. He and I seem to be on the same page, at first blush.

If you are involved in Education, Homeschooling, even parenting, the "HomeschoolingMiddleEast" blog cannot be missed. I am humbled being followed by HSME, indebted by HSME's patronage, and after having whole pieces of a recent post used as fodder for a HSME post, I feel undeserving of the attention.

HSME raises so many valid points related to my comments I am compelled to clarify. To communicate my current sentiments about Education in the U.S. I'm going to borrow from Hindu mythology. Kurma the Turtle is the reptile upon which the world rests. In homage to Stephen Hawking, its "turtles all the way down," but the crux of my perspective remains unchanged regardless of the number or type of turtles.

Education is the U.S.'s Kurma, the turtle upon which all else rests. Our social fabric, the lens through which personal, local, state, and federal decisions are made, and the economic basis of our individual livelihoods are all founded upon Education. And, Experience; I can't omit experience. Together, Education and Experience are the elemental components of our economy. In lieu of experience, people attend colleges and universities to develop essential tools and earn BA/BS degrees which really indicate a unitary trait: how "trainable" a person is. I cannot express the importance of Education enough. But, I still haven't answered, "why?"

To show all of my cards, I am worried about the slipping position of U.S. Education vis-a-vis Japan, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, and China, and India. 50 years ago, the U.S. was THE PLACE to be educated. For 5 decades, the U.S. enjoyed unparalleled success in being the go-to place to receive a college education. In fact, Thomas Friedman and Fareed Zakaria have both stated the U.S. Higher Education System is the most important U.S. industry, employing more people, responsible for more innovation, driving the evolving knowledge economy, and educating unprecedented numbers of international students. The U.S. has, and continues to, educate the world.

Over the last 12 years, give or take, politicians and well-meaning and purportedly educated adults have been diligently working to undermine K-12 education in the United States as well as weaken Higher Education across all 50 states. "No Child Left Behind" is only a single example of policy meant to hold adults accountable, yet in attempting to do so neglected to consider the downstream deleterious effects, the creative stifling and restraint imposed, and the fudging of standardized tests by teachers.

Next consider the statistics of incoming freshman students needing remedial courses prior to even enrolling in college. In 2010, the Fairbanks, AK Sun-Star reported "50% of incoming freshmen entering the UA system require at least one remedial course." In 2011, the Columbus, OH Business Journal wrote, "the share of students under 20 needing remedial help has grown to 39 percent from 36 percent in the past five years, while that same measure for older students has grown to 46 percent from 40 percent."

I have my own anecdotes. A rough napkin calculation performed one afternoon, I estimated around 2,500 students have passed through my courses. Most of the writing is horrible. No punctuation, no capitalization, little attempt at sentence structure, or developing a thought or argument. Writing assignments look like they were typed as a text message, all lower case, missing vowels. In my syllabus I state, "do not write to me as if I am your mee-maw, mee-mee, grannie, or whatever you call your grandmother." Doesn't matter, though; I still get poor writing. A friend of mine who has taught in Missouri schools attributes poor writing skills to the lack of writing evaluation in K-12. Journals are written without regards to grammar, spelling, punctuation, or organization.

When I was a parent, I attended Parent-Teacher Organization workshops. Every seminar or workshop I attended. I also was a parent-volunteer, coming in at my appointed time to read, or center work, or help in the lunch room. The elementary school had one of the highest parent volunteer participation rates in the state. I cannot find the data to support my next comment, but I would swear the participation rate was ~23%. Less than 1 in 4 parents volunteered at their kids school, and according to school officials, we were in the "high" range. I have no trouble believing them. Parents, painting with a broad brush, place a huge amount of faith in a few people. Parents in Japan, South Korea, China, India, Germany, you name the country and pretty much the parents in said country emphasize education more than U.S. parents. I would guess a child from Vietnam, Thailand, or Ghana would adore a U.S. education.

A new freshman I am familiar with graduated from a local high school with honors. She felt very good about her abilities, as she had been groomed throughout her K-12 academic career, told how "smart she is," and apparently never hearing much in the way of constructive criticism. After her first semester of university, she enrolled in the local community college. Her opinion of herself shattered, her high school education an elaborate collection of lies, and feelings of betrayal. How could I be the valedictorian of my high school class and almost fail-out of university? I was totally unprepared for the rigors of university writing, math, and biology.

Some people have taken the education of their children upon themselves. Many of these parents are doing amazing work with their children. Some of these children will be progeny, the new Creative Class of Innovators, of Critical Thinkers who will carry forward their parent's intellect and will be remarkable among their peers. I follow some of these parents on Twitter and read their accounts. Not only are these parents giving their children an education but they are also helping encourage a Global Child who will become a Global Adult who will see the world in new and brilliant ways. The wife of a friend of mine homeschools their five children. Recently, the entire family had the fortune to spend a few months in Spain. By the time of their return to the states, their eldest was almost conversational in Catalan and the family had toured and explored Spain, and indulged in Spain's cuisine. How great of an experience for a 14-yo boy?!

On the other hand, a friend of mine related her experience. When two homeschooled graduates enrolled in the local community college they met with little success. Their lack of success was not due to a deficit of knowledge, their issues revolved around the fact none of their professors were as "good as their mom."

Everything is an ecosystem. Its not the homework assignment which is solely important, not in-and-of itself. No, I submit the homework assignment is also a testament to patience, perseverance, of being able to work through a problem set, to build patience and intellectual endurance. We encourage these behaviors not merely because we want our children to do well in school, but also because these traits will help them be successful as adults. Being able to focus, be single-minded, patient, to assemble skills to problem-solve are traits to be used not just to get through our 5th Grade math homework, but as a future college student, or future chemist, the child will need many traits to be both happy and successful. While the surface appears simple, complexity lies in the composition.

I'm not especially angry about being a witness to the U.S. government's critical neglect of Education; I am dismayed, saddened, chagrined, stymied, and incredulous, and usually all of these simultaneously. I can completely appreciate homeschooling of children by smart educated parents, technologically savvy and with more than a mere wit Socratic exuberance themselves who see the world as a laboratory, and have a thirst for learning.

I see our economic foundation fracturing as politicians, policy-makers, and parents tilt at windmills, chasing the spectres of school prayer, standardized tests, same-sex marriage, spreading the myths of "you're unique and special" when the World cares not one iota. Yes, Mom and Dad cares, and grandparents, and a teacher or two; the World, in general, does not.

China is closing the Education Gap. India is closing the Education Gap. The U.S. imports willing international students and exports educated chemists, physicists, engineers, financiers, and computer programmers. The Knowledge Export closes the education gap abroad as the Educated in turn educate. As these societies become more educated, their industry and technology will compete with ours. By allowing ourselves to be distracted by Same-Sex Marriage, Oil, and terrorism the U.S. economic infrastructure is undermined by our belligerence towards education.

The lethargic adoption of educational, social, and economic reforms collude to stagnate our society, a stagnation perpetuated by backward-focused, parochial, calcified, entrenched and dogmatic conservatives who fear The New and The Different. Without renewed and energetic focus on Education, the U.S. will find itself fighting not simply for economic stability and growth but merely to remain relevant in the face of China, India, and Brazil.

Thanks, again, to HomeschoolingMiddleEast for inspired thoughts and comments, for commenting, for revealing the weakness in my writing, and in doing so, helping to strengthen my rhetoric. Yes, due to the diligence of parents like you, "saviours" will no doubt erupt from future generations.

PAX