When I heard the verdict in George Zimmerman’s murder trial, I was shocked. Surely, a man can’t kill an unarmed boy and walk free? But he did. And now, he’s free. Zimmerman did everything wrong and still walked away unscathed. How do we make sense of this? More importantly – what must young people be thinking? Feeling? Questioning? All the rhetoric they are fed about freedom and possibilities and the American dream seem to be a cruel joke, a setup. I am not normally a cynical person but this weekend’s events have made me think long and hard about the messages that get delivered throughout the K-12 schooling experience. We encourage youth to be optimistic, to strive to be the best, we encourage them to compete, to win, to succeed. But what we were reminded of this weekend was that even if you work hard and are an excellent student, there are laws and institutions that have been created for and by others and those can just as quickly determine your future as passing the SATs.So why isn’t some part of school spent talking about these issues? Why do we insist that they memorize facts and figures that are disconnected from their lives and then ignore or deal distantly with a significant event like the untimely and immoral death of Trayvon Martin? What might happen if we were honest: the truth is that even if they obey laws and work hard in school, they could still be killed because their skin is the wrong color? Why don’t we warn them that there will always be George Zimmerman’s out there and that the world isn’t as rosy as we’d like it to seem? What service do we do if youth aren’t able to really understand the world they live in, or do understand it but aren’t acknowledged as such? As others have said much more eloquently than I (e.g. Questlove, Rich Benjamin, Martin Bashir), the US isn’t post-racial. I’d argue there are some people who’d like to pretend these issues don’t exist, but sweeping them under the rug does no one a service, and for young people of color, it’s doing them a disservice.The truth is that there aren’t any academic standards that address real life, no matter how “authentic” they claim to be. And often district or state laws make it difficult for youth to write, discuss or share concerns in school, which reify the same challenges they encounter in everyday society. I still recall that in our literary magazine in high school, the school board decided no articles, poems or short stories could talk about death or suicide or anything related. What if someone's friend, parent or sibling had died? What if was a stranger they felt connected to, like Trayvon? Does pretending their feelings don't exist make them go away? Does only addressing love and happiness in the pages of a high school text mean that that's the only truth? No. Neither will treating a civics or history class (or any class for that matter) like an exercise in how things work; how a bill becomes a law, umm except our textbooks don’t talk about lobbyists, or the infighting or the backroom deals... or about the Civil Rights we enjoy in this country thanks to great leaders like Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr., oh except that things aren't really always equal; you can get murdered without consequences for your race or beat up on a city street for your sexual preference, and race and class really do still matter. I guess that’s my point: we paint this rosy picture, we tell youth all their dreams are possible, we tell them about our great country, about all the triumphs but we gloss over the ugly truths, but we shouldn't. Youth's lives are still mediated by power, racial dynamics and history, that are manifested in laws and policies that are still designed to control, oppress and suppress. I just wish there was more space in schools to have honest conversations and help youth reflect, confront and question, so they aren’t ultimately setup to believe something that simply isn’t still true.Finally, I want to say that I feel deeply saddened by what happened to this young boy. It breaks my heart both for his family and friends but also for all the young people who could be in his situation. School could be a place to confront, converse, create, collaborate around and on these challenges; school has the potential to be a place of dialogue, of dialogic thinking, of peaceful resistance, of action, of reflection. I still believe that: I still think that's true.

As I made my way over the Walnut Street bridge and headed to Penn today, I was suddenly struck by the number of young children I noticed. As I got closer to campus, I observed even more parents and kids; some little children dressed in lab coats, others, running behind their parents and still others chatting happily with their mom or dad. Aha, I finally realized, today is Take Your Child to Work Day!I remember this event, when it was still Take Your Daughter to Work Day. My mom dutifully took me to the office with her and let me help with things like filing and let me listen to phone calls. I loved it simply because it was out of the ordinary: I got to "see" my mom at work and pretend I was working too. Funny, how we are always en route to a job, from the youngest of ages. Of course, if I recall correctly, the day was originally instated to encourage young women to be exposed to different career opportunities and see themselves eventually fitting into these roles as adults. Which, to some degree is important because I would argue that we still live in a world where there are jobs or careers that are more open or possible for certain genders, by virtue of how certain industries have evolved. While this is changing, there still seems to be too much emphasis or reification of what students should pursue what jobs and little support for students who want to navigate different paths. I liken this to the Harry Potter sorting hat process; some decisions are out of a student's or family's control.So in other words, while this day provides some excitement and a change for students from their day-to-day routine, it doesn't remove the need for schools to be more concerned with putting more emphasis on authentic learning experiences and for being intentional about helping students to learn and grow in ways that make sense to them. So that, a day on campus with mom or dad, isn't simply the only way they get to try on different roles that are interesting to them. Any kids should be able to do anything and schools should help to nurture that.In the meantime - thanks mom for taking me to work with you. I enjoyed all of it, but perhaps the pizza lunch and meandering through the shopping plaza was the best part. Although, answering phones does come in a close second :).(I'm currently doing a literature review that draws on Constructionism that is really influencing my thinking about being intentional about learning).

I flipped through the news this morning and noticed the MTV movie awards were last night. I decided to distract myself from readings on identity to flip through the images. I stopped at one particular image that annoyed me and led me to finding the video recap from last night. The image I found was one of Selena Gomez, wearing a bindi and dressed in some kind of South Asian inspired costume, along with her back up dancers. When I found the video I was even more annoyed; the dance moves were all remixed Bollywood moves, as were the costumes and even the back beat to her song. I felt this way I've seen one too many Bollywood remixes on television, in the movies, etc. lately and I feel like they are a parody of beautiful South Asian art forms.A few minutes later, a light bulb went off... wait a second, I've seen the same thing in films from all over the world. Bollywood, Tollywood, etc. etc. all borrow or sample seemingly western style moves. I don't watch a lot of these films but I have seen my fair share of Britney-esque dance steps integrated into several musical montages across these genres.All this led me to think about remixes... Do you ever need to be authentic to the originator? Is it possible to know, in this complex, rapidly changing, multi-layered world, who the original author of anything is any more? When does someone need to attribute? Or can we simply remix and move on without ever acknowledging the genealogy or path an idea, an image, a dance move traveled? Should I care an iota that Selena Gomez's (poorly choreographed in my opinion) dance performance draws on more classical dance steps that stem from art forms like Bharathanatyam? Should she? Does it matter people are left with different impressions?In a world where copyright and attribution seem harder to maintain, I'm led to wonder about how to be fair, straightforward and pragmatic about the blurry lines that emerge. It's impossible to be "true" to the original but it seems like sampling, remixing and adapting has gotten to the point that we are being sloppy or irresponsible. Or is a remixed idea always original?A note, this morning I woke up to post this blog and found a story on NPR.org that explicated some similar challenges. Their story is part of a series entitled, When Our Kids Own America, which is explores the implications of shifting demographics in America. The story uses the Harlem Shake meme as an example of what happens when something gets appropriated and potentially loses meaning. Upon further research, I found a video on youtube of people interviewed in Harlem who were asked about what they thought about the meme and they all were talking about how what was being co-opted as the Harlem Shake wasn't at all. So who gets to say what's real? Why? (Does anyone?)

After being away from Blackboard and other digital course management software for a few years, I was introduced to Canvas in September. While Canvas and Blackboard seem to fulfill some requirements like hosting documents, facilitating online discussions and e-mail/announcements to the entire class and sub-groups, they don't go far enough for me.I think an awesome system would be one that transforms a syllabus into individual calendar entries, complete with assignments. The professors or instructors of a course would do what they did today- enter all of their materials, related URLs and assignments into the online course management system. When a student logged into the system, they would be able to "download the syllabus" which would translate to having the entire course entered onto their calendar, by weekly increments. Each calendar entry would include the summary of readings and any other pertinent information that the instructor/professor had originally conveyed. If changes are made, they can do it electronically and students could refresh the entries from time to time.Instead, I spent a few hours last weekend doing this manually - creating recurring google calendar appointments and separately incorporating assignment due dates. I didn't get to pasting in the readings because it was a bit too labor intensive and I really should be working on reading and writing for my courses!One last thing on this topic - it seems despite all the advances in technology that we've had since I was in graduate school four years ago, course management software hasn't evolved very much at all. I find this surprising given all the other ed reform related technology initiatives that are swirling around. Moreover, the user experience for these systems is not great. We constantly hear professors and students complaining about the challenges of navigating the system. If course management system isn't self explanatory, then it's not doing it's job.If someone decides to build this - I'd be happy to give you my thoughts on what could be improved!

Last night, I caught a few minutes of the evening news, listening to to the commentary about the shootings in Newton, Connecticut. My ears piqued and I decided to see if this was true. I came across an article that confirmed that Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, was one of the senators that voted against a ban on high ammunition clips and also in favor of an amendment to allow people to conceal weapons while crossing state borders. Here's an excerpt from that CBS article:

"In 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was among 58 senators to back an amendment allowing a person holding a concealed weapon permit in one state to hide his firearm when visiting another state.

After Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and others were attacked in Tucson in January 2011, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed in a 1993 shooting, introduced legislation to ban the high-capacity ammunition clips used by the shooter. (Those clips would have been banned had the assault weapons ban been reinstated.) The measure garnered more than 100 cosponsors but was not brought up for consideration by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Indeed, the only movement in recent years on guns has been in the opposite direction: They include measures that allow guns in bars in Virginia and New Mexico, expanded concealed carry in Michigan and elsewhere, and a Supreme Court decision striking down a ban on handguns and a trigger lock requirement in the District of Columbia." (Brian Montpoli, CBS News, 12/14/12)

The article goes onto point out that Democrats who have favored control in the past have done nothing to bring back the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 or advocate for other legislation. I said it yesterday and I will say it again, how many shootings will it take before people understand that having guns that were developed for war should not be allowed to be owned by civilians? Another excellent point that I think needs to be raised is that any new gun control legislation needs to also address the very important issue of mental illness.In any case, here is my letter to Harry Reid that I submitted on his website today:

Dear Senator Reid,

I recently heard on the news that you would be against introducing legislation into the Senate along the lines of controlling the use and proliferation of guns. I find this an unfortunate stance from the top Democrat in the Senate.

Protecting second amendment rights is logical to a certain point, but there are dangerous weapons that are too easily accessed that no American needs to protect their home or property.

Every person I know, regardless of political affiliation has spoken out about gun violence and the need for change over the last 36 hours. People are horrified by what happened and no American parent should have to get up every morning praying that this doesn't happen at their school.

I've already written to my congressman and signed a petition online but I do think that if you're the person who will influence the potential for such legislation, then we need to somehow convince you that it's ridiculous you are in favor of concealing weapons. You might be a Senator from Nevada, but as far as I'm concerned as the majority leader of the Senate you are representing all of our interests. So when you vote against or squelch legislation that is more than necessary, it is disheartening. This shouldn't be about votes - this should be about your commitment to the American people- all of us.

Please turn your stance around, show leadership and bring a bill that not only addresses gun control and proliferation but measures to also deal with mental illness and the related supports required so we can avoid these kinds of mass atrocities.

I sincerely hope you show leadership on this issue.

Best,

Veena Vasudevan