Stay Away

Greetings, fellow earthlings. I do love to make up songs in my head whilst walking my lovely big dawg, Watson. I have a new one and the (at least, working) melody is a blatant rip off of John Prine's "Christmas in Prison." That's okay, I know, because it's folk music and John likely ripped that melody straight off of an old country folk song he had in his magnificent brain. Happens all the time in the genre. I only mention that because it will help you sing your own version in your own shower. Or. Wherever.

Here it is, and I'll add a recording if I get to it:

Stay Away

I’ve been at a distance 

For most of my life

I only get close to

My dog and my wife

It ain’t that hard

To stay in my yard

Lucky for me

It’s a good place to be

If I have a task

That calls for a mask

You can be sure

My intentions are pure

I ain’t robbin’ no bank

At least I don’t think 

I will

Until the zombies

Are coming’ for me

Chorus:

Stay away

as far as you can

These troubled days

Were nobody’s plan

Stay away

Keep yours from mine

We’ll be okay

It all will be fine

Now I know that that last bit

Is likely a lie

But I have to say it

I have to try

To keep up my spirits

So you have to hear it

Told again and again

Best to you my friend

(I said)

Stay away

as far as you can

These troubled days

Were nobody’s plan

Stay away

Keep yours from mine

We’ll be okay

It will all turn out fine

We’ll be okay

It will all turn out fine

We’ll be okay

It will all turn out fine

By the way, as I post this, John Prine is in stable condition in a Nashville hospital with COVID-19. I have every belief that his condition will continue to improve and that he will rebound again, as he has done many times with other health issues, and return into our fold to bring us more brilliant musical masterpieces. His music always makes me smile, even when it's sad. "Come on Home," John. We need you these days. And, dear reader, my boy Watson says, "keep well."

Here's a draft .mp3 I recorded 041520. God rest John. 

EDU TEDTalk a Day!

Happy Friday, everyone, or as we now call it, "Day." In the past we might have given everyone we came upon at work that greeting, but things, as we now say, have changed. So, well, Happy Day.

For those who may be experience some disequilibrium over how to spend time during the hours previously labeled "the work day," I would like to offer a modest contribution: Every day, at the same time of the day, let's go online into a virtual space where we can be "together at a distance" and view, together, a randomly selected TEDTalk about what teaching and learning has looked like in the past, looks like now and how it might look in the future. We will start, the first week, in Second Life.

I woke up Monday, the first day of Tennessee's Safer at Home order from our state government, and what should have been the first day back to school from Spring Break, with the idea. I've been working on it ever since.

Some backstory:

Back in the first decade of the 2000s, I was teaching in the Lower School (elementary) computer lab at University School of Nashville. I also worked on Mondays at the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach, though at first that group was called the Vanderbilt Office of Science Outreach. It was the brainchild of the brilliant Dr. Virginia Shepherd and USN was kind enough to release me from my teaching schedule each Monday to work with the CSO in the role of Teacher-in-Residence.

I was meeting my new colleagues at Vanderbilt, my first day of work in that new job, when one of us got a call that America had been attacked on 9/11. During the 8 years I worked in that role at Vanderbilt, I focused on helping schools utilize the thirty or so videoconferencing codecs we had already placed in public schools, working closely with Vanderbilt Virtual School's Jan Zanetis. This was before the days of desktop videoconferencing and that help was needed. During the course of time I created a podcast that brought interviews with working scientists, computer tips, and independent music to the world--early "edutainment"-- which I called "Snacks For the Brain!" Its 84 episodes are archived at the Vanderbilt library's online repository. Have a listen to one produced near the end of those, featuring Dr. William Schafner with some timely info on viruses:

Those were some times.

Another project toward the end of those days was one I called "CSO TalkTalks." I set up a CSO space in 2nd Life and used my Second Life blog "Oh, Virtual Learning," to promote and set up each ~monthly event to vote on one of four proposed TEDTalks then watch it in that space together. It proved to be very fun and a way educator/learners could spend some quality time discussing the talks' content in text chat while the videos were going on. It had a kind of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" vibe because "talking" during the video was highly encouraged--in fact, it was key to the experience.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000

Note: it's actually Saturday, though I've been writing this early morning and the fact that I started doing so simply underscores the depth of my own schedule disequilibrium, hahahaha.

But I digress, LOL. Beginning next week, on Monday, March 31, at 10am US Central Daylight Savings Time, we will begin ISTE Virtual Environment Networks "Mystery Education Theater." We will do so daily, Monday through Friday. All the info is here. It will go a bit like the venerable CSO TalkTalks with some variations, but in addition to getting all of us together in a virtual platform (a different one every week until we run out of them and cycle back through), it will help us focus, daily, on how prominent minds have mused upon the broad topic of Education and what we think about what they have shared.

In the planning for this free Professional Development, we at ISTE VEN have developed a randomizing tool I often use in the classroom. One of the fabulous free-to-teachers online tools available at classtools.net, you can find it for your own use, should you be unable to join us at the daily appointed time, to pick your own video(s) to watch at a time that you schedule daily to do so. There. That's my free offering to you for your daily schedule.

Pick a different TEDTalk about Education every day!

You're welcome. Join us if you can.

driving and crying

Good day, and on hopes you and yours are faring well in these strange days.

I don't often share others' things at scottmerrickdotnet, but, well, I am sharing this. My talented son has released a new single and you should have that experience. He's got so much more on the way that I hope you will be following him. Filmed, edited, recorded, mixed, and performed by 

Colin Merrick, here:

Remarkably and more...

Just listened to this little piece I put together last Lee Ann's birthday. The refrain is the title of her mythological memoir, which she will likely never write, and the tattoo she will likely never write.
Kinda fun, created on my iPhone on a dog walk and recorded at our breakfast island on my laptop with Audacity on a vintage nylon string Framus guitar. I particularly like the improvised break, recorded with no real planning in one take. I think it's kind of Willie Nelson-ish. Okay then. Stay tuned after for a handful of Colin's demo recordings.



and happy holidays:

Sunday, November 17

Hey, world,

Okay, I'm not the most prolific blogger anymore. I call to attention some past performance:

From May 21, 2007: https://scottsecondlife.blogspot.com/2007/05/education-in-second-life.html

This was probably my most prolific blog. Now I'm so into my classroom and its execution and planning that I'm not using the blogging outlet much. But it's all good. Anyone with curiosity and wherewithal can discover past work.

As far as present work, I got notice last week from the indefatigable Simon at ISTE PLNs that my proposal to present an ISTE Expert Webinar in January or February (stay tuned) has been accepted. I will be presenting on my implementation of a Minecraft unit for my 200+ largely EL students at the  thriving but under-resourced public middle school where I teach. Yay. Get a glimpse of that work at https://mrmerricksfalconstech.blogspot.com/ .

Oh, and another ISTE note, Andy and I had a GREAT convo last week with Daniela Sanchez from the new VR world VirBELA. You can expect more from that soon, perhaps including an ISTE VEN Winter Conference online in that venue!

Happy Birthday, Lee Ann

Today is my beloved's birthday. Yesterday, because of an annual neighborhood festival called Light the Nations, I gave her an early birthday present that I found at the Tennessee Arts and Crafts Fair a couple weeks ago. It's a set of white silver dangly earrings made by Louisville, KY Silver Smith, Phyllis Minnery. They positively light up in natural sunlight.

Lee Ann, on the other hand, has lit up my life in so many ways for the past 35+ years that I can't begin to enumerate them. Hers is the heart that makes my heart sing. Literally.

In honor of her birthday and of that little light metaphor, I share a little ditty I composed and recorded for the occasion. Please enjoy...

There Was a Man

I wrote and recorded this:

For my grandfather, Poppy, Claude Laughton Gardner, There Was a Man

AmericanaFest2019 through mine eyes

Mine eyes have seen the glory...

I had an absolute BLAST going out to hear live performances of music all week, thanks to AmericanaFest2019. Initially, my lovely person was planning to take a highly unusual week off from her fantastic business, Tinwings, to go stay at a beach home in Pawley's Island with a dear friend. I discovered Americana Fest and thought, well, okay, I'll go hear some music while she's gone. The week changed due to her friend's schedule and I was about to bail, but Lee Ann told me, hey, do it anyway. So I did!

I sprung the 90+ dollars for a wristband that would get me into any of the shows at any of the venues I chose to attend Tuesday, September 10 through today, Sunday the 15th. It was fun to hear moving lyrics sung by brilliant songwriter/performers every night at many Nashville locations, some of which I'd never attended. See the list of performers in this graphic:

And take a few miniutes to run through my album of snapshots and video snippets at Google Photos. 

What was my favorite part? Wow. That's a tough one. I would say it's that I got myself out, met some nice humans, and formed some new fan relationships with a double handful of talented people some of whom I'd never heard of! I saw some acquaintances perform, including another former student from my first 3rd grade class in 1996-7. You may recall my good fortune to meet up with Lizzy Plotkin at the end of last May.

I thoroughly enjoyed Shawn Colvin's work as she performed her breakthrough record "Steady On" from top to bottom, just her and her acoustic guitar. And to witness Mark Erelli's award-nominated "By Degrees" sung by him the same way at a venue new to me, The Anchor, was unforgettable.

This time it was the incredibly talented Forrest O'Conner I got to see perform at One in Cannery Row performing an intimate set with Kate Lee and others. 

It was a fun week and I'll be back next year, "believe it to me."

Droning on a Saturday Morning

This may be a fun before and after in a year or so. This is the former home of Renaissance Stone and a couple other very small business endeavors, and if recent huge residential building in the area is any indication, we'll be seeing at least hundreds of new homes built. It would be possible, actually, to extend New York Avenue from its end place at 59th Avenue (straight ahead at the video's beginning) to 60th, at the video's end; but I'd be surprised if that happens, considering the profit value of each square foot of residential property in The Nations.

Edited in Screencast-O-Matic Pro. Music from an online album of rough acoustic instrumentals, "Still Waiting." Song is "Colin's Walk." Enjoy...

Living Proof, 1983

Hey all,

Yes we're sneaking up on the school year and teachers report in my district just two weeks from today. Hard to believe, but while I do wish for more summer there is a nagging excitement about getting back into the computer lab with a new batch of 5th graders and many children I will recognize and who will recognize me. We're in July 30 for meetings and prep and such and the kids show up Monday, August 5th.

Meanwhile, I'm finishing up some music and fishing and fun goals I set for myself before returning to school. One is sharing the one tiny tv work that I did back in 1982 or so, released as an NBC TV Movie in 1983, and though I only worked three days or so and only appear in this last 3 1/2 minutes of the movie, I some pretty good camera time and I hope that you can tell that I was having fun. At the time I was bartending at TGIFridays on Elliston Place. I recall that I answered a casting call and auditioned for the roll of the doctor who patches up Hank Williams, Jr. after his drunken fall from a mountaintop. That would have paid more, I suppose, but I'm glad I was invited to audition for the band members for the two bands at the end of the movie. I recall Richard Thomas and the casting directors out in front in a warehouse-like space with 20 or 30 aspiring musicians and that when it was my turn to step up to the mic I sang "Rollin' in my Sweet Baby's Arms." They actually allowed me to finish and called the next day to make me an offer. We filmed in what is now the Children's Theater, I'm pretty sure, then in TPAC's Jackson Theater.

Here's the thing: With the ongoing national dialog about the South and its perpetuation of myths about the racism that was essential to the notion of "Dixie," this song actually makes me a bit uncomfortable. As a supporter of both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center, I believe there's a New Dixie out there that can embrace all of us, no matter what race or creed. And I don't believe that New York City is anything close to a synonym for Hell. All that said, at the oblivious time of the filming, it was fun. I'll struggle to rectify these dichotomous things, in my daily work and in my personal heart, but meanwhile I hope you can enjoy...

Difference between Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality?

Whether you are exploring "the realities" for learning and teaching or you are just curious, these technologies, along with Artificial Intelligence, have been gearing up to change our lives for quite some time now. Do you understand the...