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joebustillos · 5 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 41: Jesus & The Folly of Using the Bible As Prop

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June 1st Trump takes a walk after protesters are forcefully removed, so that he can take a picture in front of a church and how does that or doesn’t that express his Christian Faith.

MP3 Version: https://joebustillos.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/jbbsfinalthoughts_e041_jesus-and-the-folly-of-using-the-bible-as-a-prop.mp3

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Credits/images:

music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

A video timeline of the crackdown on protesters before Trump’s photo op, Washington Post, 2020-06-08, https://youtu.be/JxYmILDya0A

Jimmy Carter (caricature) by David Levine, https://shop.nybooks.com/collections/david-levine/us-presidents

Jimmy Carter And Rosalynn Building Home, Habitat for Humanity

George W. Bush, jr., caricature by managevpants, https://www.deviantart.com/managerpants/art/George-W-Bush-caricature-408026248

Bill Clinton caricature by managevpants, https://www.deviantart.com/managerpants/art/Bill-Clinton-caricature-408026999

Tricky Dick by Nina Reid, https://flic.kr/p/dguKDM

Ronald Reagan – Caricature by DonkeyHotey, https://flic.kr/p/2iE39wi

George H.W. Bush caricature by managevpants, https://www.deviantart.com/managerpants/art/George-H-W-Bush-caricature-408028476

Barack Obama caricature by managevpants, https://www.deviantart.com/managerpants/art/Barack-Obama-caricature-408025985

18 of the funniest photoshops of Trump’s Bible photo op., by Orli Matlow, https://www.someecards.com/life/lifestyle/donald-trump-bible-photo-op-photoshop-edits/

President Obama sings Amazing Grace (C-Span), 2015-06-26, https://youtu.be/IN05jVNBs64

Resources:

Jimmy Carter, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter

Fact check: No, Donald Trump church photo op was not the same as Bill Clinton church photo, by Eric Litke, USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/09/fact-check-facebook-post-wrongly-compares-donald-trump-bill-clinton-photos/5322448002/

All the Absurd Details We’ve Learned About Trump’s Church Photo Op, By Adam K. Raymond, Intelligencer, NYMag, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/trumps-church-photo-op-all-the-absurd-details.html

‘He Did Not Pray’: Fallout Grows From Trump’s Photo-Op At St. John’s Church, by Bill Chappell, NPR, https://www.npr.org/2020/06/02/867705160/he-did-not-pray-fallout-grows-from-trump-s-photo-op-at-st-john-s-church

American Bible Society Responds to Trump Photo Op: Scripture Is ‘More than a Symbol’, by Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/june/american-bible-society-responds-president-trump-photo-op-sy.html

Surprise: No One Is Impressed by Trump’s Tough-Guy Church Photo Op, by Eric Lutz, Vanity Fair, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/no-one-is-impressed-by-trump-tough-guy-church-photo-op

Trump’s tear gas photo-op was ‘frightening’ to authoritarianism experts, who warn that his behavior will only get worse without ‘fierce opposition’, by John Haltiwanger, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-teargas-photo-op-was-frightening-to-authoritarianism-experts-2020-6

Episode Notes/Script/Post:

Joe Bustillos, here…

Yes, I have a scratch on my forehead. I stood up and bumped my head on my mic. Speaking of clumsy… Trump’s recent awkward photo op, I’m not sure what message he thought he was projecting (some say that the pre-photo-op clearing of peaceful protesters by force was the real photo-op)… Anyway, as with many things, this business of public displays of “religious affiliation” is certainly not something new.

jimmy-carter-teeth-by-david-levine

In fact, way back in 1976, when Jimmy Carter won the presidency, my hippy-dippy born-again Christian heart was delighted that a real Christian was going to be my nation’s president. It was a far different time, long before the Moral Majority reared it’s ugly head, when only (Thompson-Chain Reference™️) bible-thumpers, such as my self, would even have such thoughts. I got the sense that most others were fixated on Carter’s southern drawl and toothy smile. But, I could tell, or rather, my 18-year-old self, knew that this man was devoted to the truth found in the Bible. Sadly, that didn’t seem to help his presidency and he was replaced after one term by someone who I could tell was less of a believer, and more of a Hollywood-camera-ready-Christian.

2019-10-15 Unexpected Personal Costs of Upgrading to the Latest MacOS-3

Biola 1981 diploma

1984-1985 Fuller Seminary Student ID Joe Bustillos (2019).jpg

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Such a different time, I was also a very different person. Being raised Roman Catholic, I really didn’t know my Bible until I got swept up in the Jesus Movement in the mid-1970s and then I couldn’t get enough of the book (resulting in a Bachelor’s Degree in Biblical Studies from conservative Biola University and taking Masters classes at Fuller Seminary). Again, those were very different times, and I have to laugh at the memory of how much my little group of friends with our bibles were looked down on by our high school classmates (especially when I see how many of those who thought we were a bunch of weirdos… which we were… now post all about Jesus and how the nation needs to get back to Jesus on their Facebook streams… too funny).

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So, being all about the born-again, personal faith experience, when I think about the presidents over the past 40-years I would have to say that good ol’ Jimmy Carter seemed to be the one with the most genuine witnesses of faith. Mind you, this isn’t an assessment claiming to determine the legitimacy of the professions of faith from these fellows. But I think the distinction comes down to how many of them practice or would practice their faith regardless of their station in life, or publicity, versus how many of them are more a part of the institutional/cultural tact that has less personal value. Interestingly that leads me to believe that Bush Jr. with his redemption from alcoholism and Clinton with his “predilections,” would tie in terms of the “personal nature” of their Christianity. Highly flawed persons, which connects them all the more to their faith. That said, I never once believed that the Christianity of Nixon, Reagan or Bush Sr. was anything more than the “cultural” noise they were raised with and the language they used as part of their jobs as presidents. By the time of Obama, my own journey was such that I was far less concerned about whether their faith was genuine and more interested in the genuine nature of their desire to help fix the system. Remember, Carter was the most genuine Christian by my former estimation, but his presidency felt largely like a brief buffer between the criminality of the Nixon years and PR of the Reagan years.

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Matthew 25

And that brings us to Lord Dampnuts and his blatant “Christianity as a prop” modis operandi. If I felt like Nixon, Reagan & Bush Sr. were “doing it for the cameras,” I cannot imagine any believer with an ounce of integrity (or “spiritual discernment”) thinking that this guy is the real deal. Seriously. I have a staunch anti-abortion cousin who resorts to the old, “they’re all crooks,” to justify her support. Really? He’s using you and your faith and expects you to keep him in power because… that’s it, “because.” For all his rhetoric and bluster, he’s so in favor of families and the sanctity of life that he’s still separating families and putting babies in cages. How does that square with your estimation of the quality of his Christianity? It just doesn’t pass the sniff test. I’m sorry, yes, we’re all flawed and imperfect but this guy doesn’t even try. Really. Forcefully removing peaceful protesters so that he can pose in front of a church should be proof that he’s never read the book he used as a prop. Hell, Princess Handbags had to give him the upside-down bible for him to hold up, like it’s a freaking trophy… in the middle of a pandemic! No.

Jesus on the Border

Had I not left the church before the ascendency of this clown who would be king (in the name of Christianity) with the full throated support of the American Church, that would have been it. The idea that God is in control and that He wants the best for you, like he cares for the birds & the fields of grain, and then this atrocity of an administration happened… that would have caused me to doubt that any one or anything is in control. All along, it was just one big sad farce. Oh, by the way, that photo of Clinton holding up a Bible, it’s not the same. President Clinton was returning from a church service, and waved at the crowd with his bible in his hand. Just an image of an imperfect man practicing his faith, not a staged photo-op requiring the forceful removal of peaceful American citizens. If you can not see the difference you mustn’t be reading the same bible that I studied.

bill-clinton-bible_USAtoday-4e8e0e95-ba9b-438a-96bc-8b0f103f3ab6-GettyImages-1189425938

This is why the founding fathers included the “non-establishment” clause in the constitution, they had seen the endless European wars fought in the name of competing Christian sects and desired for that not to be part of the American experience. Truthfully, you cannot remove religion or cultural beliefs from the human experience, but you can restrict their role in the governing and decision making process of a diverse people. Personally, I don’t care what you might believe in, as long as you’re willing to help make our community and country a better place through your own hard work and our common values. Just don’t expect me to follow your faith as part of your willingness to work with me, it doesn’t work that way.

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Now that I think about it, it was probably naive of me to think that my faith or the faith of the president had or has any relevance to the difficult job that a president has to do in the service of our country. When done properly, the president’s faith can be a sign of our common struggle and association, that we all have to deal with difficult and unanswered challenges. But that would require the president be willing to reveal some of his or her humanity and Lord Dampnuts has never allowed anything remotely negative to be said or hinted at in his presence. He’s just not self-aware enough to do that. So, it turns out that this has nothing to do with religion in the public square and everything to do with flawed humanity and how willing our leaders are willing to be their true-selves in public. That’s the real question. And it would seem that Lord Dampnuts is incapable of really being “one of us.”

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After recording this podcast I found a video by the Washington Post, that reported on the timeline of events of June 1st, beginning with the action against protesters in the Lafayette Park area just before and during the president’s speech in the Rose Garden, leading up to his walk to and photo op in front of St. John’s Church. Please watch the full video, which I will link to and tell me that there is anything Christ-like or Christian in the behavior or attitude of this man. I don’t see it and I challenge you to show me where this behavior is promoted in the Bible. Please enlighten me. Where does it say that God’s man will have his troops fire weapons at peaceful protesters so that said leader can hold up a holy book, like it’s some kind of talisman, in front of a place of worship? Where is that part of the walk that Christ calls all men and women to follow?

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Enjoy.

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 41: Jesus & The Folly of Using the Bible As Prop JBB's Final Thoughts Episode 41: Jesus & The Folly of Using the Bible As Prop

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joebustillos · 5 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 31: Bad UI & How It's Hurting Tech Usage in the Classroom

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 31: Bad UI & How It’s Hurting Tech Usage in the Classroom

Two examples of bad user-interface design that can easily derail tech usage in the classroom. You thinks it’s “meh,” now multiply the pain by 25 unhappy and vocal students on an hourly basis and let’s see how “meh” you feel by the end of the day.

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#bad computer UI #bad technology UI #bad UI #bad user-interface #Canvas LMS #edtech #featured #google docs #jbbsfinalthoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts-podcast #jbbsfinalthoughts.com #learning management systems #lms #teaching #Tech in the classroom #too complicated to be useful #too many steps

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joebustillos · 5 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 30: Better Online/Better Face-to-Face - Successful Online Dating Stories with Jocelyn & David

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 30: Better Online/Better Face-to-Face – Successful Online Dating Stories with Jocelyn & David

This interview was originally recorded Spring 2016. Orlando friends, Jocelyn and David talk about online dating and how it worked out for them. This interview is much longer than my normal five-minute…

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#atheist community #dating tips #e-harmony #featured #friends #jbbsfinalthoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts-podcast #jbbsfinalthoughts.com #love #match.com #online dating #plenty of fish #relationships

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joebustillos · 5 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness

New Year and remembering a previous way that I handled out of control love.

MP3 Version: https://joebustillos.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/jbbsfinalthoughts_episode-29_an-unlikely-refuge.mp3

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music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

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jbbsfinalthoughts29_ds9-dvd-set

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness

There was a time, not very long ago, when I loved someone with every fiber of my being who wasn’t in the position to really return the favor. There was just enough encouragement for me to entertain that our stolen afternoons making out in our cars would some day become an actual “real” relationship. Thus, I insanely kept at it for more than a few seasons, trying to make this love real, even as it became clear that once she was free of her then-relationship that she was not going to be at all interested in making a commitment to being with me. I call this time my period of insanity. I am ever thankful for the two friends whom I routinely unloaded my pent-up frustrations. One of them no longer talks to me. Ugh. The other I seem to have brief flings with about every 10-years. Odd. But one unforeseen refuge during all of this was my binge watching of the Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine. What? Yeah, not anyone’s first choice.

I already loved the series, given its grittier feel, with none of the main characters really getting along in the first couple of seasons. Given that the series couldn’t really resort to the “alien of the week” scenarios of other Star Trek series, more emphasis fell on the interactions of the main characters and the evolving relationships that developed. Then in the last couple of seasons an unrequited love scenario was explored, just as I was helplessly pining for my own love, and I found myself crying my eyes out as the characters confessed their love and then sacrificed it for higher purposes. I really couldn’t stand it, that they got a taste of what I longed for, and then let it go because they needed to attend to higher callings. Damn it. That was unexpected and difficult to watch. Granted, this was at a time when all it took was a beautiful California sunset to reduce me to tears as I drove home… alone.

Eventually I ran out of episodes, the characters moved on and I hung in there a few more years hoping that our elicit kisses would become something more… Yeah, I was that insane. The reason I’m bringing all of this up is that I was reminded of all of this when I finished binge watching the series again a few weeks ago. I don’t know what insanity the series creators were going through but it really spoke to my unsatisfied passions. Actually, this recent rewatching brought me back to those extended moments of insanity and unrealized desire. Usually I watch sci-fi to escape the pressures of my real life (as an educator), but this was a case where this fictional world tapped into the part of my real life that was completely killing me and I never got what I so desperately longed for. I knew that it wasn’t going to end well for me, but just like the characters in the series, I was going to be okay in this unexpected new reality. I didn’t end up with the girl, but I was going to be okay and there was no saying that the future wouldn’t be even more amazing than what had just happened. Somehow I needed to integrate these experiences into who I was, learn whatever I could from the experience(s) and still work toward my better self. I might not be part wormhole alien running an orbital city in a far distant region of space, but I have to respect the gifts I’ve been given, honor the precious connections I’ve had with my fellow travelers, and share my narrative with other fellow travelers to help them on their own journeys. I was an insane babbling idiot who now babbles a bit less these days. Thank you Deep Space Nine for speaking to my babbling heart and helping me through my period of insanity.

Thank you for spending this time with me at JBB’s Final Thoughts. If you want to continue to participate in my outer monologue you can subscribe to my blog at http://jbbsfinalthoughts.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the FOLLOW button where it says “Follow Blog via Email” and enter your email address. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel, just search for JBB’s Final Thoughts (and make sure it doesn’t auto-correct to “jobs final thoughts”… damn auto-correct!). Catch you later, enjoy.

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness New Year and remembering a previous way that I handled out of control love.

#bad love #failed love #featured #jbbsfinalthoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts-podcast #jbbsfinalthoughts.com #learning from DS9 #learning from Sci Fi #love #madness #refuge #relationships #sci-fi #Star Trek Deep Space 9 #Star Trek DS9 #startrek

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joebustillos · 5 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

Four paragraphs, the passing of a family member and this fellow educator’s final lesson: perspective.

MP3 Version: https://joebustillos.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/jbbsfinalthoughts_episode-28_mr-quinbys-final-lesson_perspective.mp3

Enjoy and please subscribe to my YouTube channel or subscribe to all of my blog posts (scroll to the bottom of this page, click the red FOLLOW button in the “Follow blog via email” box).

Please Subscribe:

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Past JBB’s Final Thoughts Podcast Episodes

Resources:

music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

music: Angelique Kidjo clip by Paul Quinby, May 5, 2018

Images used in podcast:

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

1992-07-20 Quinby Camping – 25

2017-12-24_04_Xmas at Mom’s

2018-07-08_Summer-CA-Trip_Super-Mex-with-Mich-n-Paul

2018-05-13_01_Mother’s Day at Matt & Marty’s

1992-09-10 Laurel’s Naming Ceremony Day – 11

1992-09-10 Laurel’s Naming Ceremony Day – 10

2018-05-05 Paul Quinby at Angelique Kidjo concert at the theater at the Ace Hotel. Celebrate the good times

Show Script:

JBB’s Final Thoughts, episode28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

Joe Bustillos here.

A week ago, following a very long battle with a respiratory illness my brother-in-law, Paul Quinby, passed away. He had been on a transplant list at UCLA but his illness lessened the chances of a good outcome and he was dropped from the program. He ended up in the ICU just before Thanksgiving. Over the following couple weeks he was visited by family and friends and was able to witness the wedding of his youngest daughter. I didn’t realize how little time he had left. He was moved to a comfort care facility and passed that night, December 8th at 9pm.

On December 4th he made a most amazing Facebook post titled, “Paul Quinby’s Circling the Drain Farewell Tour,” briefly explaining the circumstances and then saying his goodbyes. Quote:

“I have not always been easy to understand or get along with. I have been often brusque and self-centered. If I have hurt you, I am truly sorry. For those with whom I have not gotten along, I hold no grudge or judgement. That would be a waste of time and energy, when time is short.”

Paul’s classroom was one of the places I did my pre-teacher observations when I began my teaching career (where he noted my need to balance my enthusiasm with classroom control!). So the following passage hits very close to home. Quote:

“If you had a seat as a student in my class, thank you. I hope you sometimes felt the thrill of understanding new things and exploring the world while you were part of our class’s learning family, and that you took that sense of wonder with you. And you should know that you have been my teachers, too, when I remembered to listen.”

When I first heard of Paul’s passing I commented that it was going to take me some time to process this, and apologies to anyone offended by this discussion, but this is one of the ways I think things though, online. I have to laugh, in that I was a real annoyance at times with my constant camera at family gatherings and online posting. That’s one area where I butted heads with Paul, so apologies… truthfully, I’m not sure why I’m always doing the photography thing, etc.

One of the things that I recognized in Paul’s final post is the resolve one may have when one can see the end. While my illness from 2012 to 2014 never reached anything close to a final stage, things were going downhill so quickly that I had to consider what was next as I lost the ability to walk. I don’t doubt that Paul went through all of the stages of anger and sadness and depression over and over again. When I faced my possible curtain call I cried and expressed my appreciation to my then-girlfriend, that if this was where my road was going to end, then it was a pretty good place to go. I was lucky. I got the treatment I needed. But I resolved to learn whatever it was that I could learn from this experience.

One thing that really amazed me about Paul’s post was that he encapsulated his farewell in four short paragraphs. That, my friends is having laser focus on the point of all of this. In the end, what are the important things, and more importantly how do we express them in our daily lives? We can say (and post) all kinds of things, but how do we actually conduct our lives both when we are alone and when we are working with our neighbors? How do we deal with the needs of the moment and experience any sense of the long view.

Growing up religious, one would think that it’s all about the long view, all about the final reward. Alas, my memories as a young Catholic and later Evangelical was mostly feeling all twisted up inside because my flawed humanity crushed me on a daily basis. I may have been forgiven and honestly wanted to do “better,” but there wasn’t a moment when I didn’t seem to be in some failure mode. That didn’t work. It was difficult to appreciate anything when I rarely had the sense of not being a failure. And lest it sound like I’ve gotten over all of that, I was just thinking how I’ve been so overwhelmed these past months by my own expectations for what should be happening in my classroom to the point of illness and exhaustion and how silly that would have seemed to Paul from his perspective. When you care about the day-to-day it can be too easy to see everything as day-to-day and begin to miss the point of it all. I’ve certainly had that experience this school year.

Paul’s passing reminds me of all the things we say are important and generally fail to have enough time for… But then who decides what “enough time” really is? It is what is what it is, and if you are lucky enough to have experienced long hugs from a loved one, the smile of another human briefly connecting with you, the tears of exhaustion and perseverance, and good conversation and a great beer with friends and strangers, what else is there?

Paul said, “So I think it’s time to reflect on the blessing of having spent an incredibly warm, fulfilling and exciting life, with much loved family and friends. You have enriched my life, and I am grateful to you all.”

Paul, I will miss the heated verbal battles, the honest confrontations, the shared meals, beers, and tequila shots and the sense of human connection.

And to you, my dear family, friends and passing online strangers, however you’ve had this in your life, for however much time you’ve had… that’s the point… that’s the perspective that we often lose in the day-to-day grind.

Happy holidays, tell those around you how much you love them. It’s important.

Thank you for spending this time with me at JBB’s Final Thoughts. If you want to continue to participate in my outer monologue you can subscribe to my blog at http://joebustillos.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the FOLLOW button where it says “Follow Blog via Email” and enter your email address. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel, just search for JBB’s Final Thoughts (and make sure it doesn’t auto-correct to “jobs final thoughts”… damn auto-correct!). Catch you later, enjoy.

JBB's Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby's Final Lesson: Perspective JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby's Final Lesson: Perspective Four paragraphs, the passing of a family member and this fellow educator’s final lesson: perspective.

#family #featured #final lessons #jbbsfinalthoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts-podcast #jbbsfinalthoughts.com #joe bustillos video podcast #life #life and death #life issues #love #meaning #meaning of life #paul quinby #teaching #the meaning of life #what matters most

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joebustillos · 6 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 31: Bad UI & How It's Hurting Tech Usage in the Classroom

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 31: Bad UI & How It’s Hurting Tech Usage in the Classroom

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#bad UI #bad user-interface #Canvas LMS #edtech #featured #google docs #Jbb’s final thoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts-podcast #learning management systems #lms #teaching #tech in the classroom #too many steps

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joebustillos · 6 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 30: Better Online/Better Face-to-Face - Successful Online Dating Stories with Jocelyn & David

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 30: Better Online/Better Face-to-Face – Successful Online Dating Stories with Jocelyn & David

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#atheist community #dating tips #featured #friends #Jbb’s final thoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts-podcast #love #online dating #relationships

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joebustillos · 6 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness

New Year and remembering a previous way that I handled out of control love.

MP3 Version: https://jbbsfinalthoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/jbbsfinalthoughts_episode-29_an-unlikely-refuge.mp3

Enjoy and please subscribe to my YouTube channel or subscribe to all of my blog posts (scroll to the bottom of this page, click the red FOLLOW button in the “Follow blog via email” box).

Please Subscribe:

YouTube Channel

Twitter Account

Apple Podcasts/iTunes

RSS Reader

Past JBB’s Final Thoughts Podcast Episodes

Resources:

music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

Images used in podcast:

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness

#bad love #failed love #featured #Jbb’s final thoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts #jbbsfinalthoughts-podcast #learning from DS9 #learning from Sci Fi #love #madness #refuge #relationships #sci-fi #Star Trek Deep Space 9 #Star Trek DS9 #startrek

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joebustillos · 7 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

Four paragraphs, the passing of a family member and this fellow educator’s final lesson: perspective.

Enjoy and please subscribe to my YouTube channel or subscribe to all of my blog posts (scroll to the bottom of this page, click the red FOLLOW button in the “Follow blog via email” box).

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music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

music: Angelique Kidjo clip by Paul Quinby, May 5, 2018

Images used in podcast:

Paul and Tortoise

1992-07-20 Quinby Camping – 25

2017-12-24_04_Xmas at Mom’s

2018-07-08_Summer-CA-Trip_Super-Mex-with-Mich-n-Paul

2018-05-13_01_Mother’s Day at Matt & Marty’s

1992-09-10 Laurel’s Naming Ceremony Day – 11

2018-05-05 Paul Quinby at Angelique Kidjo concert at the theater at the Ace Hotel. Celebrate the good times

1992-09-10 Laurel’s Naming Ceremony Day – 10

Show Script:

JBB’s Final Thoughts, episode28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

Joe Bustillos here.

On December 4th he made a most amazing Facebook post titled, “Paul Quinby’s Circling the Drain Farewell Tour,” briefly explaining the circumstances and then saying his goodbyes. Quote:

Paul, I will miss the heated verbal battles, the honest confrontations, the shared meals, beers, and tequila shots and the sense of human connection.

Happy holidays, tell those around you how much you love them. It’s important.

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 028: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby's Final Lesson: Perspective Four paragraphs, the passing of a family member and this fellow educator’s final lesson: perspective.

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joebustillos · 5 years ago

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JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 40: Well, That Didn’t Go As Planned

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2019-2020 School Year recap/4 Years at Fitzgerald Recap/COVID19 Pandemic recap

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Episode Notes/Script/Post:

Joe Bustillos here.

stop-motion-animation-home-edition_time-lapse

I began writing this post a couple weeks ago, just after I posted my last unit of the school year, UNIT15: Stop-Motion Animation (Home Edition). I had introduced Stop-Motion Animation as an optional activity before we began “remote learning,” and immediately I began exploring how to translate the activity into a “home edition” activity.

2001-07-29_VirtCamp-lego-logo-part2-1

I’ve been doing online learning since I got my masters degree from Pepperdine online in 2002. It was a bit of a challenge to work online in 2001-2002. Pepperdine gave us a list or standard of technology that we needed to have to participate in the program. It wasn’t cheap and it took a concentrated effort to get it all up and running. In part, the complication came from the university having to support every kind of Windows PC and Macintosh computer that came through the door the first time we got together for a week-long face-to-face boot camp at the beginning of the school year, to test everything out before we went back to our homes across the country to finish the rest of the program online.

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When I went to work at Full Sail University in 2008, teaching in one of their fully online programs, they addressed the technology problem by making a deal with Apple and setting up each and every student with a new MacBook Pro and needed software as part of their tuition. I’m sure that was even more expensive but a lot less heartburn working with one vendor versus whatever came in the door. One thing both methods had in common was months and months of planning, training, and testing of equipment and software before anything was ready to begin. Also, both programs from the beginning were designed to conduct education online that was expected to be of the same quality and scholarship as traditional on-campus programs. And, it should also be noted that we were working with adults who chose to get their degree in an accelerated online program.

2019-09-13 Imagine Learning

Things were much different when CCSD schools shut down in mid-March. On campus my school was proudly one-to-one Chromebooks and had just upgraded all of the computers in the three computer labs (thanks state testing!). But right up to the day we left campus it was still a bother to get my upper grade students to login to Google classroom and successfully do the activity without my personal intervention. And that was when we were in the STEAM Lab together, with 11 computers, 30 iPads and a good internet connection. Once school closures began

2019-10-10 STEAM Lab panorama

we quickly learned that the majority of our families did not have adequate technology at home to get the job done. Nonetheless, my fellow educators began calling homes, checking in on their students. I put together the spreadsheet where they could record which contact information was current and working and we were all directed to post a record of every contact we made, the expectation being that we’d reach every student every week if not more frequently. Remember my previous frustration getting upper grade students to use Google Classroom when we were all together, yeah, so I focused on getting student login accounts up and running and sharing that information with their home room teachers. The music teacher had been using SeeSaw in the classroom and it seemed like a good fit for the primary students, so most primary teachers worked together to get their students communicating on SeeSaw and the rest of us used Google Classroom.

CCSD-school-bus-Wifi notice

Then the local Internet Service Provider, Cox, stepped in offering WiFi for free for three months and then $10 a month after that. The district setup local Wifi hubs using school buses that would provide an hour’s worth of Internet connection every day. Toward the middle of April the district began distributing Chromebooks to families to meet the technology need at home. It was amazing seeing teachers work together, gather working contact information and keep the ball rolling. That said, a lot of kids/families have slipped through the cracks. I had one fourth grader email me when I began writing this post, telling me to stop sending her or her mother “stuff about stupid seesaw.” Out of over 350 students, 96 have checked in and participated. Whatever it was that I was hoping to do with the last nine weeks of the school year, was reduced to mostly check-ins and this re-purposed Stop-Motion Animation unit. As proud as I am at the efforts I’ve seen from my fellow teachers, this certainly wasn’t how I hoped the school year would end.

hugs & cylons by Mr. Bustillos

Sadly this isn’t anything approaching the quality of face-to-face education. Some think that it’s foolish to entertain the notion that online or remote learning can ever compare to face-to-face learning. But I know from my own experience as an online learner and online teacher over the past 20-years that it can still be effective, useful and life-changing. But you can’t expect that to happen over-night and unplanned.

2014-09-30 Wk1 Class Session

One of the benefits of every student on-campus is that every student has the same access to the teacher, the curriculum and the facility. And having worked with this group of students and teachers for the past four years I can proudly say that they are good people who come in every day and give it a go regardless the challenges at home. I’m sure most conscientious teachers would say the same thing about their students. Alas, what this attempt at remote learning has demonstrated is that things are hardly equal when it comes to students working from home. The students from the richer neighborhoods probably don’t have an issue getting online, having personal technology to use, or even how many siblings and cousins they have to share their bedroom with.

2017-06-08 fitzgerald field-day lauren-n-kory

2017-03-24 zSpace-Heart

2017-09-22 Parents-Community Picnic, Ms. Williams & Ms. Clark

2017-04-25 Outside HP Fitzgerald

I guess what I’m struggling to say is that I’m proud of the work that my fellow teachers did and the students who found a way to check in and that the “educational problems” exposed by this pandemic aren’t really educational. These students learn just as well as any students in any part of the district. These teachers are just as talented and dedicated as any other group of teachers in the district. Delivering and creating curriculum, the business of learning isn’t the problem. The problem is what happens when our students leave campus and go to their homes. The problem is this inequality that we’ve put up with and tried to work around. The problem isn’t educational, it’s sociological. It’s the fact that you can be a screw up all the way through college and turn out okay, depending on the neighborhood you grew up in. Or you have to have a plan about what you are going to be by third grade, by nine-years-old, because any mistake you or your family may make along the way and you won’t get a second chance. We work around that reality, but you really can’t work around it when you can’t contact students because they don’t have the technology at home, and they live in an unequal world.

2016-10-27 Fitzgerald Fall Festival-little monster

It’s a huge problem. And everyone is going to want for things to return to the way they were before, when we could work around the inequity. And while that is better than having 2/3rds of your students never check-in, this can be an opportunity to address that much of what some might think of as educational problems are not educational at all, but our willingness to let many of our fellow citizens and those who have come here for a better life, our willingness to let them get less opportunity than others based on nothing more than their damn zip code. It doesn’t have to be this way.

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2016-2020 Remembering Fitzgerald

Next school year I’m beginning a new chapter at a different school, teaching mostly robotics at the middle school level. But I wanted to end this podcast remembering some of the experiences of the past four years, making friends and learning tons with the folks at HP Fitzgerald with the following video segment. If you are listening to the audio version of this podcast, you’re going to want to watch the video version at my JBB’s Final Thoughts YouTube channel. Again, Adios Fitzgerald and in the words of one of my favorite authors, Douglas Adams, goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

Enjoy.

2019-2020 Mr. Bustillos STEAM Teacher door sign

2020-05-31 joe bustillos Fitzgerald Staff Photo – year unknown

2019-2020_CCF-109 WEEKLY INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM SCHEDULE

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 40: Well, That Didn’t Go As Planned JBB's Final Thoughts Episode 40: Well, That Didn't Go As Planned 2019-2020 School Year recap/4 Years at Fitzgerald Recap/COVID19 Pandemic recap…

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