Ted Williams: The Voice of the Homeless?

The power of the internet and social networking media is amazing and life-changing in many cases. Sometimes this is a bad thing, but there are those occasions where it is a good thing. One would hope that the story of Ted Williams turns out to be one of those good ones.



If you feel the need to learn more about Ted Williams and his story then start here or here.

In a nutshell, and from what I can tell, Ted Williams was a radio announcer in his younger years. He fell on hard times as a result of alcohol and drugs and a few "other things". He ended up homeless and panhandling out in Ohio on the I-71, and from there, the rest is history as they say.

Let's hope that the second chance Ted Williams finds himself with is one that he grasps with both hands. There is surely a powerful message of hope and perseverance in this story that bad things happen but good things can happen too.

If nothing else, you would have to agree, it is an amazing gift that he has. His voice is just so engaging.

Anti-Bullying Campaigns and Homophobia...

Bullying is a serious problem in schools. Bullying happened when I was in high school, but when I think about bullying in 2010 then it becomes pretty obvious that school life for me was a breeze. Simply, in this age of technology bullying has become a 24/7 problem. In my day bullying sort of started when one got to school and ended at the end of the school day.

However, what I have noticed in my practicums to date is that mobile technology is so prevalent amongst our youth that problems like cyber-bullying are increasingly prevalent. It is not uncommon to see children with a happy disposition at the beginning of the day deteriorate throughout the day as a result of 'stuff' being posted about them on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking and media sites.

What used to be one-on-one or small groups-on-one has now morphed into something where "X is doing the deed with Y" is posted to 100s of people in an instant and then forwarded or retweeted into other social networks. It really is scary. And, in a lot of ways I am very glad to no longer be a child myself. But, I am a teacher, and a parent, and these are issues that I will have to deal with throughout my professional and personal life.

This post came about because of an interesting discussion I watched on Anderson Cooper 360 (and I embed it here courtesy of CNN) that was discussing bullying and the incorporation of material to address increasing homophobia in schools as part of an anti-bullying program. It was interesting to hear that children are coming out at ever-younger ages. This is interesting to me because I do not think that as a community we are ready for this. I do not think that we have universal and uniform mechanisms in place to deal with it. I think that in the school situation we are not prepared to address the gaps between policy and practice.

It amazes me that there are still those that want to stick their collective heads in the sand and continue to debate nature vs. nurture couched in terms of some sort of liberal conspiracy to promote a homosexual agenda. If people want to debate whether gay and lesbians are born or created then they should go for it on their own time. On my time I want constructive debate and discussion about how I can create and maintain a safe learning environment where children can get the education that I believe they have a right to receive. I am not going to get this by sticking my head in the sand and pretending that the children who are coming out proud about their sexual preferences are confused adolescent victims of a liberal homosexual conspiracy.

Bullying, and particularly cyber-bullying, is going to be one of the biggest challenges I face as a teacher / educator. I really hope I am up to the challenge.

Joko Anwar, Janji Joni, and Naked in Circle K...

Joko Anwar, movie director of Janji Joni fame, promised that if he ever reached 3000 followers on twitter that he would do the Circle K naked run. A promise is a promise.

However, this sort of promise was, and always is, like a red rag to a bull. In next to no time, Anwar not only had 3000 followers on his twitter account but had sky-rocketed to more than 13,000 followers. I guess getting to see a director naked in Circle K gets some people in. I am wondering though if he is inclined to make another promise. For example, if he reaches 30,000 followers he will get naked at Monas, or if he reaches 50,000 followers he will walk naked round Grand Indonesia plaza or something, and at a more popular time like during the lunch rush hour?

For those of you who don't tweet and who think twittering and tweeting are things that birds (with feathers) do, then you can check out the photo above. The photo has an appropriately placed large red dot. I have heard that the dot is in fact larger than it really needed to be. Unfortunately, if you do not twitter or tweet then this news is coming late to you.

Some people will do anything to get a little publicity or to become popular. I am sure this has to violate a number of laws and regulations. I wonder if the Indonesian authorities are going to do anything about this public display of human flesh.

Nevertheless, it might be good news for Circle K as this might reinvigorate a trend and be a boon for sales as people hang around waiting for the next celebrity to offer to do the Circle K naked run when they hit a pre-agreed number of followers on twitter. I wonder, should I promise to get naked somewhere if I reach a 1000 followers on this blog? I really don't think that promising to get naked in my case would help, as I cannot think of one person that might be even slightly intrigued at seeing me naked.

This is probably also a good advertisement for social networking media like twitter as it highlights the immediacy with which information, and in this case, photos, can change hands.