Everyone Loves Big Bird

*Please note, the views are my own, and not affiliated with or associated with PBS or NPR or The Lakeshore

“We are very disappointed that PBS became a political target in the Presidential debate last night,” said PBS in a statement regarding Mitt Romney’s promise to cut the federal funding of PBS. PBS, in case you’ve been living under a large rock for the last 42 years, is the Public Broadcasting Service, which is America’s non-profit public broadcasting television network. If you lived under a rock for only the last few years, and perhaps, the last few days, Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, has said that he’ll cut the federal support to public broadcasting, “I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. Actually, I like you too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for us.”

Romney, however, doesn’t realize the positive effects of public broadcasting and how wide ranging they are. Kids are exposed to more educational programming, because public broadcasting is required to air at least three hours of educational TV. Educational TV can “help young children with number and letter recognition, in addition to developing oral vocabulary,” according to Adrian Grahams of eHow.com. That whole mandatory requirement of at least three hours of education television, put forth by the Children’s Television Act of 1990, really actually matters. Why? Reports indicate that American children watch at least three hours of television daily (Grahams, Ingegerd Rydin). Kids watch more TV “as a consequence of more national channels as well as the deregulation of the television market, which have led to an increased output of globally distributed commercial children's programs, such as animated cartoons and action adventure series,” according to Rydin.

 

Public broadcasting in Europe is on the same par as their commercial television (Rydin). Rydin also writes that public broadcasting is a central pillar of European broadcasting. Is Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, or The Disney Channel a central pillar of American broadcasting? Well, actually, yes. However, does Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, or The Disney Channel provide the same level of educational programming that public broadcasting does? I’ll give you a hint. It’s “No.” In America, those previously listed stations are commercial broadcast stations – out to make money and provide content to fill the airwaves, not the minds of the viewers. Only “34% [of people] agree [that] cable TV is trusted and safe for children” – SPOILER ALERT: More people think PBS is better than cable – (PBS). When companies only have to report to demands of the stock holders, and not to the general well-being of their viewers, well, their beings in front of the TV aren’t much of beings. But, on a positive note, PBS does have a larger prime-time audience than HBO and A&E (PBS). So they “have that going for [them], which is nice” – Bill Murray.

 

It wasn’t just America’s Children’s Television Act of 1990 that had an effect on educational programming for children. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which became binding in 1989, has pushed for more educational TV in the school systems of America and Europe (Rydin). Public broadcasting has been called “America’s biggest classroom” and airs over 500 hours of arts and cultural programming (Cervantes, PBS ). PBS states that “88% [of people] agree that PBS is a trusted and safe place for children to watch TV and visit online.”

Romney was lucky enough to grow up in an affluent area, with a wealthy family. That’s something a lot of children didn’t, or still don’t, have the option of having. They didn’t have access to the schools that Mitt had. They couldn’t always go outside and play, because their neighborhoods weren’t safe, like Mitt’s. But, those kids were given a chance when it came to early education, with the creation of “Sesame Street.” It was thought that “Sesame Street” could help kids out, who lived in poor areas (Rydin). Coming through on any working TV in pretty much any country (and not quite the original version of “Sesame Street”), including besides the United States, are Brazil, Germany, Israel, Spain, and Sweden, children had access to education and early socialization (Rydin). Here’s some numbers for Mitt, so he can learn, but so can you! See how fun this is? 91% of American televisions tune into their local PBS stations (there’s roughly 360 stations), according to PBS. I’ve jumped to a pretty safe conclusion that the 9% of televisions that don’t tune into PBS stations are all of Mitt Romney’s TV’s. Of kids between the ages of 2-8, 81% of them are viewers of PBS.

PBS’ budget is roughly 1/100^th of 1% of the Federal budget, according to PBS. Want the actual dollar amount? Yes, yes you do. $444.1M, which is about 0.012% of the federal budget (Cervantes). According to Tom (great first name) Karlo of KPBS, “170 million Americans turn to a network of 368 public television stations, 934 public radio stations and hundreds of public media online services for non-partisan news, cultural programming and educational programs.” That’s a really good turn around for 1/100^th of 1% of the budget. Trying to squeeze Big Bird and his buddies “to help balance the Federal budget is like deleting text files to make room on your 500 Gig hard drive,” according to Neil deGrasse Tyson. PBS reported that Hart Research and American Viewpoint, two bipartisan research firms, found that 2/3rds of American voters in 2011 disagreed with cutting funding for public broadcasting. Mitt, that’s roughly 207,727,944 Americans! Did you know that, according to Public Policy Polling’s poll results, more voters trust PBS than any other TV news source?! I didn’t, and Mitt sure didn’t, because, if he did know, he wouldn’t have alienated so many potential voters. So, PBS is more trusted than FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, HLN, and CNBC. Congrats, PBS, much love and mad props.

Even Congress thinks it’s a bad idea to pull funding from PBS, and they can’t agree on anything, (PBS)! Except how to roadblock each other. Cervantes says that cuts could cause some public broadcasting stations to go dark. Living in Indiana, and working for a PBS station, I saw first-hand, stations across the state go dark, when according to Cervantes, “PBS received just $22.3 million of CPB’s total $429 million appropriation” during the 2011 fiscal year. Congress says that pulling the funding from PBS would cripple the system and bring public broadcasting to an end (PBS). That would be like not giving the American auto manufactures a bailout. Good thing no one listened to Romney on that one. But, let’s say the funding gets pulled, and PBS goes the way of the Dodo bird. Whose company would they join? I’m so glad you asked, because I was going to tell you anyway. GS Industries, KB Toys, Dade International, DDi Corporation, Sensata Technologies, Armco Steel, American Pad and Paper (AMPAD), Stage Stores, and several other companies all closed their doors because of Bain Capital (which is not the bad guy from Batman). But, my hands got tired of typing, so I ended the list there.

The cost firing Big Bird won’t save the budget – it won’t even be a drop in the bucket. Did Mitt grow up watching PBS? If he did, he would know what kind of positive effect Big Bird and Bert and Ernie and Cookie Monster and the Count and all the other puppets on Sesame Street have on kids, and he’d realize how much educational programming really does help children and adults. If Mitt watched PBS growing up, he’d be a little nicer.

http://www.ehow.com/info_7893954_effects-public-television-children.html

http://www.faqs.org/childhood/So-Th/Television.html

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/feb/28/public-media-deserves-federal-support/

https://twitter.com/neiltyson/statuses/253680452240547840

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBS

http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2012/statement-presidential-debate/

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/12/515555/the-bain-job-losses-mitt-romney-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about/?mobile=nc

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cheri-bustos/outsourced-jobs_b_1699312.html
http://nothingright.com/companies-that-bain-capital-has-outsourced-or-destroyed/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82035.html
http://valuepbs.org/

Living in the Past: Class Basketball in the Hoosier State

In the late 90’s, 1997 that is, the state of Indiana sent a shockwave through high school basketball. The Crossroads state was at a crossroads, and decided to take the right fork in the road. Single-class basketball was over, and the state ushered in a new class of basketball, venturing away from single-class basketball, where it’s everyone for themselves.

As we know it today, in the 21st century, there are now four “State Champions;” 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A. Give or take, there’s roughly 100 schools in each class system. To be a state champion, a school has to be the best out of 100. Indiana has been known for its basketball, rivaled only by the streets of New York City in fervor and bragging rights. Ball control, defense, crisp clean shooting. Those are the keys to basketball in the Hoosier state. James Naismith, the inventor of the sport, even said in 1925, that Indiana was the center of the sport. Going way back (to 1954, to be exact), the state had the ultimate David vs. Goliath, in Milan vs. Muncie Central. If you’re familiar with anything regarding basketball in the Hoosier state, then you already know the outcome. But, for those of you unfamiliar with it, Milan came away with a 32-30 victory over the state juggernaut, Muncie Central Bearcats. It was a great moment for single class basketball. The little guy, Milan, with its 161 students enrolled, came away with a Hollywood fairytale. Later to be documented by Gene Hackman in “Hoosiers.”

Awesome.

Yay...

Congrats! It was 1954.

It was a moment that many high school basketball fans still hearken to. Days long gone, when flat-tops and varsity sweaters ruled the local ice cream shops and sock hops. Days. Long. Gone. Days when high school sizes weren’t clipping the 3,000 student mark. When a star player in a 200 student high school, could carry you to a Sectional or Regional victory. When teams went 0-Cubs in the Sectionals, never making it out of the first round. Following that 1954 victory, no team in the single-class system with an enrollment under 500, won a state championship – which is the upper class 2A and higher.

With consolidation, rural schools lost their enrollment to larger city schools. With a bigger school, there’s more talent to draw from. Carmel and Warren Central can pick their top 10 basketball players out of thousands of students, whereas Whiting has roughly 100 boys to pick from on any given year – and that’s only if they all go out for the team. It’s ridiculous, right, to use a rare 1954 state championship team as the precedent to judge how 21st century basketball should be played across the state?

Just a few years ago, Northwest Indiana sent Bowman (1A), Wheeler (2A), and Gary Wallace (4A) to the state championships – the 100th anniversary of “Hoosier Hysteria.” The next season, Bishop Noll went, then the following season, Bowman went back again – this time in 2A. Out of those 5 teams how many would have made it to the single-class state championship? 1? Wallace or Bowman (1A)? Maybe… But, to have the opportunity to sent 3 schools in 1 season to the state championships was unheard of 20 years ago! That would have never happened if the supporters of single class basketball, still living in the past, would have their way. They, the ones rekindling their romance of yester-year, not the ones watching their children play in the games, are the first to tell you that the system is watered down, that it’s cheap and not like it was in their day.

In their day, winning a sectional or regional was as big of a deal as winning anything else. Last time I checked, sectionals and regionals weren’t state championships. And for those of you who say that the current system isn’t a “real” state championship, either, then go into each room of every state champion of the last decade plus, and take away their medals and trophies and tell them that they’re not a real state champion. Look into their eyes and say that them playing their hearts out, laying it all on the floor wasn’t good enough, because you think that the route they took to the championship wasn’t good enough.

Currently, the state government is looking into whether Indiana principles should reclassify basketball. Going back to a single-class. The principles are the ones who decide whether to go back to single-class basketball, or keep the current format – not me, not you, not the writers of your local papers, not the players on the court, and certainly not those living in the past.

Back in the 90’s, state championship basketball attendance was slowly dwindling down – albeit, it’s tough to stay at the 40,000 mark of the 1990 state championship game – the highest attendance for a state championship game in Indiana history. Attendance levels have dropped dramatically though, since the inception of the current class system. However, Indiana still has one of the highest state tournament attendances in the nation.

In single-class basketball, it’s every man for themselves; which would pit Valparaiso, one of the largest 4A schools in Northwest Indiana, up against LaCrosse, a 1A school. LaCrosse hasn’t had a winning season since ’03-’04. Valpo had one losing season in the last 16. The old-timers, who support single-class basketball because it’s what they grew-up with, would say there’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with the bloodbath of a potential 40-50 point blowout every single year. Nothing wrong with clinging to the hope that one day there might be another David vs. Goliath. Nothing wrong with telling three other teams every year, that they’re not state champions.

Short Story Sunday

Short Story Sunday is my new blog. It'll be where I post my short stories every Sunday.

Weekend Bowl Predictions

I'm going to attempt to do Bowl Game Predictions for the upcoming week, and since this is the first week I've started, this weekend will be the first games I predict....(wait for it......wait for it....)

Fresno State Bulldogs (8-4) vs. Wyoming Cowboys (6-6) – New Mexico Bowl

-Wyoming blown out by Texas, beat down by Utah and BYU's game was a shellacking. Do we need to mention their game against TCU?

-Fresno lost to Boise State and Natty early on, along w/ an OT loss at WIS. Not horrid.

-This game is pointless. Really really pointless – what's the name of the bowl? New Mexico Bowl...why isn't New Mexico playing in it?

UCF Knights (8-4) vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-4) – St. Petersburg Bowl

-How many headlines have 'Knights vs. Knights?' This is why I'm not in newspaper headline writing positions.

-Rutgers solid losses against Pitt and West Virgina. Good wins against Conn. And S. FLA, so the real question is will they join the Big Ten?

-UCF beat Houston, but I don't care because they're in Florida. It's single digit temps here. I'm bitter.

-UCF doesn't have to travel very far. What, playing in St. Petersburg and all.

Southern Miss Golden Eagles (7-5) vs. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (9-3) New Orleans Bowl

-Dwayne Wade and John Madden will not be involved with this bowl.....tragic.

-MTBR (because I'm not spelling that out) dominated the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt. They play football in the Sun Belt?

Tune in next week, or at the very least, by Tuesday, when some ranked teams play. On a Tuesday. They didn't suck all season long and they're forced to play on a Tuesday.

This Should Be Epic

The title says it all.

Where to start, where to start, where to start.....how 'bout here?

It's painfully obvious that I don't have a fucking clue.

Now that that's stated, I can go on. It's amazing how much freedom that statement gives me. Just accepting the fact that I don't know it all, it allows me to move one. If you know me, you know that to a certain degree I have to know everything, or I'll at least give it a shot. Maybe it's not me, maybe it's a guy thing. Who knows?

It's past midnight on a school night, I should be asleep. But, I'm here, and so are you.

I was talking with a good friend (OK, maybe great friend) of mine, as I do often, about my next step. Which is never what I think it to be. 25-years-old. I've got the world ahead of me with a quarter of a century behind me. No strong footing to step on, to allow myself to climb higher up. Just sand. Quick sand, maybe.

Lately, I've fallen into the rut of waking up, cooking breakfast, setting the kids off to school, kissing the wife, and off to work I go.

Wait.....

I must've seen that on TV. But, I've fallen into the rut, anyway. Just without the kids or the wife. This whole concept of growing older, but not up, appeals to me. The problem is, I don't know if that's possible.

There seems to be a piece of the puzzle missing. One that I can't locate (hence the fact that it's missing). The problem is, I don't know what to look for. For as long as I can remember, I had this set plan of how my life was going to work out. Turns out, the only thing I had set planned was my career. Now, I wonder if that was just wishful thinking. Maybe I just assumed that once you hit a certain age and had a job, the rest would fall in line. No one said this would be easy. Bastards.

I was naive, I'm sure, in my presumptuous notion that a job = being grown up. That I had it all planned, and that was going to work.

Problem is, I don't like the plan that I had set forth for myself in 7th grade. Yeah, that's right, I'm doing what I've wanted to do since I was in 7th grade ('96-97). Great, right? Well, not so much anymore. I envy people that care so much, that are so passionate about what they want to do (solve world hunger, cure AIDS, etc.), yet, when I do what I do, I don't feel any good from it. Sure, it pays the bills (and I'm grateful for that) and I'm good at it (but I've got a lot to learn in this industry), but I don't know what kind of affect it has on the rest of the world.

We've all got a gift - whether we use it is up to us. I've got one. And sure it's nice and all, and I've shared it with the world once or twice (not my gum, but that is a gift that keeps on giving), there isn't much that can be made out of it. It's something I enjoy as a hobby, but in no way would I try to use it to support me (I'm not that good at it).

I talked with a couple of interns today, and told them "If you can find something that you can enjoy the dirty work, then go with it. Because, it'll only get better." Problem is, I can dish out advice like a barkeep and you're my only patron. My own medicine is harder to swallow. I'm not the type that thinks I deserve better (because I don't, and there's plenty of people out there who do, who deserve at the very least a fighting chance - I've got my cards, I'm playing my hand).

My puzzle doesn't seem to have a picture with it. So, not only am I missing a piece, but, I don't know where it's going to fit when I find it - into this picture that's only partially finished.

Drive

There's something to be said about driving. The Beatles sang about it. So did the Beach Boys. Even Chuck Berry got in on it. Sammy Hagar let us know that he "can't drive 55" - because really, who can? There's even a band called Cars.

Getting behind the wheel - there's power. You become the master of a two-ton wrecking machine. Gas. Brake. Clutch. Windows rolled down - the top if you're lucky. Gripping the steering wheel, white knuckled with a cold sweat. Like your first fight, you look around, trying to anticipate what others around you are doing, but ultimately it doesn't matter. You're in control. For once, you are your own boss. Going as fast as you need to to get where you're going, if anywhere in particular.

Weaving in and out of traffic like Barry Sanders. Cutting left. Then jamming on the gas pedal to avoid getting rear ended. You're flying now. Look ahead, the left lane is clear. You glance in your mirror like you do when you're checking yourself out in a reflective window walking down the street. Not enough to be considered vein. Not enough to worry about anyone that might be behind you as you start gliding down the highway.

The music blares. Not any of that top-40 crap. The oldies can't handle the speed. Jazz doesn't provide enough of a rhythm. Rock. Rock will direct your speed - dictate to the world who's highway this is. It's yours. The drum beat. Your foot listens to and adopts the pace of the skin player - like you were in the rehearsals when the song was cut. Your thumb now taps along on the steering wheel - picking up the beat.

You can't understand the words. You've tuned out the singer - the song is all too familiar to you, anyway. Your eyes are darting. The side view mirrors. All you see are the reflection from the lights behind you as each person you pass becomes another statistic.

The road bends, you bend. The tires hug the corner like the women saying goodbye to their G.I. Joes for the last time. There's no tears here, just rubber. Concrete. Inches from smearing the car against the sidewall. It doesn't matter, you don't think twice as the cars vibrations are almost unnoticeable. It hums like when your mother would lay you down to go to bed as a baby. It's a calming hum.

The songs have changed - but you haven't noticed. You're still in the moment. You can't take the risk of taking your eyes off the road - the station stays put. The car in the left lane isn't going to keep up with you. In your head you execute the perfect maneuver to avoid them without having to lay off the gas - time, is of the essence. Your hands are wet - you rub them on your pants to dry off the cold sweat.

You know people are looking at you as you fly by - the bullet leaving them for dead. Dust. You don't have the luxury of looking to see who's in the car next to you, like all the other times you've been in the car. It's not for fear of anything other than knowing you're better than them. It's not a race, but, you're not losing.

You lean forward to check your blindspot. You move right. Quick. The exit is coming. You don't know how far - you've yet to read a sign. You've been here before, it's no different than all the other trips you've made before.

Check the blind spot again. Clear. You hit the off ramp and lay on the brake. You pull of the highway and park the car. The cold sweat is gone. Your heart is pounding like the bass drum as the music blares. You turn the key and step out of the car. You breathe.

A Quarter Life Crisis

It might be a quarter life crisis, or just the stirring in my soul - John Mayer, "Why Georgia"

I'd apologize for the lack of updating of the blog, or the John Mayer quote - but, I'm busy and I like John Mayer.

Over the last few months (read: this hasn't been updated since May) I've been working a lot. Sure, it's money, and affords me the things I like to do (read: drink), but it takes up my time - almost all of it. But, in this economy, if you have a job, you should be thankful - and I am. In my mid-twenties, with a job, a couple of roommates and a fat dog. It's not all bad - trust me. I assume most of this shit is in my head, which is where it is for everyone.

But, I've come to that proverbial fork in the road - left, right, straight, north by northwest, south by south east? You get the point. If you don't, here. We all get to that point in the road - some of us love it, some of us don't care either way. It keeps some of us up at night for weeks in a row. I'm one of those people.

Time to put up or shut up.

I don't know what to do next. I've got a few options, which is great! A lot of people don't have options - beggars can't be choosers. But, each one has a question...don't they all?

Allow me to introduce item "A" to the jurors.

Do I go back to school to get my masters? Then, if I do, do I get it in my field - or something totally off the wall? Chances are, it'd be in my degree field. But, then would there be a job after I get out of school? Should I leave my full time job to go back to school to risk not having a job when I get done? Seems a bit fucking insane, no?

Do I go back to school to get my masters while working part-time in my field?

If I go back to school and get something in my field, then it may depend on which school has the best program - location becomes a key issue as to if I can even find a part-time job while going to school.

What if I don't go back to school and just continue to work full-time? Then there's that regret feeling - maybe, 10 years down the road, married with children while working full-time, I decide to go back to school.

If I go back to school, and I look back on it, and never needed my masters - how much of a waste would it be?

(BRB - taking Sox to the dog park).

And we're back.

So, it wouldn't be bad for the extra education and having more than one degree wouldn't be too bad. But, what if I really didn't need it? That's a lot of money to throw out there...

Then there's evidence section "B" - forgive me if this incorrect, but I guess it's clear I won't go to law school.

What if I don't want to continue to work in my field? Then, do I go back for a random degree? I don't know what it would possibly be in - outside of teaching (more on that in a moment). Sure, I've got hobbies - but nothing that I could really turn into something that I'd love doing for the rest of my life. I'm not nearly good enough to even think about playing the guitar as a studio musician, nor have I honed any of my bier drinking skills to have the slightest clue about brewing it (but I could learn). Maybe writing - I love to write short stories, but there's a lot of people that do, and well, I can do that along side any sort of job regardless of what it is or where it's at.

Teaching is something that I've thought about doing since before I graduated college - but not as far back as to wanting to have majored in teaching. I'd like to teach high school communications/journalism. I want to solve the crisis (that's not too big is it?), in that I want to prepare the next batch of journalists for what it's really like out there. I love in-depth journalism - ground-breaking/someone-is-going-to-jail-because-of-this/someone-is-going-to-cry-because-of-this/this-will-stop-a-war kind of journalism. None of this "meet the deadline" quota filling stuff. Oh, 750 words? OK. No, I love the stuff that when you read it or watch it or listen to it, you think, "wow, someone gave a shit. Someone cared"

Think big, work small.

Then there's the whole "what if I just need a change of scenery?" I need to be where the weather suits my clothes. I own a lot of t-shirts and shorts. Flip flops to the extreme. I'd love to be outside, doing something, having fun - not in front of a computer (like you are now, like I am as I write this ramble). It would be way-too-fucking-cool to be a deep-sea fisherman (not like in those Discovery channel shows, but in the tourists rent a boat and go fish for an afternoon). If not anything else, it would allow me to wear this hat. I'd love to have a job that I needed to wear that hat. But, again, I know nothing about deep sea fishing. I've never been on a safari, so how could I wear that hat?

I'm not an adventurous person by nature, it's really not my style. Maybe that's what I'm so afraid of. The whole fear of the unknown. But, you won't ever learn how to swim if you don't jump off the diving board.

But, what if I can't swim?