Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Financial Crisis
We are hearing now that we are in the middle of a financial crisis. Frankly I'm a little bit scared. I have a little in my savings account that I have started taking out in chunks of cash. One might call it my little run on the bank. My bank of all banks is Citibank- a corrupt participant in just about every scandal that has arrisen in the last ten years, beginning with Enron. I am afraid that I always think of the worst case scenereo. I have my retirement invested in who knows where, plus a small investment account that I have had for the past 5 years, soccing away about $400 per month. I have been trying to save for my children's education in a Smith-Barney "who knows what". I work in a wealthy cheap-skate state that needs a two thirds vote to pass the budget. What were they thinking? These guys are responsible for my paycheck.
Banks have no money to lend because they are up to their ear in debt with no collateral. Naturally they must close. But dire predictions before the collapse create a run on banks (again). Government bails out as many of these institutions as they can, at a cost of $700 billion (and then some). But I have my little pile of cash that I have pulled out. Government prints lots more money to try and deal with this massive debt. Massive inflation necessarily ensues. The dollar bill, already suffering from international scoffing, can now buy the equivalent of penny candy. Remember Germany in the 1920's (or Zimbabwe in 2008). So we must bring our wheel barrow to the Supermarket, filled with relatively worthless U.S. dollars to buy some bread and milk for maybe $700. Only seven one hundred dollar bills. A wheel barrow would hardly be necessary.
Just jailing those responsible would put another burden on the government. I say that we should put them in work/ reeducation camps. We can help them learn how to earn an honest day's living with an honest day's pay. mmmm... I feel myself getting a little power hungry. Whose footsteps can I follow in? Napoleon, Mussolini, George Bush's?
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
John E. Lynch
My real reason for writing today is that next Sunday there is a memorial service for my much beloved Uncle John and Aunt Phyllis. John died in 2001 but Phyllis died just this past February after suffering serious dementia beginning the day John died. The memorial service is in Phyllis's home town of Burnside, Illinois. Unfortunately the beginning of school prevents me from being there. Terry, Phyllis's nephew and my partner in taking care of the trust for these seven years asked me to write a obituary for John. I thought that I might also post it here, as well as having it read at the ceremony.
John Lynch: July 14, 1914- June 12, 2001
I remember…
John was born in Philadelphia, in 1914 oldest of 4 brothers and one sister. Also in the house lived his generous mother, his scrappy father and his Irish grandmother. John dropped out of school at 15, because of his father’s work disability and delivered packages on his bicycle for Adam’s Express.
In 1937, John and three of his friends, Charley Grodson, Bill Winters, and Jim Kelly, rented a studio in downtown Philadelphia at 1109 Walnut Street. The four attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art, 1937 and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1938 and also took classes at the Barnes Foundation.
John was drafted into the Army in October, 1941. He was an artillery site calculator for the 30th Infantry and entered Europe through Normandy in the D-day invasion. He was an avid sketcher of the French and German countryside. He also painted some watercolors of some of his fellow GI’s. He was one of the first American soldiers to see some of the German Concentration Camps.
John went to Bradley College in Peoria after the war to join a friend, and made many more. He took advantage of the situation in the summer of 1946 when he and Phyllis Pope were the only two of a group left on campus during a vacation.
John and Phyllis, as newly weds, went to San Miguel Mexico on the GI Bill, but had to leave when the U.S. government withdrew funds because of a teacher’s strike.
In 1950 John and Phyllis moved to San Francisco briefly, then rented a home on a creek in Larkspur. A year later John bought a small lot on that same creek, designed and built a house with the help of Phyllis and many other friends.
John continued to draw and paint through the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s while working a “day job” researching land titles for Western Title Company in San Rafael, California. He enjoyed some prominence as a painter in Marin County, as president of the Marin Society of Artists, teacher at the College of Marin and President and Archivist for the Arkites Association. Their little house was for many years the center of the “Boardwalk” celebrations and the place to go for a sympathetic ear, a few jokes, maybe a drink and certainly a good story or two.
Their home was a welcoming refuge for teenagers from the Midwest and East Coast in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Nephew, Ed moved West in the Spring of 1978. Both John and Phyllis were his family, his counselors and the center of every holiday celebration- Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Fourth of July and a few others. They welcomed, always warmly, first a line of girlfriends, then his wife, Donna, his son Truckee, his daughter Anna and his other son, Joey.
I will remember John’s warm welcome, his brilliance, his stories, his jokes and his kindness.
John Lynch died in his sleep on June 12, 2001- the date of his and Phyllis’s 54th wedding anniversary.
May they both be happily remembered.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Narvana, Nervana, Nevana, Nuvanna
The American dollar is down, down, down. I give my best wishes to Europeans, Chinese, South Americans and Islanders who are benefiting from the low dollar. Welcome to our primitive civilization on the west side of the bush or east side.
I will indulge myself. After a difficult year with my Sebastopol high school learners, I am taking a little break. Of course, I am reevaluating my approach to teaching. I have decided that the stand off approach to ninth graders is not an effective teaching strategy. I love all of my students but some I love more than others, and Dear Abby...
My summer is immersed in learning opportunities. At the JC I am taking Introduction to Jazz improvisation with 2 teenagers who live within one block of me. I should have done this forty years ago. I am finally learning all of the notes on the guitar, learing Mixolydian, Dorian, phygian modes and more, spending two to three hours a night practicing the guitar and I still feel like the slowest student in the class.
Jazz Camp provided the vocal and band experience I needed. I focused mostly on singing. Madeline Eastman was a dream- always supportive and constructive. Randy Vincent- quiet- sweet and always helpful- was mostly over my head. Julie Kelly let me sing the way I wanted and was insightful and positive. Jaz- assertive, acid, accepting- led our combo. I am grateful for your frankness- and excuse the expression: "East Coast Manner" although he is from Oakland- direct!
Now- Modes of Abstraction with Don Feasel (started Monday- and for me Tuesday) . He is a great man- intelligent, gentle and always kind. I am dumbfounded. He goes through all the painters in the class and finds something very positive about each one. He is a lover of abstraction. And today I brought a few pieces in from my uncle's work. He was almost reverential. I paint little watercolor deviations in abstraction. Don always has a kind word.
Next week I take another week out to go to music camp. My friend, Greg from Portland will join me and we will take challenging Jazz classes in the Redwoods of Sonoma County.
I will join my JC classmates back the next week, having indulged my musical sensibilities.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Resume
Edward J. Lynch
747 High Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472
Home: (707) 823-5458 Work: (510) 824-2367
Email: elynch@analy.org
Artist Webpage (A Tribute to John E. Lynch: 1914- 2001)
Curriculum Guide for Social Studies Survey class (2007- 2008)
Objective:
Teach web skills and computer applications. Teach English. Create web-based curriculum to help teachers teach more effectively. Contribute skills and knowledge to improving education in California high schools. Help pre-service teachers and teachers strengthen curriculum with the tools of technology. Link members of the community to work for higher student achievement.
Education
Sonoma State University, M.A. Teaching and Learning, Specialization in Educational Technology, Summa cum laude, 2004
Sonoma State University, National Board Certification Support Program, 2001- 2002
San Francisco State University, Credential in Secondary Education, 5/88
Niagara University, Niagara, NY, B.A., Magna Cum Laude ; Delta Epsilon Sigma , Honor Society
Credentials
Clear California Credential in English, Social Science and Art (expires 2010).
BITSA support teacher, SDAI Certified.
Experience
1999-present Analy High School, , Sebastopol, CA
Social Studies, Computer Skills, Web page support, English, 9th& 11th Grade, Introduced American Social History Project, Journalism Teacher, Production of the Analyan Newspaper
2003- 2004 Sonoma State University, Tech Assistant, Education Technology Support Center
1997-1999 Middle College High School, San Pablo, CA
School to Career Coordinator, American Social History Project, English and Computer Literacy
1993- 1996 Delta High School, El Sobrante, CA (a Necessary Small School)
English, History and Art
1988- 1993 De Anza High School, El Sobrante, CA
Geography, History and Art
1982- 1987 Department of Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco, CA
Purchasing and Accounting,
Some Career Accomplishments
Documenting the Analy Energy Audit, A Guide for Teachers, Green Schools and Lightbridge, Sonoma State University Published at Lightbridge Site: June 2004.
Analy Journalism Program: Converted Newspaper to a total digital production, facilitated new professional journalism connections (2001)
American Social History Project: Pioneered project with college professor that integrated a history American Music curriculum with ASHP's innovative curriculum.
Career Internship Supervisor: Set up and monitored over 300 internships for students. Increased the number
of students internships from a yearly total of 50 to a yearly total of 150 in a school of 250 students. 1/99
Mentor Teacher: Computer Work Place Skills, including Spreadsheet and C.A.D. Prep, 11/95
Grant Writer: Authored successful California School to Career Grant, 1998- 1999 ($10,000); Co-authored successful
State School to Career Grant, 1997and 1998. Wrote a successful: Lockeed/ ISSME Grant for Delta High School, 2/95,
SB1510 Technology Grant for Delta High School, 5/94, PG&E Science & Technology Grant providing physics software
for Delta High School, 10/92, West Contra Costa Educational Fund Grant, 11/93.
Technical Writer: Quantum Corporation, Milpitas, CA for IISME (Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education), Summer, 1993
Teacher of the Year Award: Richmond Unified School District, 5/93
Languages: English (advanced), Latin (advanced), Italian (intermediate), French (intermediate), Russian (beginning)
Workshop Leader:
1999 Studying African American Migrations using Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon; Integrating Literature
and United States History ( Presentation leader with Amy Schwimmer and Terence Elliott) Bay Area
School Reform Collaborative Assembly
1998 Music for non-Musicians in the ASHP Classroom, American Social History Project, Midyear
Conference, Lowell, Mass.
1997 Teaching the Blues, Slavery, Reconstruction and Northern Migration, American Social History Project.
Recent Trainings
2008 Introduction to Jazz Improvisation, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA
2008 Towards No Drug Abuse, TND Training at Sonoma County Office of Education
2007 Painting the Human Figure, Academy of Realist Art, Toronto, Canada
2006 Still Life Workshop, Angel School of Art, Florence, Italy
1999-2001 Technology Leadership Academy (120 hours of portfolio development), SCOE, Santa Rosa, CA
1996-1999 American Social History Project National Conferences
1996 HTML Workshop, West Contra Costa Unified S.D., Richmond, CA
Other Interests
Sing and play a variety of stringed musical instruments and musical styles including: Gypsy Jazz; Irish Traditional Music, World Folk Music, Jazz Standards and more. Study and work in traditional Classical Realism drawing and painting.
Active interest in technology, science and politics.
Updated August 22, 2008