The Associated Press has a story today on LaMar Queen, a 26-year-old math teacher, whom is no longer on the staff of Los Angeles Academy, due to staff cutbacks and the typical teacher union rules, particularly with untenured faculty: last hired, first fired. (I can think of any number of teachers, tenured or not, that I would lay off before a decent math or science teacher, but then schools aren't run like businesses.) However, LaMar has gotten some long-term substitute teaching gigs. LaMar found a way of reaching unmotivated students through his amateur rapping skills, which he has developed since his early teens. The initial breakthrough hit, the Slope Intercept Rap, is embedded below. Interestingly enough, the entrepreneurial young teacher is marketing his and other innovative educational products through the Music Notes Online portal. Although I'm not personally a rap fan, I won't argue with LaMar's ability to connect with a number of young students. One can only hope that someday a rap about Euclid, Newton, Leibniz, Descartes and Gauss will be as popular as a rap by Eminem, Dr. Dre, or Timbaland.
"Obama Believers" (A Parody)
(To the Melody of "Don't Stop Believing")
Jobless walking, up and down the boulevard,
They go on searching in the night
Fed-up people, looking just to find (His) emotion
Hiding there, under TV lights..
Working hard to pay my bills
Progressives are so shrill,
Voters waiting to roll the dice,
Just one more time,
None will win, all will lose
Unless the Dems sing the blues
Their agenda never ends
It goes on and on and on and on
(They) don't stop believing
Hold on to their feelings
Liberal people
Bonus Video: Journey, "Don't Stop Believing"
Political Cartoon
Bob Gorrell really should be asking a different question: why did America, in the fall following the economic tsunami, vote for a fourth-year senator (whom largely ran for President the last 2 of those years) with no executive accomplishment, little policy expertise and few achievements, to face the biggest economic crisis in over 50 years?
Quote of the Day
The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
PB Medawar
Musical Interlude: Chart Hits of 1968
The Beatles, "Hey, Jude"
Otis Redding, "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay"
Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, "Woman, Woman" (great vocals...)
Simon & Garfunkel, "Scarborough Fair/Canticle"
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, "This Guy's In Love With You" (a rare vocal--LOVE his instrumentals)
