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    <title>Ben Guest’s Blog</title>
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    <updated>2008-05-16T16:03:48Z</updated> 
    <author>
        <name>Ben Guest</name>
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    <id>tag:vox.com,2006:6p00c22523f3adf219/2008/</id> 
    <subtitle>Ben Guest, Program Manager of the Mississippi Teacher Corps, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Namibia, and Amherst College graduate...</subtitle>  
    
    <entry>
        <title>Vacation</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-16T15:38:01Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-16T16:03:48Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
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        <p>Is George W. Bush the vacation president? &#160;Here is my response to Gavin&#39;s&#160;<a href="http://mtc.vox.com/library/post/bush-1.html#comments">comment(s)</a>&#160;from this <a href="http://mtc.vox.com/library/post/bush-1.html">post</a>:<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Comment:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;trebuchet ms&#39;; font-size: 12px; ">No...there is NO difference relevant to the point being made here between teachers working at home and the president going on vacation. The point is, just because one isn&#39;t AT work doesn&#39;t mean that one is not working. The number of days on &quot;vacation,&quot; the number of hours spent working at home for a teacher, matters not. The point is that it&#39;s meaningless to draw anything about a president being &quot;on vacation&quot; unless you know what he&#39;s doing there.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;trebuchet ms&#39;; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;trebuchet ms&#39;; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">My response:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; "><div style="position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font: normal normal normal 13px/normal arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, &#39;ms pgothic&#39;, sans-serif; height: 90%; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: initial initial; ">Good point. &#160;Maybe Bush does a lot of work at his Crawford Ranch (although he doesn&#39;t really seem the workaholic type). &#160;Let&#39;s go to the White House press releases and official reports (you can see the press write-ups of Bush&#39;s various Crawford activities&#160;<a href="http://tinyurl.com/cu33z" style="text-decoration: underline; ">here)</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Looks like Bush does four things while at the&#160;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Chapel_Ranch" style="text-decoration: underline; ">Prairie Chapel Ranch</a>:<div><br /></div><div>1) Clear&#160;<a href="http://tinyurl.com/5kwmst" style="text-decoration: underline; ">brush.</a></div><div>2) Host&#160;<a href="http://tinyurl.com/64nqcy" style="text-decoration: underline; ">fundraisers.</a></div><div>3) Ride his&#160;<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-08-13-bush-bike_x.htm" style="text-decoration: underline; ">bike</a>.</div><div>4) Meet with visiting&#160;<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Bush-merkel.jpg" style="text-decoration: underline; ">dignitaries</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, with the possible exception of 4, Bush isn&#39;t really working while on vacation. &#160;But, even better, let&#39;s go right to the man. &#160;What does Bush do while on &quot;vacation&quot; at Crawford? &#160;From an August, 2005, USA Today&#160;<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-08-13-bush-bike_x.htm" style="text-decoration: underline; ">interview</a>&#160;with Bush in Crawford:</div><div><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; "><p class="inside-copy" style="text-align: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;-editor-proxy&#39;;">He began riding two years ago when a knee injury ended his running routine, but his skills already are quite advanced.</span></span></p></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">&quot;I love the outdoors,&quot; he says, straddling his $3,000 Trek Fuel mountain bike. &quot;If I&#39;m not exercising here, I&#39;ll be fishing over there. If I&#39;m not fishing, I&#39;ll be working with the chainsaw. I really enjoy being outside, and mountain biking is a way for me to spend a fair amount of time — four or five days a week — outdoors.&quot;</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Hmm, exercising, fishing, chainsawing, biking... &#160;Not really working, is it Gavin? &#160;</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, note that, by the timeframe mentioned in the interview, Bush started having significant knee problems in August of 2003, right around the same time he that he stopped playing golf to show <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/15/georgebush.usa">solidarity</a> with families who have lost a loved one in Iraq.</div><div><br /></div><div>When work actually does intrude, Bush tends to ignore his presidential daily briefings&#160;(PDB&#39;s). &#160;Early in his presidency, Bush dismissed a CIA briefer, who had the&#160;temerity&#160;to&#160;interrupt&#160;his Crawford vacation to present this <a href="http://news.public.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/80601pdb.html">PDB</a>,&#160;<a href="http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/20/911pdb/" style="text-decoration: underline; ">with:</a>&#160;&quot;All right, you&#39;ve covered your ass now.&quot; &#160;The brief,&#160;titled &quot;Bin Laden Determined to Strike In US&quot;,&#160;was given to him on August 6th, 2001. &#160;I kind of wish he&#39;d paid a little more attention to that one, don&#39;t you?</div></div></div></span></div></p>   <p style="clear:both;"> 
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        </content> 
    <category term="vacation" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/vacation/" label="vacation" /> 
    <category term="politics" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/politics/" label="politics" /> 
    <category term="bush" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/bush/" label="bush" /> 
    </entry> 
    
    <entry>
        <title>Mississippi</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-16T14:28:08Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-16T14:29:36Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
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        <p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/politics/16south.html">Article</a> in today&#39;s New York Times (emphasis is mine):<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Still, it would take a shift in the electoral dynamic — a substantial stumble by John McCain, for instance — for Mr. Obama to put in play a state like Mississippi, where whites gave&#160;</span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/john_kerry/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; " title="More articles about John Kerry."><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">John Kerry</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">&#160;only about 15 percent of their vote in 2004 and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">where voting in presidential elections is perhaps more racially polarized than anywhere else in the nation</span>. Even with a heavy black turnout, Mr. Bositis estimated, Mr. Obama would have to increase his white percentage by at least a third, to about 20 percent, to win the state.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">“I don’t anticipate him winning Mississippi,” Mr. Bositis said, even though it has a higher percentage of blacks than any other state, 36 percent.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Many of the votes on Tuesday for Mr. Childers — an anti-abortion, pro-gun-rights Democrat — were from whites who will in all likelihood pull the lever for Mr. McCain in November, analysts and voters themselves say.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">“Obama, he’s too off-the-wall,” said Chappell Sides, a white Republican-leaning voter in Yalobusha County who said he was preparing to punch the button for Mr. Childers on Tuesday. “Hillary — I thought I hated her, till Obama came along.”</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Bruce Oppenheimer, a political scientist at&#160;</span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/v/vanderbilt_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; " title="More articles about Vanderbilt University"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Vanderbilt University</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">, said the question was not so much whether Mr. Obama would carry Mississippi as whether he would force Republicans to spend time and money in the state.</span></p></span></span></div></p>   <p style="clear:both;"> 
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        </content> 
    <category term="politics" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/politics/" label="politics" /> 
    <category term="mississippi" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/mississippi/" label="mississippi" /> 
    <category term="obama" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/obama/" label="obama" /> 
    </entry> 
    
    <entry>
        <title>Maps</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-15T23:42:06Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-15T23:44:11Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
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        <p>More MTC maps. &#160;Check &#39;em <a href="http://mtc.wik-ed.org/index.php?title=Maps">out</a>. <div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><div>
    
    
    


    
    
    


    
    
    

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                <div class="enclosure-asset-name">Jackson</div>
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                <div class="enclosure-asset-name">Greenville</div>
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</div><div><br /></div></p>   <p style="clear:both;"> 
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        </content> 
    <category term="jackson" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/jackson/" label="jackson" /> 
    <category term="maps" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/maps/" label="maps" /> 
    <category term="mississippi teacher corps" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/mississippi+teacher+corps/" label="mississippi teacher corps" /> 
    </entry> 
    
    <entry>
        <title>Bush</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-15T03:31:31Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-16T15:29:28Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
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        <p>Here is a quote from Bush in a recent print <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=E3C6AE39-3048-5C12-001400CDBFDC3ECD">interview</a>
: <div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;-editor-proxy&#39;;">The biggest issue we face is -- it&#39;s bigger than Iraq -- it&#39;s this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 13px;">Is that not what we are doing? &#160;Waging war, <a href="http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/02/gallery_abu_ghraib/abu2.jpg">killing</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding">torturing</a> <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10348907/">people</a>&#160;(or locking them up and throwing away the <a href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2007/06/05/guantanamo460.jpg">key</a>), to achieve our own political objectives?</span></span></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><div>Bonus <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/05/14/BL2008051401929.html?hpid=opinionsbox1">quote</a>:</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;-editor-proxy&#39;;">Q Mr. President, you haven&#39;t been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?&#160;<br /><br />THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it really is. I don&#39;t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 13px;">He still <a href="http://blog.reidreport.com/uploaded_images/bush-bikecrash-774972.jpg">rides</a> that bike an awful lot. &#160;And vacations <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/04/BL2008030401392.html">more</a> than any American president in this nation&#39;s history. &#160;As of March 4th of this year Bush had spent <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/04/BL2008030401392.html">879 days</a> at his Crawford <a href="http://www.state.gov/cms_images/2005_08_04_bush_uribe_600.jpg">ranch</a>. &#160;That&#39;s more than two full years of vacation time. &#160;As President of the United States. &#160;While we are at war. &#160;Doesn&#39;t that also send the wrong signal? &#160;Of course, it is all a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/05/14/BL2008051401929.html?hpid=opinionsbox1">lie</a>. &#160;Bush played golf on October 13th, 2003, or more than two months after he claims he quit to show solidarity with the families of the <a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/">fallen</a>. &#160;Of course, they lie to those families&#160;as well...</span></span></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><div>
    
    
    


    
    
    


    
    
    


    
    
    


    
    
    

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</div><div><br /></div></p>   <p style="clear:both;"> 
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        </content> 
    <category term="war" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/war/" label="war" /> 
    <category term="politics" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/politics/" label="politics" /> 
    <category term="bush" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/bush/" label="bush" /> 
    </entry> 
    
    <entry>
        <title>Party</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-14T22:52:51Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-14T22:52:51Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
            <uri>http://mtc.vox.com/?_c=feed-atom-full</uri>
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        <p>Another&#160;<a href="http://mtc.vox.com/library/posts/tags/hypothetical/">hypothetical</a> from one of the <a href="http://www.olemiss.edu/programs/mtc/Participants/Bios/2007/index.html">first-years</a>: <div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">After a long day at work you are invited to a party at a social club in the small, rural town where you teach and live. &#160;Upon arrival at the party&#39;s venue the first person you see is a student of yours. &#160;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">You soon find out that the party is a birthday party for the student&#39;s father. She is helping set-up and music is playing inside the social club while alcohol is being brought in by the caseload. The student&#39;s father thanks you fervently for coming and says that once the kids leave you should let loose and get down (meaning drink, dance or do more with the scantily clad women on their way, and engage in weekday/work night tomfoolery). To top it off your principal, a good friend of the birthday man, soon shows up and pours himself the first of what may be numerous alcoholic drinks as he slaps you on the back. What do you do?</span></span></div></p>   <p style="clear:both;"> 
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        </content> 
    <category term="education" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/education/" label="education" /> 
    <category term="hypothetical" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/hypothetical/" label="hypothetical" /> 
    <category term="mississippi teacher corps" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/mississippi+teacher+corps/" label="mississippi teacher corps" /> 
    </entry> 
    
    <entry>
        <title>Corporal</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-14T20:36:49Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-13T20:38:55Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
            <uri>http://mtc.vox.com/?_c=feed-atom-full</uri>
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        <p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; ">One more <a href="http://mtc.vox.com/library/posts/tags/hypothetical/">hypothetical</a>&#160;from one of our first-years:</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Corporal punishment is permitted at your school. There is no intermediate step like detention between parent contacts (which are largely ineffective anyway) and write-ups, so you continue to write up students and they continue to get paddled. The administration, though careful to not make it overt, subtly indicates that they would prefer if you “handled classroom discipline” yourself. There are practical and perhaps moral problems with you paddling, but you have witnessed a few and feel comfortable that you know what to do. &#160;A student throws a book across the room at another child. If you write it up, the friction with your administration increases. And the kid still gets paddled. If you do it yourself, you cross a moral line, perhaps. What do you do?</span></span> </div></p>   <p style="clear:both;"> 
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    <entry>
        <title>Omisio</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-13T20:28:14Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-13T20:29:02Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
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        <p><a href="http://www.omnisio.com/">Omnisio</a> is a video mash-up website that is pretty easy to use. &#160;Check out my mashup <a href="http://www.omnisio.com/v/nzyA1UNdjhG/mississippi-teacher-corps">here</a>&#160;or see below:<div><br /></div><div>
    
    
    


    
    
    

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    <category term="mashup" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/mashup/" label="mashup" /> 
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    <entry>
        <title>Mashup</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-13T20:21:15Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-13T20:21:15Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
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    <entry>
        <title>Shep</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-13T18:34:16Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-13T21:50:18Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
            <uri>http://mtc.vox.com/?_c=feed-atom-full</uri>
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        <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Smith">Shepard</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClqfJp4WBBQ">Smith</a> was the speaker at this year&#39;s university-wide <a href="http://www.mtc.smugmug.com/gallery/4907940_tqmyH#293043964_M8738">commencment</a>. &#160;Smith is listed in the official <a href="http://www.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/news2000/display.pl?top=1&amp;mode=full">press release</a> as an alumnus of the University of Mississippi. &#160;To quote:<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Smith, a native of Holly Springs, is the country&#39;s top-rated cable news anchor. The Ole Miss alumnus anchors the network&#39;s signature &quot;The Fox Report&quot; evening newscast and afternoon news-interview program &quot;Studio B.&quot;</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><div>The only problem is that Smith never graduated. &#160;He dropped out his senior year. &#160;So, my question is, can you be an alumnus of a school from which you did not graduate?</div><div><br /></div><div>Bonus quote from Smith&#39;s commencement <a href="http://www.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/news2000/display.pl?top=1&amp;mode=full">speech</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">&quot;I&#39;ve watched the sun rise over the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf,&quot; he said. &quot;I&#39;ve spoken with presidents and interviewed kings. I&#39;ve gotten up in Santorini and Split, and bedded down in Dubai and Dubrovnik and Amman and Amsterdam.&quot;</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial; ">Left out of the official press release, Shep then <a href="http://scribble.com/uwi/br/brfaq/batty-grab-big.jpg">added</a>, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">&quot;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">I&#39;ve seen things you people wouldn&#39;t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannhauser_Gate">Tannhauser Gate</a>. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.&quot;</span></span></span></span></div></div></p>   <p style="clear:both;"> 
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        </content> 
    <category term="fox news" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/fox+news/" label="fox news" /> 
    <category term="blade runner" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/blade+runner/" label="blade runner" /> 
    <category term="graduation" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/graduation/" label="graduation" /> 
    <category term="shepard smith" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/shepard+smith/" label="shepard smith" /> 
    <category term="commencement" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/commencement/" label="commencement" /> 
    <category term="university of mississippi" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/university+of+mississippi/" label="university of mississippi" /> 
    </entry> 
    
    <entry>
        <title>Hypothetically Speaking</title>   
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        <published>2008-05-13T14:14:48Z</published>
        <updated>2008-05-13T15:26:42Z</updated>
    
        <author>
            <name>Ben Guest</name>
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        <p>All of the <a href="http://www.olemiss.edu/programs/mtc/Participants/Bios/2007/index.html">first-years</a> have posted &quot;<a href="http://mtc.vox.com/library/posts/tags/hypothetical/">hypothetical</a>&quot; situations that they found difficult to deal with. &#160;Think you know what to do? &#160;Here are some of my (slightly edited) favorites:<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Drunk Student</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; "><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">It&#39;s the second-to-last day for seniors. &#160;Your morning class has three students, only one of which is a senior.</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">This senior is bright, but regularly refuses to do his work. &#160;He knows full well that he does not need your class to graduate. His overall attitude towards you and the class could best be described as &quot;critical&quot; -- his temper flares up if you press him about anything, and you get tired of dealing with a student who so obviously doesn&#39;t want to be there.</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">So on a day like today, where you aren&#39;t doing all that much anyway (finishing up the final project), and its his second-to-last day, you don&#39;t feel like giving him a hard time. &#160;He comes in happily, begins quietly working on his project, contributes to the discussion, and even compliments you and the class.</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">But he is, to your eyes, obviously drunk. &#160;What do you do?</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Drawing</span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">A smart, quiet student draws a detailed and lurid picture of a torture chamber for a creative project. You take it down to the principal, who tells you to leave it with the counselor. You give it to the counselor, who says a hurried thanks and drops it on the overflowing mountain of unorganized paper on her desk. You try to reach someone at home, but the parents&#39; phone number is disconnected. What do you do?</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Special Ed</span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">You are making photocopies on your planning period when the special ed. teacher grabs your arm and asks you to sit in a meeting - they need a classroom teacher to be present, and you&#39;re free.&#160; When you get there no one explains the purpose of the meeting, but you can infer that the district is officially designating a particular student as mentally retarded for the purposes of education.&#160; You do not teach the student, have no idea who the student is, but you are asked to sign the forms as the representative classroom teacher. It seems like a formality, and you don&#39;t want to make a stink over what may be nothing, but . . . what do you do?</span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Repeaters</span></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;trebuchet ms&#39;; font-style: normal; "></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: -editor-proxy; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">You teach a class of seventh grade repeaters. &#160;Some have been in seventh grade twice, some three times. &#160;They are much older than the other seventh graders and care nothing for school. &#160;Your principal and curriculum instructor have made the decision to move them up to the ninth grade <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">if</span></span> they pass seventh grade. &#160;They are failing your class miserably but the administration is putting pressure on the teachers to promote these children on account of their age. &#160;You are told to just pass them. &#160;What do you do?</span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;-editor-proxy&#39;; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Manson</span></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;-editor-proxy&#39;; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">You have a student who is starved for attention and often shows you his notebook full of references to the occult. &#160;He wears Marilyn Manson shirts and a ring with a swastika (which was confiscated). He keeps a journal about alchemy.&#160;&#160;&#160;He is often disrespectful to you in class, but if you raise your voice at him he warns you “Don’t raise your voice at me. My dad does that and I’m sick of being pushed around.&quot; He also occasionally hints at “getting revenge” on other students. &#160;Everything this kid does is calculated for shock value, but still, he makes you uneasy. What do you do?</span></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Cell Phone</span></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Earlier in the year, you were a strict enforcer of the school&#39;s no cell phone policy, but, throughout the 2nd semester, you have relaxed a bit and, unless the student is blatantly talking on the phone or playing music, you disregard the usage of lesser incidents (texting under the desk, etc).</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">One student, who has always given you trouble and has a long history of discipline problems, has his cell phone out during a class assignment. After repeatedly telling him to put it away, you fill out a discipline form for this student and send him to the office. He returns 15 minutes later and claims that the office took up his phone and suspended him for five days. Five minutes later, a cell phone rings in the class. You discover it belongs to one your brightest students who has never been written up and is involved in one of the extracurricular activities of which you are in charge. The student hurriedly searches for the phone in her bag while muttering under her breath that she must have forgotten to put it on silent. The recently suspended students demands an action be taken and the rest of the class awaits your decision. What do you do?</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Pass or Fail</span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &#39;Hoefler Text&#39;; font-style: normal; "></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">JH is an exceptional education student in both your Algebra I and Transitions to Algebra class.&#160; He is one of the nicest students in your class.&#160; He helps do chores around the class without even being asked.&#160; When you spend several moments stepping in an anthill outside, and, screaming, kick your shoe off, he&#39;s the one to pick it up, brush off all of the biting ants, and return it to you after careful inspection.&#160;&#160;<br />In addition, JH is almost always on task and tries hard to complete his assignments.&#160; He is capable of grasping some of the material, but not at a passing level.&#160; You&#39;ve called his mother and grandmother and talked to the special ed teacher, telling all three of them that you believe he could pass your class if he came to after school tutorial.&#160;&#160; However, JH rides the bus, and his mother says she will try to take off from work to pick him up, but doesn&#39;t seem to actually be able to do so.&#160; He comes to tutoring twice all year.</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Algebra I is a state tested subject and according to No Child Left Behind he must take the state test and pass the class in order to graduate.&#160; Do you do what the teachers before you have apparently done and bump Jamie&#39;s grade up to a 70 (passing) so that he can pass on to the next grade and eventually graduate, or do you grade JH as you would any other student and give him the 50 (failing) he&#39;s actually earned?</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; ">Bathroom</span></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "></span></span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">For the first three weeks of school you try a kinder, gentler policy on bathroom passes.&#160; As a result, you spend as much time writing passes as you spend teaching.&#160; At the beginning of the fourth week you institute an ironclad &quot;NO PASSES&quot; policy.&#160; Students do not like it but most of them quit asking after you say no for the 5th or 6th time.&#160; However, on Wednesday of that week, Annetra raises her hand soon after class starts and says she needs to use the restroom.&#160; You say no.&#160; She says it&#39;s an emergency.&#160; You say no again.&#160; About a minute later the room is quiet as you write something on the board.&#160; Annetra breaks the silence by saying loudly, &quot;Sir, I&#39;ve got a girl problem.&quot;&#160; Her friends giggle.&#160; As you pause to collect your thoughts, one boy says, &quot;That&#39;s right, she got that red thang goin&#39;&quot;; another boy says, &quot;Sir, she gon&#39; be leakin&#39; in them pants if you don&#39;t let her go.&quot;&#160; Laughter engulfs the room.&#160; You are pretty sure you are being played but you feel like you have no choice but to let her go.&#160; As Annetra stands up to leave, you tell her this is the only &quot;emergency&quot; she&#39;ll be allowed.&#160; She agrees.</span></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">About four weeks later, as you are just getting into a lesson, Annetra blurts out, &quot;Sir, I&#39;ve got an emergency.&quot;&#160; When you say no, she says, &quot;It&#39;s a girl problem.&quot; &#160;What do you do?</span></p></span><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></div></p>   <p style="clear:both;"> 
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    <category term="hypothetical" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/hypothetical/" label="hypothetical" /> 
    <category term="mississippi teacher corps" scheme="http://mtc.vox.com/tags/mississippi+teacher+corps/" label="mississippi teacher corps" /> 
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