Art at the Dump

Aired on National Public Radio's All Things Considered on Monday, September 22, 2008.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94900661

San Francisco recycles or diverts 69 percent of its trash, but sends 1,800 tons of garbage to the landfill each day. One way the city makes a dent in its landfill load is through an unusual program — sponsoring artists who turn garbage into art.

Ft. Bragg Mill Site Cleanup

Aired on KQED's The California Report Magazine on Friday, September 5, 2008.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R809051630/e

For almost 120 years, the coastal town of Fort Bragg in Mendocino County was home to one of the country’s largest redwood mills. When it closed in 2002, the town began to dream about its future with 3 ½ miles of rocky coastline no longer an industrial site. But the land is contaminated with dioxin and other pollutants. Last week, Fort Bragg’s city council approved an unusual plan to deal with the problem.

Birds Gone Wild

Aired on KQED Radio's The California Report Magazine on Friday, August 22, 2008.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R808221630/e

Yes, there’s yellow police tape blocking off Memorial Park in Willows, CA. But it’s not indicative of anything sinister. Just something loud. And really smelly. For the past three years, this farm town in the Sacramento Valley has been overwhelmed by birds -- egrets, and their black-crested night heron friends. This year, about 2,000 birds nested in the park’s trees. The lawn is turning gray, the guano is killing the trees, and the birds are definitely annoying Willows’ residents, who’ve stopped using the park for lunch breaks and Easter egg hunts.

Silver Girl

It's not made of Plexiglass, it's not made of fiberglass, it's not square...

Julie Caine and I made this piece for the Third Coast Festival audio challenge called Radio Ephemera, posted August 5th, 2008.

http://audio.wbez.org/thirdcoast/player/3player_new.asp?fileId=RE.silvergirl

Listen to all the Radio Ephemera entries here:
http://thirdcoastfestival.org/shortdocs_2008_archive_RE.asp

A Real Learning Curve: Catapults Demonstrate the Quadratic Equation

Published on Edutopia.org on July 16, 2008.

http://www.edutopia.org/impact-academy-catapults-quadratic-equation

My friend Manny Medina's a rock star math teacher. In this piece, I write about visiting his class when they present learning about quadratic equations (yawn) through catapults (yipee!).

Model Projects: Maker Faire

Published on July 3, 2008 on Edutopia.org.

http://www.edutopia.org/maker-faire-DIY-projects

Five hundred students and their teachers flocked to Maker Faire Education Day, where two dozen inventors shared their ideas and creations -- from electronic gadgets to homemade instruments -- and discussed the scientific principles that make their work possible.

Rigor and (Civil) Rights: Helping Mississippi Students See Beyond the Delta

Published on June 1, 2008, in Edutopia Magazine, with audio slide show published on edutopia.org.

http://www.edutopia.org/sunflower-county-freedom-project
http://www.edutopia.org/how-to-regional-history-resources
http://www.edutopia.org/freedom-project-slide-show

In the landscape of the Mississippi Delta, where transportation, field trip destinations, volunteers, guest speakers, and funding are in short supply, the Freedom Project is something very special. Using Sunflower County's unique history as a hotbed of civil rights activity in the 1960s as an inspiration and program model, the Freedom Project attempts what to some may seem impossible: to raise Sunflower County's estimated 52.4 percent graduation rate and ensure that each of its participants goes to college -- and succeeds there.