I'm the Comic Weekly Man, the Jolly Comic Weekly Man, and I'm here to read the funnies. Do you happy boys and honeys?  Right out of the pages of Puck the Comic Weekly, straight into your living room, your friend the Comic Weekly Man, the Jolly Comic Weekly Man. Well, little Miss Honey, how are you today? Oh, I'm just excited. What for? Well, how people. What are you going to do if people scare you? I'm fine. Then how do you know you will scare other people? Maybe they'll know it's all in fun too. You know. Yes, I think I do. Halloween is a wonderful time, and I'm looking forward to it. Yes, and so am I. And so am I. And I'm looking forward to the funnies too, so read them for me, will you please? Puck the Comic Weekly? Yes. Very well, I will in just a moment. But before I do, let's listen to this nice man. Now, here we go with Puck the Comic Weekly. Now, for the first page, hop along Cassidy. Magic words for the music, please. Very well, my lady. Steak's gun's blazing as he thunders along. Give us music for hop along. Hoppy and the cavalry were heading back to Denver. As they were making their way through a mountain pass, they were attacked by Indians. Arrows came flying from nowhere. And one of their men has picked off. As they gather around him quickly, another of the troopers says, Hey, they're picking off our rear car. Poor Evans. Hoppy looks at the arrow in the back of the dead man. Recognizes the tribe from which it came. He says, Sue. Last picture top row, the major says, This is chief iron claws work. For months, somebody's been smuggling firearms to his renegades faster than we could disarm them. As they quickly bury the dead man, Hoppy says, first picture next row. Well, I don't think they plan an attack just yet, for they wouldn't have warned us by picking off our rear guard. Yeah, I guess you're right, Cassidy. Iron claws, probably waiting for reinforcements before hitting us. As they prepared them out again, last picture middle row, Hoppy advises, Oh, major, I'd suggest we keep on the move. We'll have a better chance if we can get out of this wash. The major replies, Right. Prepare. As they continue on their way, some time later, first picture bottom row, another arrow cuts through the air. One of that troopers is wounded in the shoulder. The major looks back and says to his men, Help Willis with the arrow, but keep on the move. We'll head for the stage relay station at Medicine Bend. It's our nearest shelter against Redskan attack. Last picture, they come out of a grove of trees into a clearing. And ahead, they see a stockade in a cabin. The major announces, Oh, there's their objective. It's sturdy enough to discourage iron claws' tribe. But he doesn't see arrows sticking out of the walls of the stockade and the bodies of two men lying outside, struck down by the Indians. Doesn't look as though there's much room for the troopers to find protection. Yes, there's plenty of danger in this adventure. We'll find out more about it next week. Now? Oh, now. Very well, over the page we go. Yes, you remember also that Val's son, Prince Arne, was very unhappy because no one paid any attention to him. Yes, and happy. Very well, here we go with Prince Valent in the days of King Arthur. Hecket, break it, Grey Malkin and Quince, music romantic for a fair, fair print. Little Prince Arne stands sadly in the doorway. He's hidden in the folds of the drape, unseen by Val, who is fussing over his twin daughters. The little prince sadly goes to his own room, gets his wooden sword and toys and first picture next row, sorrowfully walks down the hall, planning to go away all by himself. But Val looks up and sees him going past the door and he lets out a glad shout. Arne, come here. Val rushes to the doorway, picks up Little Prince Arne and gives him a great big hug. Arne smiles happily to realize that his daddy has noticed him. And then, first picture bottom row, Val opens up a saddlebag, telling him there are presents within it for him. And Val also gives Elita lovely presents, for which she gives him a big, big hug, which Little Prince Arne thinks is very silly. Last picture, Prince Arne is dressed in a helmet, jacket, shield and sword, his presents, and stands there looking like a warrior, ready for adventure, at the sturdy age of two and a half. It's too big for him, but he doesn't think so. Yes, he still pays attention to him. You did, and you were right. Now let's go over the page. All right. Oh look, here's Donald Duck.  Here we go with Donald Duck. Say the magic words with me. Squeeze, jump, squeeze, jump, squinty, chicka-chack. Let's have music to pet a quack-quack. Donald is reading a newspaper, the daily blow, when some peculiar odor goes past his nose. He looks in the fireplace, second picture, and sees smoke instead of going up the chimney, coming into the room, and Donald exclaims, Ah, he storked back again. He dashes outside, puts a ladder up against the house, dashes up the ladder, fourth picture, and sees the stork, nesting on the chimney, blocking it so the smoke can't go out. And Donald exclaims, Oh, get this eye-popped. He dashes down the ladder, saying, This is time. I'm going to take drastic measures. He gets his gun. First picture, bottom row dashes up the ladder again. The stork sees Donald with a gun and hops off the nest, looking very sheepish, which isn't easy for a stork to do.   And, and dood, Donald's nephew says happily, Wow, boy, now I've heard everything. Yes, he's made a home for the little storks right in his living room. Oh, that's so nice. Yes, that's so nice. Well, now... Oh, now I'm anxious to see Dick's adventures, because you remember last week, Dick was captured by the pirates and locked up in jail with other prisoners that the pirates had captured. Yes, I remember very well, and the pirates had captured the Americans from the ship Philadelphia. And the pirate captain was going to kill some of the prisoners, and I wonder what's going to happen today. Well, let's read Dick's adventures right now and find out. So over the page we go to the very last page of the first section, and here we go with Dick's adventures. Say the magic words with me. Let's have music for adventurous Dick. Dick is dreaming that he's with Commander Stephen Decatur on a Yankee ship in the harbor of Tripoli. He has been captured by the Bashaw, leader of the pirates, where the ship Philadelphia stuck on the reefs while pursuing the pirate ship. Dick, watching from the window of his dungeon, is seeing the worst thing happen. The crafty pirate chieftain has had his men busily at work at the Philadelphia. And now it has been pulled off the reef and being outfitted by the pirates so that the Philadelphia can now be used against the Americans. Dick says to himself, it's got to be destroyed before he uses it against us. Up and down the grim dungeon corridor, I rather American sailors and Marines from the ill-starred Philadelphia pondering some means of escape last picture top row, Dick suddenly hears approaching footsteps. It's the jailer bringing Dick's food. Dick hears him open his dungeon door. And as the jailer steps in with the food and hands him the tray first picture next row, Dick suddenly thrusts the tray into the jailer's face. Hey, watch out! Filling hot soup all over him and he quickly knocks him out. Then taking the jailer's keys, as fast as he can, Dick releases his friends around him. He goes from one cell to the other, unlocking the doors. The Bashaw's well-armed guards are pounding down the corridor. They've heard the shout. Without weapons, it is foolhardy to fight.  But not before they can help themselves to the guards' cloaks. And they disappear before the approaching guards can get their hands on them. First picture bottom row, the guards search through the palace grounds, but the captives have vanished. Dick and his friends are free. Last picture, an hour later, several miles away, the camel train of Abdul the Trader proceeds with a group of heavily cloaked veterans who come from no one knows where. A close look under the hoods of the veterans would show that these men wearing the striped tunics are Dick, the Yankee prisoners. Yes, and if no one asks any questions, maybe by nightfall, they can be far enough away to slip back to their ship. Oh, I hope so. Well, maybe we'll find that out next week. And now, look, underneath Dick's adventures. Oh, yeah, first snowflake in the rain. Yes, and Mr. Crumb, the crooked owner of the grassy acres farm is running his horse, Poobah. And they're in a gun under the seat of the ferris wheel, and that's right by the racetrack, and I'm afraid they might try to do something terrible like shooting snowflakes so that their horse will win. Don't forget that Tex and Mr. Miles are talking to two detectives. Maybe they'll find a way of stopping this. Oh, quick, let's read so we can find out. Very well, here we go with Rusty Rally. Gallup and run till the road is dusty. Give his music for his horse and Rusty. Tex, Mr. Miles, and the two detectives are talking outside the grandstand of the fairgrounds. Tex is saying, two of Crumb's tutors are working here running the shooting gallery in the ferris wheel. Maybe you notice the big wheel is real close to the racetrack, Prince. Mr. Miles replied, second picture. Yes, I noticed that. I thought of having it stop during the races. It might frighten the horse. Tex goes on last picture top row. Well, these all hoots are fragrant to use a powerful air gun, most likely a target pistol. They got it hit under the seat cushion in the ferris wheel. It's a good bet they're up to no good. One of the detectives answers, believe it to us, Tex. We'll take care of them. First picture next row. A few minutes later, Tex is talking to Rusty. He was on the racing sock. He's ready to drive snowflake out on the track. Tex says, okay, Rusty, get out there now and drive a good race. Just keep your eye on Crumb's driver and don't you worry. Everything's under control. Meanwhile, the two detectives head for the ferris wheel. As they near it, one of them says third picture bottom row. Hey, hold it, Jackson. Look, they stopped the wheel with car ten at the top. Jackson answers. Yeah, probably with one of those hoots in it. Hey, come on, I got an idea. He goes on. Last picture, Lewis says, I want you to get that engineer away from that machine for a few minutes as soon as the race starts. I don't care how you do it, but get him away. I have a hunch that's his idea. Oh, I wonder if you'll be able to work it. Well, we'll find that out next week. Now? Oh, now, Dee. Yes, and here they are in the first page of the second section, and I'll read that in just a minute. But first, here's that nice man with something interesting to say. Now, here we go again with Puck the Comic Weekly. First page of the second section, Dagwin and Blondie. Magic words for the music, please. Very well, my lady. Ram-a-foo, ram-a-fum, zim-zam-zombie. Conjure me music for Dagwin and Blondie. The postman comes up Dagwood's walk, drops a letter in the box, blows his whistle like mad. Dagwood in the house hears it and dashes for the door. He says, Mr. Beasley's blowing his whistle like mad. He must have a terribly important letter for me. As the postman goes down the street blowing his whistle, Dagwood pokes his hand in the letter box, last picture, top row saying, What could it be that could make him blow his whistle like that? He tries to pull the letter out, but nothing moves. He tries again. Nothing moves. He yells first picture bottom row, first picture next row. Blondie, help, help! My hands caught the mailbox. Blondie dashes out. He sees Dagwood's predicament and asks him how he did it. Dagwood answers, stop asking questions and pull. He pushes foot against the wall. Blondie pulls and he pushes. Try again. They try a second time. Try again. And finally a third time. The mailbox closes. They both fall over backwards. But Dagwood's hand is still in the mailbox. So first picture third row, they dash down town to the fix it repair shop. A man at the fix it repair shop puts Dagwood's arm in the vice and begins to hammer away at the mailbox. Dagwood says, hurry! I can't wait till I see what that card in the box is. The repair man answers cheerfully. Well, it's coming off. He hits it another blow and it pops. He shakes out the card. Mr. Fix-It looks at the card. The last picture third row says with a smile. Well, what do you know? It's a little advertising card. I sent out. Mr. Fix-It, I can repair anything. Well, well, blue. First picture bottom row, Mr. Fix-It says, that'll be $2. Amazing. What a quick response I got from it. Dagwood hands him the money in his face and arrivals. Now I want to find Beasley. Down the street he dashes. He sees the mailbox. The mailman two blocks away. He catches up with him, dashes up to him yelling, why all that noise in the whistle when you put that card in my box? The mailman answers, well, it's a new whistle my wife gave me for my birthday and I just love it. Whereupon Dagwood sails into him. And I'm at the fountain. I'm at the fountain.  Dagwood dusts off his hands and walks off saying, No, I feel better. I don't blame him either. But he might have been a little more cautious when he stuck his hand in that mailbox. Yes, a mailbox and he wouldn't have all that trouble. No. Now? Oh, look, and this is so exciting that last week Roy and Jack Spratt, the deputy sheriff, were being treated rough by the cattleman when a man that we think is Black Cramer stepped out from nowhere and made the cattleman let Roy and Jack go. Yes, and then Roy and Jack Spratt galloped off to investigate more about what Park Mr. Norton plays in all this. Yes, and Mr. Norton said that a man named Black Cramer is a cattle wrestler and I managed to find out if that's true. Well, let's find out right now. Hi-yip-hio. Now here we go with Roy and Trigger. Hi-yip-hio. Roy and Jack Spratt head for Blot Cramer's ranch to investigate why the cattleman's consul took it over so quickly after running Cramer out. They pull up in front of the gate leading into the ranch. Find a sign and tack down to it reading, No trespassing by order of the cattleman's consul. As they stop, Jack Spratt says second picture. After Brad and Cramer are rustlers and run them out of town, they didn't waste no time fencing off property. Start to open the gate, but the hinges are rusty and squeaky. Last picture stopped for old guard, pokes a gun over the bluff above calling, Halt! Oh, you, Jack Spratt. Answer read. Even Deputy Sheriff ain't allowed in here. Jack Spratt answers, Is that so? Hey, don't I smell cooking? The guard doesn't see Roy, who is behind a rock. He comes in the guard to sneak up on him while he talks with Jack Spratt. Meanwhile, the old timer who had rescued Roy and Jack earlier comes up from around a curb. First picture found him row. He sees what's going on and stops. He says, Well, Norton's guard stops where it's just when I was hoping they'd snoop around my ranch and learn exactly why Norton's cattleman's consul framed me. Well, I'll fix that. Nobody knows me, decked out in these prospectors' duds anyway. At this moment, Roy, is picked up behind the guard, flips his rope over him. At the same second, the old timer pulls the trigger. Third picture found him, Roy exclaims, Hey, somebody plug the guard. Grab him, Jack. I'm afraid he's done for it. Wonder who shot him? Spratt replies, Well, I don't know, but I see a couple of familiar homerys coming, Roy. Clay Norton and Carp Mallory. We're sure in the JML. As the old timer gallops off, Mallory and Norton approach. Mallory exclaims, Hey, Norton, look, that old desert rat with one finger mission, the one you reckon is blot creamer in disguise. Norton answers, Well, let him go. We gotta stop Rogers and Jack Spratt before they find out too much. Yes, looks as though Mallory and Norton would pin the crime on them. Oh, no trouble, didn't they? It looks that way. We'll find out next week. Now, let's go over the page. Yes, that's right. And just as they neared the city on Mars, rocket ships came out. They sent out some sort of tentacles. Just sucked Flash's ship right down to the ground. Yes, I wanna see what happens. Will they make Flash a prisoner? We'll find out right away. Now, here we go with Flash Gordon. Ask him a task. Let's have music for heroic Flash. Forced down by the strange spin ships, Flash's rocket is grounded on Mars. The hood of one of the spin ships opens, and a Martian of a very different race and a pirate gestures for the humans to alight. Flash tests the air, finding it thin but breathable. Last picture, top row, with his hand near his hidden ray gun, Flash watches carefully as the Martian comes close. He touches Dale's hand lightly. Dale tells Flash that she seems to sense what the Martian is saying. He wants to take them to his ruler, Menta. They walk to the Martian's car, get in, and the car goes off. It's a caterpillar job. First picture, bottom row, as they speed toward the city in a sand car fitted for desert travel, their guide hands them earplugs. Cautiously, Flash tries a pair. He finds that they are mind-senders, which enable the Martians to talk with him. Swiftly, the car approaches one of the gates to the city. As the car rolls through the gate, the Martian guide answers Flash's questions about the planet's ruler. He exclaims, Menta has the greatest brain on Mars. Thus, she is the queen. In a few minutes Flash, Flash's picture finds himself before Queen Menta. He tells her, we come in peace. Menta stares at him grimly and then tells him to give up their concealed rayguns. Or her guards will freeze them instantly if he dares try violence. But apparently those guns are carrying eject a kind of ray that will freeze you solidly so you can't move. Oh, what an awful weapon. Yes, it is in a way, but yet it's better than killing. Well, you mean because they can unfreeze you when they want to? Yes, possibly. Oh, I wouldn't like it anyway. I wonder if the queen will be friendly or not. Well, that's something we'll find out next week. Now? Oh, you haven't read Alice in Wonderland? No, we haven't. That's the Lone Ranger. Turn over that page. Oh, look, here's Alice in Wonderland and the caterpillar who huffed and poked and became very angry when Alice said that she would like to be taught. Yes, that's right. And then the caterpillar turned into a butterfly. Yes, and then the butterfly told Alice that if she would eat a piece of mushroom she might grow big. So please read now and see whether she dies. Very well. Now here we go with Alice in Wonderland. Say the magic words with me. Yes, sir. Alice in Wonderland. Music, sir. Music, sir. Alice nibbles on one piece of the mushroom. Instantly she grows skyward. She grows so tall her head goes right through the trees and towers above it with a bird's nest on her head.  Alice exclaims But I... And Alice puts the nest back in the tree and the mother bird flies back to it. Third picture, Alice bites into a second piece of mushroom and shrinks down and regains her normal size. Alice exclaims There, I myself again. But I better save these pieces of mushroom. And then she goes in search of the white rabbit. Last picture top row she wanders into a shadowy grove. She sees all kinds of signs. One says this way other says that way another says up another down another back another yonder Alice exclaims Which way? And then, first picture bottom row a voice from a tree says Wow, you really want to know you went that way Which way? The Cheshire cat, or it is indeed he finally tells Alice where the white rabbit went. Wow, you went to the my chair's house. Alice exclaims The Cheshire cat continues third picture bottom row Oh, the mad chair's mad Oh, is the mad hatter Alice says to herself And you're not all there either And then wanders through a path down through the trees Last picture she comes to a funny little house with Japanese lanterns hanging around the trees Alice exclaims My goodness, I wonder what will happen to me here But despite the Cheshire cat's warning Alice hurries toward the odd thatched house of the March Yes, it is I'm afraid Alice is going to find a funny adventure with a mad hatter Oh, yes, but I'm sure it won't be very dangerous Well, I hope not Well, that's something we'll find out next week Now, that's all the time I have But before I go, here's that nice fellow with some more interesting information Well, honey, and all you boys and girls, I gotta go now All right, Mr. Connick, little man But I'll be waiting for you next week Okay, that's the date Girls, be sure to meet me with our little friend Miss Honey next week when I read Pop's The Comic Weekly For I'm the Comic Weekly Man The Jolly Comic Weekly Man I'll be back to meet the funnies To you happy boys and honeys Don't forget boys and girls See you all next week Your friend the Comic Weekly Man The Jolly Comic Weekly Man The Jolly Comic Weekly Man


OTAN Outreach and Technical Assistance Network Okay, so I'm Frances. This is Mansoura. We are from Pittsburgh Adult Education Center. Our students are a community of learners, recent immigrants, and local residents aged 18 to 80 from the San Francisco East Bay communities of Pittsburgh, Antioch, Bay Point, Brentwood, and Concord. Our CTE programs, Allied Health Academy, are for training in certified nursing assistant, medical assistant, and we also have floral design. We have day and evening classes for ABE, high school diploma, CTE, excuse me, some CTE, GED, HICET, and five ESL levels. There is a distance learning option for ESL students and an independent study option for high school diploma. We are proud testing site for Pearson View Testing. Two academic counselors and a career transition counselor who offers job search assistance support our students. We have approximately 35 teachers in all departments. Our D-LAC team began with myself, Frances Tony Benito-Sosa as the team leader, and Mansoura Shahzain as our sole member, and our administrator, Dr. Danny Lockwood. Our D-LAC coach, Francisco Wentworth, expertly led our cohort of three agencies through weekly meetings where this collaboration was so instrumental in our progress that post-D-LAC, we will continue to meet to discuss our challenges. We worked with our department chairs, Lillia in ESL, Judy in CTE, and David in high school diploma, and GED. We also worked with our registration and testing staff, John McDonald and Pamela Spindel, and IT tech, Johnny Vigil. We recently lost our CTE head, Judy, but she was really adored by her students, and by describing her own life, she was always telling them to be ready to change and to take on new jobs. She was a big proponent of our Canvas LMS, and she was always an innovator. So she held her celebration of life before she died, and we all participated on Zoom from all over the country and Hawaii, and also in person at her church.   Okay, is that you? Nope, that's you. Where? Participation. So participation in delac was instrumental in advancing our continuous improvement plan, which our goals were to implement Canvas as our school-wide LMS. Ready? Okay, as you can see, we revamped our registration process, which was paper to pencil, of course, before, so we went online working with John, Pam, and Cheech. Those are their nicknames, I can't say the others. So working with them so that all students have access to that, and yes, we did run into the problem that some other people had mentioned that people had registered and not heard back, but we took care of that as well. The development of our implementation plan quantified the tasks to be done in order in which they had to be executed, so we had to figure out the plan. Our priority has been to implement the dynamic features of Canvas efficiently to create as little work as possible for staff and teachers, because staff and teachers don't need any more work, right? As a small team and with very little IT support, we spent most of the first year working on technical infrastructure and organization. I took on the role as PAEC tech support for department heads and course instructors. We offered a professional development on Canvas in person, hands-on. Our district IT set up an automated scheduled migration from ASAP into Canvas, which gets done four times a day and it has to be monitored. That means we have to talk to the three people we mentioned before with the assistant from our Canvas adoption. We developed everything the first time on our free one, and then we moved it over to the new one. So definitely a lot more bells and whistles. You'll love that. This year we are able to hand over our maintenance tasks to the registration test center, and our Canvas trainer hours were leveraged to meet training webinars and best practices for department heads in OTAN, who provided of course three hands-on customized professional development webinars for our teachers. And it wasn't just ESL, all of our teachers from CTE high school diploma also attended. A teacher training course in Canvas was created to house all three resources and course shells. We piloted online student orientation basics, which we practiced Zoom, Canvas, Gmail, and of course we had to figure out which devices and how they work.  People have to know how to access them to participate in class. In the second year we had one-to-one training, which we provided to teachers, and our administration went ahead and paid those trainings and allowed the teachers to be paid for those trainings, so there was a benefit there. And provided to move the teachers so they can put all their courses on Canvas, as you can see. Canvas allowed us to make online materials available on smartphones. For high school diploma, I believe it was the best because high school diploma was paper to pencil making copies, textbooks, and now all of their curriculum is on Canvas. CTE students on Canvas have access to their books, like we were talking about earlier. We have different programs that we can go into CK12 and go to August Learning, that's a CTE program, and we bring everything into Canvas, so no one has to go away from Canvas to get the resources. CTE students on Canvas have access to their e-books, links to supplementary teacher videos, and testing. So I was able to bring those tests and videos into Canvas. ESL use of Canvas, we have e-books and online resources on their smartphones. This is for our ESL, you can tell we use Future, News for You, Burlington, and I'll show you some numbers from all of this later on. A lot of our teachers have already gone ahead and started using WhatsApp to communicate with their students, so they're not waiting to go to campus and find out if the class is canceled. And this is how Canvas looks on your phone. So Canvas is a free app to the students on your phone, on a Mac, on a laptop. I have all that ability, I can tell you what it looks like. And then truly what I was really passionate about was taking Frances' distance learning, which was students coming in once a week, working with her, getting homework, and leaving. Well, because of COVID and because of Canvas, it went to truly online, where they're able to meet online. She has one student or she has multiple students, but they get that one-to-one from the teacher and they're able to do it at their pace. They don't have childcare, don't have driving. As we know, a lot of immigrants don't have those resources. So for them to be able to continue their education, this was truly distance learning. Okay, so we were taught. The Digital Leader Participant Course and the Ideal 101-102 courses gave us the training to build a realistic project to roll out to meet our school's needs. The D-LAC Virtual Communication Training with Dr. Porter gave us the skills to help others become more involved and support their efforts. We were taught how to use our strengths in their appropriate areas, such as Mansoura's achiever and connectedness and multilingual skills for training teachers and students in online skills. And these were supported by my analytic, organizational and arranger skills. I was willing to take charge and initiate. Mansoura was willing to get it done. And from D-LAC, we got the support we needed to build our digital networks. Okay, we have faced, as you can see, challenges and barriers that we counted. Dr. Porter guided us because we faced challenges in getting information to all teachers and barriers in technical equity for both teachers and students. Our principal, Dr. Lockwood, labored to provide teachers with laptops and paid professional development in Canvas. For all the teachers, he outfitted the ESL department classroom with Chromebooks and equipped pilot classrooms with cameras and microphones for high-flex teaching. He has requested additional hours for our computer aid, teach to assume some Canvas responsibilities in registration and testing, and the creation of a classified IT position to support Canvas. The growth of our agency infrastructure for Canvas is the foundation that puts us well on the way to bring our teaching into 21st century and give our students the practice and the digital skills they need to succeed. Okay. Thank you. Accomplishments. Go ahead. Accomplishments? Mm-hmm. We don't have time. So you can see we made very, a great deal of accomplishments in just a very short time, two years. And we began with very little expertise in online teaching, and now we have teachers who embrace what they can do and demand more training. And our students also have multiplied their skills and want more access to digital education. OTAN office hours and everything they provided us with were pivotal in making this possible to happen. And now we feel like we are on firm ground to move our school into the 21st century and for our students to have the skills they need when they need school. Oops. Okay. This is the Hybrid High Flex Learning Model. As you can see, I do have a laptop, which is my gaming laptop, because I need it to be really quick. And behind me, I'm also on Zoom behind me, so the students in the classroom can see the students online and they can communicate with each other. And then as you can see, I have my laptop here so that I can immediately see if my students need help online. So really managing the classroom became a great way for me to figure out how to reach every single student. Here's some research that I did. I'm constantly seeing my students on their cell phones, internet devices, contributing, sharing videos. So why not use that time that they're using watching cat videos to learning, to use it on Canvas. And then this is the Hybrid Model. Before in the pandemic, we had 20%, I was using 20% of Future and 10% of Burlington. It was there. Okay, kind of used it. But during the pandemic, we started increasing. Now I'm up to about 90. My students are on Burlington on their own. We have the laptops in the classroom. They have access to Future. They can do extra activities. So we're taking that pen to paper and moving into the next level. So in summary, our teachers feel they're more confident. They have the resources. They have the logins. They're able to use Canvas because we spent the time and train them. Students, there's more participation because they don't spend that time driving. They don't spend that time worrying about gas prices. They can just do it from home. And our administration has gotten a better understanding of the needs of the students and the teachers. And time has managed more effectively because that is the greatest quality. Necessity. Next, go ahead. Okay. So our next steps are full use of Canvas and more training for our teachers. And hopefully we'll get staff to do ongoing student digital orientation. For our students, we want them to have knowledge of their strengths and their career goals and to do an equity check-in to see that our students have what they need to succeed. We hope to create a classified tech support position to manage Canvas. And we want to say thank you to everyone, especially Penny Knitt, Marjorie Melinda, Anthony, Radiva, Francisco, Destiny, and Dr. Porter. And we're letting here we come to CDLC, which is hosted by OTAN and is the California Distance Learning Co-operative. We hope to see you there. Yes.


Okay, welcome back to our live event. Hopefully your breakout rooms were good. We had three breakout rooms and we had hosts within each one of them. We had one hosted by Jonathan, one by Ramon and one by Sergio. Roberto and I, we hung out with each other. So we also had a very good discussion. So we're going to take questions now. I'll give it to Roberto right now just to sort of give a real quick recap and then we're going to dive right in, do some of your discussions that you had that we're going to be taking from the boards and digesting and having a little discussion. So Roberto, do you want to lead in for just a minute? Yes, perfect. So just as a recap, the question was in the Pixel Artists case, was the wearable business unit justified in pursuing their own strategy independent from the time-tested strategy of the corporate group? And in the Laminix case, how does accepting or rejecting the video flag proposal would line up with the Laminix business strategy? So there was a question that I think is interesting which is, is there a penalty for defaulting on the contract? And I want to say two things. Number one is this question goes a little beyond what I want you to consider for the question because it refers to once you have already signed the contract, I want you to think before you sign the contract, but it's a fair question. And I think you have to have that information. It's useful to have it in a sense, but not in another one. So it is useful to have it in a sense because before you enter a contract, you want to know what is the penalty if you don't leave up to that contract. As far as I know, there was no penalty in itself. So, but if you enter into the contract with that idea in mind that there's no penalty so who cares, what's the downside? You are having the wrong mindset. The right mindset to have here is that video flat is a strategic customer of Laminix and Laminix is a leader in the area. It has a reputation that it has built through many years with a lot of effort in emphasis in quality and in service, service to the customer, technical service and delivery making sure the product is available. So this is a relationship that is based on trust. So you will be mistaken if you say, let's sign the contract, there's no penalty which I think there wasn't, there wasn't a penalty. Or if you say, let's enter and if there's no penalty, who cares? That's the wrong mindset because the price of this is that the customer would walk away from you, find somebody else and guess who's going to get their business in the future. So just to answer that question with the immediate answer and the bigger picture, more strategic answer. All right, now we have here some answers. For example, breakout room three in the case of pixel artists, they say that the wearable business unit was justified Alexis, do you want to introduce your answers? Yeah, yeah, so Sergio, actually just a quick thanks to Sergio and the two CTAs, Jonathan and Ramon for kind of guiding the breakout room. So it was really great. So we just had a submission by Sergio's room. So they thought that selecting the wearable business unit was justified in pursuing the approach of selecting suppliers, but that they actually thought that they should have collaborated with CSG end to end to see that if they could have sort of a best practices kind of scenario. So they thought that this scenario would kind of lead to lower costs and better compliance. I think this is a very interesting answer, especially the point, not so much about cost because cost for wearables is not a key, is not an imperative, but that question of compliance. And the reason is that people that tend to adopt this wearable technology are the younger generation. And Alexis, you know better than anybody because you're an expert in responsible supply chains. It is also that you're gonna say that I was so young. No. Yes, no, not anymore. So I'm just kidding. But the people that are buying these products are young people, which are also the generation that is more sensitive to things like slave labor and conflict minerals and environmental sustainability. So the issue of compliance is a very important issue. Now, I think this is, one of the things about strategy is that there is no right answer and wrong answer. But I'm gonna say this is a correct answer. There is no need to burn the bridges. There is no need to break the communication. There is no need to stop collaborating. But they were justified in pursuing their own business strategy because their market is the main factor in determining their strategy is their market and the needs and characteristics of their market and their market is fast and requires fast access to IP and fast time to market. So you cannot stop and wait for the corporate group to understand this, but you should not just break out communication, the communication should stay that it will to collaborate should stay but they were absolutely justified. So I think this answer is correct. Yeah, actually a breakout room. So this seems to be a trend that they felt that they were justified in making that decision. Whereas breakout room thought that some things that could have contributed better would be executive buy-in, better communication, coordination and alignment between units and clear chain of command. So those are different, some different components they thought would contribute. And this would be from breakout room one. Yes, I would say this is exactly on the nose. It builds upon the previous answer, even though these groups work separately. I think this is a consensus answer. The executive buy-in I think is important. Better communication which already mentioned coordination and the alignment. Now the chain of command was clear though that the wearable business unit reported directly to the head of pixel artists. They were not subject to the corporate supply group. So that's what in order for the reason led to this break communication because if the corporate group had control over the wearable supply chain, this would have ended differently. So if you notice that the column doesn't make any reference to wearables being slowed down. They were never slowed down because they didn't allow themselves to be slowed down by the corporate group. But it came at a high cost. And this was like what is in psychology is called a multi-stressed relationship. What I agree with this assessments from this group. So actually, on the flip side, breakout two had a totally different take on it. So I'll see how you feel about this. They felt that actually the pixel artist was too quick to the market and the corporate supply chain group applied an efficient supply trade strategy that was actually, oh, actually, you know what? I read it wrong. They were also in agreement. They said it was mismatched for the realities of the wearable market. So it looks like there's general consensus. Perfect. And here, let me highlight the difference in the core business of pixel artists and the wearables business. So for the core business, their strategy for the corporate group strategy for the core business is perfect. Focus on efficiency, on service, on compliance, works like clockwork for the core business. But the realization here and the takeaway is that a corporation has many business units and business units operate sometimes in their own market or their own neck of the market. And different markets can have different needs. And if you remember from the quarter five forces thing that we did, you have to determine your strategy based on the realities of your market and then how you can differentiate yourself in that market. How can you acquire an advantage that is going to allow you to have higher profitability? That's what the five forces are all about. Your ability to increase your profit. And I think the realization from the wearables group here is, look, this market is new, is different, and it needs new rules and new, with new rules come new strategic imperatives. So I think this is, again, right on the money. Right. So we have the three groups on agreement. Yeah, they have one more comment, just if you want to comment on it. They break out rooms who said that actually the Pixel Artist Company could have been more patient and approached emerging key suppliers over time with a more streamlined intellectual property or legal approach. How do you? This is a very good point. And I think it's also something that it is not an either or proposition. They can have, they can do this later, not in the first gold rush of these wearables. They can do this as a second step. But I would advise against waiting and seeing in the following sense. I don't think this is wrong. I don't think what they said is, there's nothing wrong with what they said. But here's my apprehension about that. It's a fast moving market that has no clear leader. And there is sometimes, sometimes there is a first mover advantage. So I think because they were burned before, they were trying to avoid being left behind a second time. Now this is something that sometimes goes and sometimes doesn't. There is this saying that says that the early bird gets the worm and it's usually meant to that if you are the first one, you have an advantage. But there is also this saying that says that the second mouse gets the cheese because the first mouse dies in the mouse trap. So I think this is, you can find in the reality of competitive markets, you can find examples of both.  But you can also find examples where the first company trail based plays but then failed and a second comer was actually able to succeed. I am nobody to say which strategy would be better but this is a very good point. I do think however that because they were still reeling from the recent failure, Pixelarty was not willing to risk it again. And they would rather have a footprint in the wearables and that doesn't preclude them from negotiating out the line exactly along the lines that this group has proposed for better terms and more efficient contracts and so on as a second movement. It has to do with the maturity of the product whether it's a newly launched product, whether it's a maturing product or a facing out product. I think we should go to the next case, the Laminix case. Yes. But these are all very good answers. I'm very impressed. Great, yeah. So we'll just start with some of the comments from the Laminix case. So actually breakout room three, their thought on a bit, so sort of a reminder on it was whether they should actually accept the contract between for flat video, flat video, right? Video flat, sorry, excuse me. And so actually breakout room thought that they should accept the contract because it would increase their market share, but actually the problem lied in the execution of the project management planning and they really should have stayed the feasibility of their capabilities and plan before they accepted the contract and then whether it actually kind of connected with their overall mission or vision for the company. This is an excellent point. And here I would like Arthur, if you can bring up the after slides, the next two slides, there's something I wanna show you. If you remember, Laminix's business strategy had four pillars. I wanna show you here, this slide that Arthur is showing, if we reject the proposal, if we are Laminix and we reject the proposal from video flat. This is a proposal just to make sure that we are on the same page. We're saying that the markets are moving in a more innovative direction. We have a key customer, strategic customer, bringing us a proposal that requires innovation should we take it or not. In the pillar of retaining our market share, what do you think is gonna happen if you don't move along with one of your strategic customers? There is a risk, I would argue, that you're gonna lose some of your market share because that strategic customer is gonna look and find what they need elsewhere. So you may erode your existing base if you don't serve their needs. The other pillar of growing with the markets, this is exactly what the wider Laminix is. It is a new market. It is a new segment within the market. That is because it's new, it has all the potential to grow.  So rejecting the proposal would fail on account of retaining your market share and it would fail on account of growing with new markets. Now, what about your ability to command high prices? This is exactly the case of the proposal. They are gonna pay you higher price for this special product. This is what you want to do if you wanna charge more. Remember that this is a market where competitors from China are starting to introduce cheaper alternatives to your product. As those competitors improve their quality, your ability to command higher prices is gonna be eroded if those products are not innovative. So it also fails on this pillar of commanding high prices. If you reject the proposal, you're walking away from a chance to charge higher prices. The only thing where rejecting the proposal makes sense with your current strategy is minimizing final cost. It is cheaper. It is cheaper not to do this because it doesn't disrupt your very efficient supply chain. Now, if you show me Arthur the next slide, let's look how accepting the proposal would play out with a strategy. It would align with the retaining your market share because Videoflat is gonna be happy with you as a supplier. You're gonna give you more business. It's gonna align with the grow the markets because this is a new market segment and you would be a pioneer. You'll be a first mover in this segment. And also it aligns with your ability to command high prices. The only problem is that it doesn't help you minimize your cost. Actually, it will increase your cost. But there is also, if you remember, when we saw the strategy, there was the idea of support and there was the idea of consistency, but there was also the idea of a coverage. Coverage referring to blind spots. You don't want to have blind spots. And a blind spot in the Laminix business strategy is on innovation. They don't have anything on innovation. They are not known as innovators. So if they decide to accept the strategy, they will have to add a new pillar that says we're gonna give innovation a strategic priority. All right, now having said that, let me come back to the proposal from the group. You can turn it down, Arjun, thank you. So the group is saying they should have accepted it because it better aligns with their strategy, but they should have executed better. And this is exactly right. They should have accepted the proposal. I mean, there's no single answer, but I mean, if they are going to accept it, which I think they should have, then they should have made sure that they execute on that promise. How they could execute is something I'm not gonna discuss, because I would be giving away answers to a question that you may or may not be getting. But let me just say that it would be very much aligned with your strategy to accept this proposal. What did other groups say, Alexis? Right, so actually there wasn't as much agreement on this question as the other. So breakout room two thought that they should have actually said no to the specific business and wait for the market to mature and then actually they would step in with sort of their efficiency pitch, because that's their strength. Yeah, I wanna agree partially with them. I think there is a case to be made for rejecting the proposal and it is the following. Laminix had an internal conflict between three imperatives, the service, the inventory and the cost. And they had not reconciled that conflict. So I think there is a case to be made for saying we are not ready to take this proposal now. However, I disagree with the part where they say they should wait for the market to mature because the problem is that you have other people that are better at price competition than you, including this many, what is called the basically the Chinese supply base. You're not gonna be able to compete on price with those guys. Well, maybe because I shouldn't say that because maybe on the economies of scale, you can't compete. But what I should say is that it would be hard to command high prices if you're competing on price. It's kind of a counterintuitive. You cannot have it both ways. So I disagree with that part. What would I would say is they can reject the proposal but not wait for the market to mature. They should get their house in order now and they should get their act together in terms of innovation. Do we have any time for one more comment for the other group? Well, we can do it in one minute, right? Yeah. So the final group sort of walked the fine line of both opinions. They thought that they didn't think that accepting the contract was actually conducive to their culture but that they were probably right to take on the contract because they saw an opportunity in a growing market and really strategies aren't set in stone as we know. So they felt that the execution. This is great. This is what I would say. This is exactly right. And I think that if I had to say this is what I would say they should have taken this but then the moment they took this contract they should have realized we are taking on a challenge here and challenges don't solve themselves miraculously. You have to invest and you have to get your people fired up and ready to support in this initiative and that's where they dropped the ball. Nobody wanted to own the project and they didn't want to commit plans or invest funds. That's where they really failed in committing to a proposal that they later failed to execute. Right. So great answer. Perfect. Okay. Well, I think we are right at our time. So I want to thank Dr. Roberto Perez Franco from joining us from Australia and coming back and visiting us again. We miss you so much and excellent insight on the cases. Also thank you to everyone who joined. We hope it was enjoyable. We thank Sergio, our course lead and SE1X and then also Param, Jonathan and Ramon, our CTA to help facilitate this discussion. So hope you enjoyed this and we'll be hosting one more live event for SE3X and I hope to see you there. Thanks a lot.


Yes, ma'am. Welcome to the First Unitarian Society of Madison. This is a community where curious seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical, and social issues in an accepting and nurturing environment. Unitarian Universalism supports the freedom of conscience of each individual, as together we seek to be a force for good in the world. My name is Karen Rose Gredler, and on behalf of the congregation, I want to extend a special welcome to visitors and a wholehearted welcome to all who are with us on a regular basis.  We trust that today's service will stimulate your mind, touch your heart, and stir your spirit. And now I invite you into a few moments of silence for contemplation, meditation, prayer, as we settle in and come fully into this place together. Number 360, here we have gathered. I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more important than history. I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death. And since I didn't bring my order of service with me, I have no idea what happens next. Ah, yes. We could stand and exchange friendly greetings, one with another. Oh, the chalice lighting. Somebody ring the gong and we're going to start. If you will join me in the chalice lighting, the words of the chalice lighting are printed in your order of service. We gather this hour as people of faith, with joys, sorrows, gifts, and needs. We like this beacon of hope. Nine of our quest for truth and meaning. In celebration of the life we share together. And now, ner, scrambler. Are there any children of any age who'd like to hear a story? I am very excited about this one. I think it's spectacular. Hello. Come on. What? Yes, you were. He was first by 30 seconds.  Oh, good. Some more people. Anybody else? Any older children who would like to hear this fantastic story? Oh, nine years old. Well, you're almost aged out, but we're happy to have you anyway. There is the book. It is called The Honest to Goodness Truth. And I love this book because I think it fits so well with Jim's message today because it talks about the nuance. You guys don't know what that means. That's okay. Nuance of truth. And it's by the wonderful children's writer, Patricia McKissick. Some of you who are librarians or teachers will know her name. The Honest to Goodness Truth. Now, this is set in a rural area in probably a time gone by. Libby hurried out the door and down the porch steps. Did you feed in water, old boss? Mama called from her sewing room window. Old boss was the horse. Libby stopped at the gate. Yes, mama, she answered. She was surprised at how easy that lie came out of her mouth like it was greased with warm butter. Mama stopped sewing Virginia Washington's wedding dress and came outside.  Are you sure? Mama asked in a real stern like, speak the truth and shame the devil. Libby opened her mouth. Mama placed a finger in the air as a signal for her to stop. Libby, Louise Sullivan, I'll ask you one more. And again, did you feed in water, old boss? Libby's stomach felt like she'd swallowed a handful of chicken feathers. Her eyes commenced to fill with water and her bottom lip quivered. Did yours ever do that when you're kind of nervous or something?  I was gonna do it as soon as I got back from jumping rope with Ruthie May. Well, Libby felt a lot better even though mama punished her, punished her double, for not tending to old boss. Libby couldn't play with Ruthie May. And for lying, she had to stay on the porch the whole rest of the day. It was the first time Libby had lied to mama, and as far as she was concerned, it was gonna be the last. From now on, I'll tell only the truth, she said. Can you guys see those pictures up front well enough? Oh, look at that pretty picture of her with her school friends. All the children from Briarsville were gathered outside the small church waiting on Sunday school to begin. Everybody was admiring Ruthie May's new dress and matching hat when Libby came skipping up. Morning, everybody. Morning, Ruthie May. She spoke all nice. Unlike your outfit, it's real pretty. But you've got a hole in your sock. Libby's went from the hat to the dress to the hole. Meanwhile, Libby skipped up the steps and inside the church without ever noticing the hurt feeling on her best friend's face. Services ended and same as always, Libby asked Ruthie May to walk home. No, no, no again, Ruthie May glared at her. Libby was purely surprised. What did I do?  It was the truth, Libby pronounced, feeling satisfied. It was plain mean, replied Ruthie May, and she hurried away. Well, Libby looked at the idea from the outside in and then from the inside out as she walked home alone. But by the time she trudged up her steps, she was still confused. The next morning, Libby joined a group of friends on the way to school. Did you do your geography homework, Willie asked Libby? It was easy, she answered. Not for me, Willie shook his head. I didn't understand it, so I didn't do it. First thing in class, Libby started waving her hand. Me, Ms. Jackson, me, me, Ms. Jackson. When the teacher called on her, Libby announced, Willie don't got his geography assignment. Doesn't have his homework corrected, Ms. Jackson. No, ma'am, he don't. Libby was pleased with herself.  Look, he's sticking his tongue out at her. Why'd you tell on me? He whispered as he headed to Ms. Jackson's desk to explain. With certainty, she whispered back, all I did was tell it like it is, so there. And she folded her hands neatly in her lap. Before lunchtime, Libby had told a lot of truths.  She told how Charlotte had gotten a spanking for stealing peaches off Ms. Stacy's tree, and the whole class knew that Thomas didn't have lunch money and had to borrow some from Ms. Jackson. Well, how do you think things were going by then? I think she was probably on everybody's dirt list. By the time school was out, hardly anyone would talk to her. Why are you all so mad at me, Libby asked, as her classmates started home without her? On Libby's way home, she wondered why her stomach felt as fluttery as it did when she told the lie. I promised mama I would tell the truth no matter how much it hurt. She reassured herself glumly, and that's all done. Before Libby knew it, she was in front of Ms. Tussleberry's vine-covered cottage. The woman was in her rocking chair, gliding back and forth and fanning herself with a hand-folded fan. How do Libby Louise, she called in her sing-song voice? What's that sad look you're wearing on such a pretty day? Libby jumped right in with what was bothering her. Can the truth be wrong, she asked? Oh no, Ms. Tussleberry said, fanning faster. The truth is never wrong. Always, always tell the truth. That's what I thought Libby said with a smile of relief lighting up her face. Ms. Tussleberry leaned over the railing to pluck a bloom from one of her vines that grew all over her yard and up her house. Don't you think my garden is lovely? Libby thought on it. Well, ordinarily, she would have just said yes for fear of sounding sassy. But that wasn't the truth.  Well, I declare Ms. Tussleberry gasped. Don't be mad, Libby pleaded, but it was too late. Ms. Tussleberry rushed inside her house and slammed the door. Even though Mama was busy putting the finishing touches on Virginia Washington's wedding dress, she still took time to listen to Libby's problem. I feel something awful. My friends don't like me no more anymore, repeated her mother. No, they don't. Just because I told the truth, the girl sighed deeply. Handing her mother a needle to thread Mama, asked gently, are they mad at you for telling the truth? I think so, said Libby. She was mad as a hornet when I told Ms. Jackson he didn't have his homework, and Ms. Tussleberry got plenty upset when I told her her garden looked like a jungle. Mama smiled. Oh, I see. And putting down her work, she took Libby's hand, saying, sometimes the truth is told at the wrong time or in the wrong way or for the wrong reasons. And that can be hurtful. But the honest to goodness truth is never wrong. Then Mama went back to stitching and pulling and stitching and pulling. Well, Libby walked to the barn to feed and water old boss all the time trying to get an understanding of her mother's words. Just then, Virginia Washington sacheted out of the fields, passed the barn, come for the final fitting of her wedding dress. As she watched Libby brush old boss, Virginia burst into laughter. That horse is older than black pepper, she said, shaking her head. And I doubt you could get a dollar for that old flea-ridden sway back. And she won't stop toward the house. Don't say those things about old boss. Libby called after her, throwing her arms around the horse's neck. She knew he wasn't a fine carriage horse. He'd once been. But why did Virginia have to rub it in? Now Libby thought back on her own truth telling and Mama's words suddenly became crystal clear. The next day Libby caught up with her friends on the way to school. She told Ruthie Mae, you did have a hole in your sock, but I could have whispered it to you instead of hollering it out for everyone to hear. I'm sorry, Ruthie Mae smiled. You finally got it, she said. Libby apologized to Willie too. I should have let you tell Ms. Jackson about your own homework. But hey, he had it. Do you think you could help me with my geography homework? No problem, said Libby. But there was one more person she had to see. On the way home she headed straight for Ms. Tussleberry's house. Libby found her neighbor out front down on all fours. See how she's crawling around down there. Take care of her weeds. When Ms. Tussleberry saw her, she wiped her brow with the back of her hand and flashed a full smile. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings yesterday, Libby said. Living weeds, you were right, Ms. Tussleberry replied. This place had gone completely and uncontrollably wild. But you were so mad at me. Ms. Tussleberry waved a disarming hand. The truth is often hard to chew, but if it's sweetened with love, then it's a little easier to swallow. Libby really didn't understand, but she picked up a hoe and began helping. Things are really looking pretty good around here, she said. And that was the honest to goodness truth. So there's a difference in the truth and the truth and how we tell it and how we say it and whether it's sweet when we do that.  We are going to sing. What are we singing? What are we singing? 16 is a gift to be simple. We almost all know this one by heart. Please be seated. The first reading Humpty Dumpty appears in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass that was written in 1872, where he discusses semantics and pragmatics with Alice in the following dialogue. I don't know what you mean by glory, Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. Of course you don't till I tell you. I meant there's a nice knock down argument for you. But glory doesn't mean a nice knock down argument, Alice objected. When I use the word Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean neither more nor less. The question is said Alice whether you can make words mean so many different things. The question is said Humpty Dumpty which is it which is to be master, that's all. Alice was too much puzzle to say anything. So after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. They've a temper some of them. Particularly verbs. They're the proudest. Adjectives you can do anything with but not verbs. However I can manage the whole lot impenetrably intra impenetrability. That's what I say. Our second reading do I have a song? Our second reading is from Dr. Rachel Noble professor of environmental science. Gone are the days when we simply read our local paper or watch one nightly news program after dinner. We're flooded by information from the internet, social media and cable TV. Whom can we trust? How do we know what the news we're digesting and redistributing is even true? It turns out that what we believe and don't believe is based on a combination of emotion, logic and memory. And the complex cocktail is all housed in our brains. This can be dangerous leading us down a path of believing information that isn't even true. Research has found that people usually gravitate toward news that supports their own beliefs and ignores information that challenges their views. This is known as confirmation bias according to Talia Shara a neuroscience scientist and author of The Influential Mind. It is extremely difficult to open someone to a new idea. Data is not enough. It must be communicated in a way that taps into people's emotions, needs and desires, Shara says. This helps explain how folks can believe a seemingly questionable story. If it generates an emotional response, stoking fear or reinforcing beliefs, we bite. Advertising experts such as Troy King have known this for years. People buy into something because it is an emotional connection, King says. Logic has little to do with it. Even so, most Americans feel fake news is hazardous. 64% of U.S. adults say fabricated news stories cause confusion about issues and events. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. I want to find some bias upbeat. I have said before in this same venue see if you were paying attention. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who divide people into two groups and those who don't. Keep it simple. But simple and easy. I remember vividly Donald Trump's great moment of clarity. Health care is complicated. Who knew? There are three umpires sitting in a locker room comparing strategies. First up says some of them strikes and some of them's balls and I calls them as I seize them. Second up says some of them strikes and I calls them as they are. Third up says some of them strikes and some of them's balls but they ain't nothing till I calls them. First up is a realist accepting his role and his limitations. The second up is a fundamentalist. He believes that his calls exactly reflect reality that his words are true. The third ump is a semanticist maybe even a you-you who understands that words are human ambiguity lurks meanings are shaky intentions are murky. He knows that a pitch is a ball that passes through an imaginary window but without that window there would be no game. My topic is fundamentalism. Not so much religious fundamentalism but plain old garden variety fundamentalism. Things are what they are and our words represent them. It's simple as Humpty Dumpty explained to Alice. Words are powerful. Kids learn this very early the meaning of no and mine and a little later why. Remember those classic dialogues? Why? Because because why? Because I said so. The basic principle of fundamentalism. It contains the unspoken idea because it's our house and we're bigger than you are. Yep. It's about power. Fundamentalism is a part of my own religious journey so deeply ingrained in my 16 years of Catholic education it was invisible to me. When I began my theological studies I'm guessing that most of my classmates were unconscious fundamentalists as we sat down to our first class in theology sacred scripture. In the Christian tradition we were taught that the Bible was inspired by God. Every word in it is true. The truth was revealed to the sacred writers passed on by the leaders of the Judeo-Christian community clergy, writers, parents down through the generations extracting that truth from the Bible is a bit tougher. What many Bible fundamentalists do is piece together bits and pieces that they can understand and feel strongly about, particularly in matters of race and sexual morality. By the end of the first week my class, the largest class that seminary ever had had divided into two groups. The first group said forget about all this scholarly analysis we can't learn all that stuff we're just going to hold on to the simple principle it's the word of God and it's all true. Pure fundamentalist position. Second group said if the Bible is the revealed word of God it must be important to learn what those words mean. To give up simplistic magical notions of inspiration and probe the sources to find their meaning. So, what would be a non fundamentalist way of understanding the Bible? The various books of the Old and New Testaments that grew out of the history of the Jewish people and represents an interpretation of their experiences based on the foundational principle of their faith. That Yahweh had chosen them as His people and demanded fidelity to His covenant. The priestly compiler of these experiences did not select them to be pious or edifying. Consider the murderous Cain the father of the race. Consider Jacob the hustler who conned his dim older brother out of right. Consider the adulterous David and so on. One of the deepest assumptions underlying the accounts of the Old and New Testaments is the primacy of patriarchy. The so called religions of the book Judaism, Christianity Islam are desert religions. They have nomadic roots that tribes survived and were susceptible of patriarchy. One man the Sharif made a decision and that was it. Fast, indisputable efficient. I think there are actually deep biological roots for patriarchy which explain the fierceness with which its defenders respond to threats. Primatologists distinguish between tournament species in which the male is as much as 50% larger than the female. He is concerned with passing on his own genes to the next generation and has only a transient physical relationship with the female who bears his offsprings. Think the great apes gorillas, baboons, chimps. Their opposite numbers are called pair bonding species like bonobos where the female and male are of this equal size, bear equal responsibility for the offspring and form stable monogamous relationships. Of course, homo sapiens that's us are not pair bonding species exactly. Males are typically about 10% larger than the females. Males are much disposed are not biologically disposed to monogamy are much disposed to establish rankings by exercising power symbolically or physically. Think muscle cars and corner offices. Sapiens create social systems and practices that valorize patriarchy as a structuring principle. And because the biological edge of sapien males is so small the need to defend that edge in the culture wars is fierce. The passionate response to the Me Too movement is evidence of the widespread experience of women and not just women to predatory sexual behaviors and perhaps worse the smug sense of entitlement which has dismissed these behaviors in the past. Boys will be boys. What good is power if you can't exercise it? The assertion of patriarchy is often most obvious in the realm of religious practice. Consider the awkward tangle being experienced by contemporary evangelicals in the current political and cultural scene. As the prominent evangelical pastor Tim Keller recently wrote evangelical used to denote people who claim the high moral ground. Now in popular usage the word is nearly synonymous with hypocrite. So it is little wonder that last year the Princeton evangelical fellowship 17-year-old ministry dropped the E word from its name becoming the Princeton Christian fellowship. Too many students had identified the term with conservative political ideology. Indeed a number of serious evangelicals are distancing themselves from the word for similar reasons. Professors Ron Hessinger and Kristen Tobey also suggest that evangelicals are concerned with the preservation of patriarchy. Many commentators have puzzled about the seeming hypocrisy of those who would see adultery and womanizing as grave sins and yet ignore these behaviors in their ministers and political leaders mentioning no names. And yet for those who know the history of evangelicalism in America this should be no surprise at all. Hessinger and Tobey insist there are good reasons why we need to expect this result. The history and sexual politics of evangelicalism in America fit well with Trumpian attitudes. As it turns out the idea of evangelical Christianity is rooted in a conception of biblically inspired male dominance and superiority. Used as a selling point for the religion spread in the south and cleverly packaged as family values. The authoritarian dynamic was central to southern antebellum families Hessinger and Tobey point out to win southern hearts evangelicals buttressed patriarchy empowering fathers and father figures looking the other way when they took prerogatives that crossed moral lines. Catering to southern values evangelicalism became one of the predominant forms of religious expression in America.  This is characteristic of a cult because it spawns a group persecution complex that solidifies the community. As the authors point out religious outsiders have much to gain from boundary maintenance often courting outcast status or even persecution to rally the faithful us and them. We know the problems of our society they are often interrelated economic inequality race patriarchy over aggressive policing uncontrolled and technically vulnerable electronic media fake news vast expenditures by one issue lobbyists ecological disasters happening before our cameras and instruments well make your own list nothing on the list is new but technological changes have intensified the issues. I think the majorities of Americans still believe with various levels of conviction that the democratic process can address the problems of our nation. We you use are committed to this as one of our founding principles fin tano tool writing in the irish times where would somebody name fin tano tool write if not in the irish times fin tano tools suggest a darker scenario the president may be deliberately indifferent to the nuances of politics but he is skilled and experienced in the process of test marketing dating back to his early career in marketing himself planning stories in the gossip pages of the new york tabloids uh... then confirming or denying them after studying the reaction and he recreated himself in reality tv where the story lines can be adjusted in response to the ratings put something out there pull it back adjust based on the response then go again consider the border immigration story zero tolerance policy blame it on obama blame it on the law claim powerlessness then act to change the policy but resist implementation while the nation reacts in horror fox news which the president watches her validation reacts with enthusiasm mocking the images calling the children actors the immigrants and infestation the ratings affirmed that this treatment otul suggests that the administration is test marketing fascist news while the public response to the border policies have been intensely negative the base is solidly behind the president and so otul points out hitler never had the political support of the majority of his people but was successful in the gradual demonization of the jews with the results that we all remember it's a very ominous observation so how can we as you use address these problems this is the story of the newly elected senator who tells the staff speech writer that he's cutting back on staff and that he doesn't need his speech writer but then tells the writer as a last assignment to sketch out his inaugural address the embittered scribe sits down to his smith corona lists the problems of the state of noison then writes at the top of the second page okay senator, you're on your own I have the feeling that I've done that to myself my intention in these reflections is not to condemn fundamentalism because I think it is natural it has a childlike directness and clarity we can see that the earth is flat we can see that the sun passes across the sky we can add up the ages in the bible and come to a precise knowledge of the age of the earth do the man but at some point in the maturing process we have to recognize that the universe is more complex than we imagine perhaps than we can imagine that human behavior even our own is beyond simple explanation nor is my intention to condemn patriarchy outright but to recognize its excesses even Pope Francis a man obviously striving to practice an authentic personal christianity has until recently remained blind to the inferior status of women in the church has believed and trusted in his fellow bishops in the face of overwhelming evidence of sexual abuse and their denial of it nor do I wish to devalue the personal religious experience of evangelicals liberating sense of being born again forgiven loved but rather to be alert to the dangers of righteousness its long bloody contributions to the history of religions we love stories because they have an end and at least the implication of meaning we tell stories to express our understanding of how our world works when our stories attempt to explain how our world works we call them myths when we incorporate them into formalized tellings rituals and sacramentalize them incorporating the physical world into the telling they evolve into religions since none of us, Steve and Hawking included have a mind that encompasses everything our stories have to be inadequate limited, incomplete we don't call a story of our religion truth we call it our understanding and we invite others to share that understanding and we try to grow in our understanding and in our practice reaching in to practice mindfulness reaching out to deepen our community caring than acting let's begin that by starting our offering of the gifts for our congregation in addition to your generous monetary gifts we also appreciate the many gifts of those who helped to make our services run smoothly this morning your greeter was Claire Boggs your ushers are Gail Bliss Tom Dolmage and Brian Karnas your sound operator is Maureen Friend hospitality coffee preparation lemon water is being prepared by Blaise Thompson our lay minister is Pamela McMullen tour guide is John Powell I believe he's going to be here and if you would like to have a tour please join John over at what is your left side of the service of auditorium right after the service let's see Karen Jagger brought us the lovely flowers that are up here by the chalice and Hannah Pinkerton is in charge of care of the pulpit flowers or pulpit palms for this week we join together each week a community who gathers with joys and sorrows written on our hearts in this place we love and are loved we forgive and we are forgiven we give and we receive in return we come together to find strength and common purpose turning our minds and hearts toward one another seeking to bring our circle of concern to all who need our love and support we do have an entry in our book of Concern and Joy which sits outside the front door to the auditorium Charlotte Wolfe would like to light a candle and I will do that as soon as I quit talking for a dear friend Carol Gampler admitted to the hospital after a heart attack and pneumonia diagnosis so we will all think of her Char thank you for mentioning it in fact let me light the candle right now before I forget let us all with Char hold Carol in our hearts let's please take a moment to remember all the joys and all the sorrows too tender to share that live in the fullness of our hearts let's just take a moment may we remember that we are part of a web of life that makes us one with all humanity one with all the universe may we be grateful for the miracle of life that we share and the hope that gives us the power to care to remember and to love and now please rise as you are able for our closing hymn number six which is just as long as I have breath is to mend our broken world if religion cannot do that it is worthless and what our world needs now is not belief, not certainty but compassionate action and respect practically expressed for the sacred value of all human beings even our enemies our service is now concluded please remain for the postlude


What's up everybody, Jason here for jaspyscasebrakes.com. We just sold out our last officially officially pack filler to give away the last two spots in the flawless football random number block with this 2022 Mosaic NFL hobby pack break number 24. So again guys, first we're gonna do the break randomize because our names teams should be the hits out. Then at the end we'll re-randomize the names and the top two get into the flawless football R&B which is coming up next which I'm just gonna unlock flawless number one. So let's do the break first. Roll four to five nine times. Here we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, five. Well, down a wheel. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Holds down to the jets. All right, again, stick to what you got guys. All right, here we go. Wow, we were teased in the first one earlier today. Not teased in this one. Kenny Pickett, rookie autograph out of Mosaic hobby pack. Let's go. Jesus, we were teased so bad earlier. And Will, I think you were also teased earlier when you got the Steelers. How about this, buddy? You're gonna get the Steelers on this one. Kenny Pickett, nice. Bit of bounce back right there. All right, so finally something nice out of the little hobby pack filler. This is what we were teased with earlier, guys. Same kind of pack from earlier. Saw the Steelers logo, saw the quarterback, but it was Chris Oladocon. And now, finally got one. There you go. Nice, now let's switch scenes. And I'm gonna give away the last two spots in the RMB for flaws. Roll it, five out of two, seven times. Good luck. Oh, sorry, gotta get the original list. All right, five out of two, seven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven, seven, seven. Will and Will, there you go, man. Primetime got the last two, played the odds game. Thank you, man. And again, coming up next is gonna be the RMB, which is gonna luck for all these guys, thank you.


Good morning everybody. Welcome to FECON. Welcome to Atlanta, Georgia. We're thrilled to have you our first time FECON event. We expected about 500 and I think we capped out at about 750 so we're thrilled that you're here and that you come from so many places but all with the same idea in mind and that is to advance liberty perhaps the most noble objective earthly objective that we can seek to attain and thank you Matt for your remarks and Glenn before him Matt I should point out is in fact a fellow Grove City College graduate we're very proud to have graduated from that fine school although maybe I'm jumping to conclusions so we did graduate didn't we Matt I don't that's the only part I don't quite remember but I think this is coming off here okay before I get started I wanted to ask if there's anyone in the room who lost a roll of hundred dollar bills wrapped with a rubber band and the reason I ask is we found the rubber band 49 years ago a 14 year old in Western Pennsylvania first heard of the Foundation for Economic Education began to read its publications and it changed his life and that kid was me and if somebody had said to me back then nearly a half a century from now you'll be running that place I would have been awestruck and dumbfounded and now nine years into my time as president of fee I'm still awestruck and dumbfounded every day of the week what a venerable institution fee is with a 71 year history founded by one of the greats in the Movement for Liberty Leonard E. Reed no relation although I still have lots of people who say you know I wish I had met your father but he was a great man though we were not related fee does that to you it changes your life and it's it has done that for untold millions of people in our 71 years from all over the world now I suppose when I began reading fee publications in 1968 I already had a few instincts in the right direction thanks to a father who himself was not a reader of our kind of stuff but he had good common sense and great instincts and one of my earliest memories of that is I must have been maybe five or six years of age we lived about 11 miles from the border with Ohio and Pennsylvania at that time and I think to a considerable degree still has had laws on the books that protected dairy farmers from competition from milk coming from other states thank you Pennsylvania had these dairy laws that prevented or or hampered competition with milk coming in from out of state producers but my father didn't care much for those kinds of things and he noticed that the price of milk in next door Ohio was considerably less than the mandated price in Pennsylvania and there was a little town called Negley Pennsylvania just over the border few minutes ride from our house where you could buy milk as much as you wanted at a very cheap price and bring it back and in his case he decided to arrange with neighbors to sell milk to them for less than the legal price in Pennsylvania but for a little bit more than what he picked it up for in Ohio and on Saturdays we would frequently oops sorry about that on Saturdays we would jump in the car and go over to Negley and we'd fill the car up with milk and I remember at the time it was such a thrill because my father would tell my sister and me you know keep keep it down keep it covered if we get pulled over by the police don't say anything about the milk and so little did I know that maybe my career in advancing liberty was starting right then as a milk smuggler but it was some years later in 1968 when I deepened my understanding of liberty in the principles of free markets by being introduced to fee for the first time it changed my life later as a student at Grove City College I was enormously influenced by the teacher that both Matt and I had Dr. Hans Sennholz and every Sennholz student is full of stories of what it was like to learn under this great champion of Austrian and free market economics and my favorite story involves a very important principle that Dr. Sennholz gave us in the process of responding to a student he had just given a lecture a brilliant lecture for almost 50 minutes on labor unions and the evils of compulsory unionism and a student near the end of the period raised his hand and asked Dr. Sennholz this question he said Dr. Sennholz what you say sounds pretty good but not too many people here in our part of the country really believe in that so how are we to know that it's that it's true and for a moment there was complete silence in the room we didn't know if he was going to walk out or jump on the student or what but he got very quiet and then he said this truth is not a numbers game you can be alone and you can be right and then he paused and said I am alone and I am right but I'll never forget the truth is not a numbers game part of that because it's been so core to my thinking ever since well we at fee have principles don't we everyone associated with fee I think would proudly say we have principles again how many people go through life unable to ever say that they're committed to a set of ideas or what those ideas might be in my mind that's tragic but at fee we champion the concept of standing for something believe in something that you know to be right and work for it don't be a bystander when it comes to ideas that are both right and good don't be like the character Groucho Marx played in one of his films where he says to a group of people those are my principles if you don't like them I have others in other words I'll have whatever principles you want me to have and when the next audience wants them to be another set of principles I'll drop the first and adopt the second that's a person who has no principles at all if you're not willing to stand for something you will probably fall for anything at fee I'm so proud to say that even though we have changed in many ways we're focusing now on young people newcomers to ideas of liberty we're using technology like never before we've moved our headquarters we've cut our costs we expanded our outreach in so many ways but our principles have never changed they are identical to what they were when Leonard Reed started fee 71 years ago principles like private property the importance of the individual and limited government free enterprise peaceful voluntary interaction between peoples now maybe we've added in recent years a new dimension it's really not a new one Leonard would say well I was talking about that too we we have sort of dusted it off and maybe made it a bit more central to our message in that dimension is the indispensable connection between liberty and personal character I think fee has become in the last few years perhaps the premier organization in the liberty movement that seeks to advance an understanding of this critical point that there is an indispensable connection you can't have one without the other that liberty and character are two sides of the same coin and that liberty itself is a very high calling anybody can be a socialist it doesn't require much in the way of standards of character all it requires is that you want something that belongs to someone else and have the willingness to use force or employ force on the part by others to get it that's all it takes but liberty has much higher standards liberty is the only social political economic arrangement that requires that in order to have it we must maintain lofty standards of personal character we have to respect each other our rights our lives our choices our property our contracts we have to live in peace because if we don't we will lose our liberties and quite often our lives as well principles import are important they're critically important when it comes to personal character at fee we talk about how liberty requires that we be an honest people that we be truth tellers that we speak truth to power it requires that we be humble people at least in one sense in an intellectual sense that we recognize that as much as we may know there is still a universe of knowledge out there that we don't know one of the messages of Leonard Reed's classic essay I pencil liberty and character require that we be patient that we seek to work things out with others in a peaceful fashion even if it takes a little time liberty requires that we be responsible that we step up to the plate accept accountability for our actions and refrain from pointing the finger of blame on others when the source of the problem may be our own poor judgments liberty requires that we be people of courage because liberty is always under assault always has been always will be not simply from overseas powers that may wish to take our liberties but even under assault from people within our very midst people who will not respect the lives and the property and the contracts and the persons of other people these are the principles along with others that undergird both liberty and character you can't have one without the other I know we're here to share ideas make new friends learn new things but I hope you'll also consider this event a celebration a celebration of the principles that we share one of the principles I haven't yet mentioned but I'll close with it is the notion that we should celebrate the uncommonness of individuals this is a day when we hear so much egalitarian talk about the common man we put the common man on a pedestal but the more I think about this the more I think how terrible would be for a parent to tell a child Johnny if you work work real hard someday you can be common that's in my mind that's child abuse it's the uncommonness that we seek what we really want to see in a free society is people exerting their individuality being what makes them unique and special mustering those character traits that I mentioned to be uncommonly good and uncommonly great and so I'd like to leave you with a great little essays very short from a Turkish immigrant to the United States by the name of Dean Alfange this is almost a hundred years old he wrote this I do not choose to be a common man it is my right to be uncommon if I can I seek opportunity not security I do not wish to be a kept citizen humbled and dulled by having the state look after me I want to take the calculated risk to dream and to build to fail and to succeed I refuse to barter incentive for a dole I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat it is my heritage to stand erect proud and unafraid to think and act for myself enjoy the benefits of my creations and to face the world boldly and say this I have done thank you all and now I'm pleased to invite you to any one of the seven breakout sessions which are in that direction thanks everybody