Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
When I moved to Mongolia, I quickly got a job as an English teacher at a small private school in Darkhan. A new friend, who was also a teacher helped me get the job, and connected me to other teaching opportunities to supplement my teacher’s salary. I’m taking a break from full-time teaching for the time being, but I still have some private students, and when my friend presented me with an invitation for a visit with her 10th grade English class, I couldn’t refuse. It’s that time of year when kids already have one foot out the classroom door. They’re ready for the holidays and looking forward to a short break from their studies. In Mongolia, the holiday hype is all about New Year’s Eve, with Christmas (minus the Baby Jesus) lumped in. Mongolia may be a primarily Buddhist country, but the commercial nature of the holidays has translated well here. Christmas carols are blaring at the department stores, and cellphone ringtones have been changed to reflect the season. Lots of ABBA’s “Happy New Year” and Wham’s “Last Christmas” is going around. Keeping this in mind, the topic of the class visit needed to be lighter fare. The class wanted to know about me. They wanted to know where I came from and what I did when I was there. I came up with a lesson plan that included back issues of Giant Robot, a vocabulary worksheet about Christmas in the US, and most importantly, the Big Boss Robot and the Uglydoll Icebat snowflake template! Eric and Martin have spoken at countless academic institutions over the years, so I’d like to think I was continuing a GR tradition, but once the templates and the scissors came out, the educational value of my lesson plan dissolved into a full on crafting session. Giant Robot is as much about creativity as it has been about documenting and sharing culture, so in the end, it all worked out pretty perfectly. Everyone got in on the action, sharing three pairs of scissors their teacher had rounded up from neighboring classrooms. I had brought enough templates to practice with though, and enough for everyone to get a chance at creating both characters. I also encouraged the class to create their own designs based on the same principle as the template Eric created. Some students started experimenting when their templates were finished. Spreading holiday cheer and creativity Giant Robot style! From chilly, snowy Darkhan, wishing all of you a happy, healthy and creative holiday – however you spend it! Just make sure it includes friends, imagination and sharing. It’s better that way.
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Yes believe it. Of course, why not with a place as large as the US with apparent wealth, why not send your kids out of your way and across the globe. The graphic says it all. Look at the orange and how many students that represents. Chinese students are huge. It also explains why UCLA a 40% Asian school now has Asian food in one of the dorms “Feast at Rieber”. The photo in the link shows a “yuzu kosho” chicken sandwich. Are they kidding? That’s a highly specialized and detailed meal! Perhaps we can say, Chinese students are the new Japanese students. (VOA – Chinese Students)
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Where did you go to school, if at all? Where did it rank? Does it matter what’s at the top? It’s Hong Kong U of Science and Technology. Yes, don’t say you knew this. Number two? It’s neighbor University of Hong Kong. Best 100 Asian Universities. (US News – Best in Asia) If you’re down to know, here’s the best 400 in the world. (US News – Top 400)
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Ruth Asawa is a mid century modern related artist who gets little recognition. She does have work in numerous museums, had a solo exhibition at JANM, and now a school. The SF School of the Arts. It’s already on their website. I’m not sure if it’s changing their curriculum, but just the name value is amazing. From Ruth Asawa’s website: “In 1982, Asawa focuses her energy on building a public high school for the arts, School of the Arts (SOTA) High School. Her dream is to house SOTA in the heart of civic center so that it is in close proximity to San Francisco’s world class cultural organizations — the San Francisco Opera, Ballet, Museum of Modern Art, the Asian Art Museum, American Conservatory Theater, the Main Library, and the Symphony. Students will be able to attend a public high school where the standards are high and where they can achieve their own individual potential — as artists, as future parents, and as community members — whether they go on to become professional artists are not.”
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“The district banned sodas on campuses in 2004, starting a trend followed by the state as well as districts across the country.” From now on, kids, if you want a corn dog you’re going to have to go to the L.A. County Fair, because you won’t be able to get one at school like you’re used to. This week, you may have heard that the L.A. County School Board banned the sale of flavored milks as one way to reduce the amount of sugars school kids were getting from their little cartons of chocolate and strawberry dairy products. Well, it appears that move was just the start of a major menu overhaul the school board has planned for public school food services. Corn dogs and chicken nuggets are on their way out, and will be replaced with healthier foods like California rolls and spinach tortellini. We think this is a great idea. Because even though we love our corn dogs and chicken nuggets, there aren’t foods healthy folks should eat every day. And to grow into an adult with a sophisticated and worldly palate, it’s best to start when you’re a kid. (Los Angeles Times – Sushi for Corn Dogs)
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