Discuss your opinions on how the Adrian School district can improve,
both financially as well as improving the quality of the district (question submitted by Cole Young).

Steve Cooper: That's a tough one. To give an answer you really need to be involved with board. The financial side is based so much on the state's reimbursement program, therefore it's hard to judge without working with the board. As for the quality of the school district, it's simple. It's based on the class and caliber of educators you hire. A school is only as good as its educators.

Steve Lewis: We can improve the quality of the district by electing quality board members, with the best interest of the children in mind. We can improve financially by making good decisions.

Monte Johnson: Ensure that every Adrian R-III School District employee has the resources and budget needed to assist/challenge our student body to excel in all phases of performance, no matter what the challenge. I short, increase every student's academic achievements. In my opinion, the most important issue facing any school board today is dealing with funding/budget issues. Today more than ever, we need to use every resource we can receive and I think we need to possibly increase our bonds/bonding capacity to ensure we are taking a proactive approach to all issues. The issue with improving is that, a person that is running for school board will not know all the issues that come with change until they have been a school board member for a while and become informed/educated about all the issues.

Vanessa Tallman: no reply

Kellie Case: no reply

Jim Hester: no reply

What qualities and experience will you bring to the board?

Steve Cooper: I have run my own business and been a heath care administrator, nursing home and long-term care consultant. That has taught me management in a large organization. Several of those have been larger than our school district.

Steve Lewis: I am a certified board member, with three years experience.

Monte Johnson: I'm 42 years of age, happily married with three wonderful children. My career field has been in construction with an area of proficiency in technical, administration and budgeting processes. I would be one more individual with different life and career experiences and an open mind to assist the team/board.

Vanessa Tallman: no reply

Kellie Case: no reply

Jim Hester: no reply

I sent three questions to the six school board candidates. The answers are given in the order I received them. The election is on Tuesday, April 5.

Why do you want to be on the school board?

Steve Cooper: I'd like to pay back to the community what I've attained over the years. I have a thorough knowledge of education and understand what's needed to increase the abilities of our students.

Steve Lewis: I want to be on the school board because I want to help Make our school The best it can be.

Monte Johnson: I wish to assist in any way possible, with the continuing positive leadership teams that the school district boards, past and present have achieved. Board members are charged with determining the educational programs of our school district for our students. We should continue to be proactive in developing comprehensive strategies and programs for existing and future issues.

Vanessa Tallman: no reply

Kellie Case: no reply

Jim Hester: no reply

Yesterday hearings began for the Supreme Court case of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, Ltd. This is a very important case. The movie studio is suing the creator of a peer to peer file sharing network, because the software makes it easy for users to exchange copyrighted material.

This case is not about whether it's legal or illegal to trade copyrighted material. That is already well established. What MGM is trying to do is hold the technology responsible. They want to make it illegal to create products that have the potential for copyright infringement. If they win this case, then it may overturn the Court's earlier decision of Sony Corp. v. Universal Studios, in which the Court ruled that Sony's Betamax recorder was legal even though it could be used for copyright infringement. This is the case that has made it possible for us to have the VCR, TiVo, iPod and really the personal computer. If technology that can infringe copyright is outlawed, then none of those things would be legal.

Let's take a quick roll call of supporters for each side. In the MGM corner we have the MPAA, RIAA, ASCAP, Bush administration, Major League baseball, Napster LLC, the Christian Coalition and a few major recording artists. In the Grokster corner: EFF, Creative Commons, Intel, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Mark Cuban, and several independent recording artists (this LA Times story explains why independent artists support file-sharing). You can look over a more complete list and read the briefs that the supporters have filed here and here.

Here is a brief summary of the first day's hearings.

Although not in its original sarchastic bent. (We'll save that for next week.) I observed Lent for the first time this year, thanks to our favorite ecumenical friends, Matt and MaryEllen. The details: I decided to give up snacks after dinner, since that is a vice that is hard to let go of, but not as hard as, say, TV or the Internet. I also did readings and prayers from the Praying Lent site (although not every day. Hey, I'm not perfect.) So, without further ado, here are my top 5 reasons for observing Lent:

1. Brings structure to prayer time
I am often at a loss for what to pray, which is probably why I don't do it very often. I liked the fact that there were opening and closing prayers, which helps my structured personality. I also liked praying through the intercessions, which focused on prayers for the lost, the poor, the church, etc.

2. Bible readings were relevant to the season
The site also had daily readings, some OT and some NT. I decided to read only the Gospels because I have a short attention span and I knew it would be about Jesus, the guy I'm trying to get closer to by doing this anyway. This became so important to me, especially during the last week, as I was reading accounts of Jesus' washing the disciple's feet; of his betrayal; of his crucifixion. By Good Friday, I think I was actually mourning the loss of Jesus from the perspective of those who knew him well. I was able to think about what they must have thought and experienced--extreme sorrow. Our church had a Stations of the Cross ceremony as well (apparently with revisions from a Christian church minister, which made it 'okay' for us to do). The night was very cold and as I stood there in various parts of the church yard listening to the readings and prayers, I felt sorrow, I understood the immensity of God compared with my own insignificance. I also felt a sense of community, which I will explore next.

3. Promotes community
While doing the readings and prayers, I knew that people everywhere, from different backgrounds (church and otherwise) were coming together for a common goal--to seek out Jesus, to understand him better, to feel in communion with him. I believe that my spiritual growth is increased when I'm in accord with other believers; these are the times I feel most filled up and closest to God's presence.

4. Teaches discipline
Abstaining from snacks after dinner might not seem like a lot, but when you eat like I do, it is. In the times we had people over during the 40 days of Lent, I served people food at my house that I couldn't eat. A few times I felt like I bent the rules (not eating dinner until late so I could have dessert right after), but all in all, I was successful. Although that wasn't the most important thing, of course. I decided that each time I felt hungry and couldn't eat, I would pray. Sometimes it was just a small prayer, akin to "God, I remember that you're there", but it was better than I usually do.

5. Makes Easter more meaningful
Instead of a random day in March (sometimes in April) where we go to church, I felt that I had been preparing for a celebration for over a month. Especially after the darkness I experienced on Good Friday, I felt that Easter Sunday was a release--of emotions, of celebration, of gratitude. I have to say that Easter 2005 was the most meaningful Easter I have ever had. For the rest of the week, I plan to continue with the Easter prayers and readings. They are meant to be reminders of the Good News. As I felt the sorrow of the early church when Jesus died, now I can read and pray about their celebration.

I know this post is totally out of character for me, but I felt that I should share this with you. Maybe you can join me in observing Lent next year. Any ideas for 'normal' top 5 lists? You can put them in the comments.

The Easter gallery is up. Emma had a great time coloring eggs on Saturday afternoon. When we got home from church the eggs and the basket were skattered across the kitchen, every one of them cracked. The cat had jumped on the counter, knocked them off and then spent the morning playing with the eggs. I found one of them under the dresser in Emma's room. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had not put all of our eggs in one basket. [pause for laughter] They weren't damaged too badly, so we picked them up and took them to my parents' for hiding. Emma thought it was fun.

The great question that hovers over this issue, one that we have dealt with mainly by indifference, is the question of what people are for. Is their greatest dignity in unemployment? Is the obsolescence of human beings now our social goal? One would conclude so from our attitude toward work, especially the manual work necessary to the long-term preservation of the land, and from our rush toward mechanization, automation, and computerization. In a country that puts an absolute premium on labor-saving measures, short workdays, and retirement, should there be any surprise at permanence of unemployment and welfare dependency? Those are only different names for our national ambitions (Berry 125).

Again, I have a hard time agreeing with this. For one, I like computers. I like work-saving devices. But I have a hard time denying that there's some truth in what he says here, too.

I'm not posting this quote from What Are People For? by Wendell Berry because I agree with it. I don't know if I do. But it is thought-provoking and I'd like to hear what everyone thinks.

The ideal of competition always implies, and in fact requires that any community must be divided into a class of winners and a class of losers. The division is radically different from the other social divisions: that of the more able and the less able, or that of the richer and the poorer, or even that of the rulers and the ruled. These latter divisions have existed throughout history and at time, at least, have been ameliorated by social and religious ideals that instructed the strong to help the weak. As a purely economic ideal, competition does not contain or imply any such instructions. In fact, the defenders of the ideal of competition have never known what to do with or for the losers. The losers simply accumulate in human dumps, like stores of industrial waste, until they gain enough misery and strength to overpower the winners. The idea that the displaced and dispossessed "should seek retraining and get into another line of work" is, of course, utterly cynical; it is only the hand-washing practiced by officials and experts. A loser, by definition, is somebody whom nobody knows what to do with. There is no limit tot he damage and the suffering implicit in this willingness that losers, should exist as a normal economic cost (Berry 131).

Last night when I got home from class Jenny came over and we got online and started a game of Ticket to Ride with Mike in Florida. It's not very often that all three of the siblings get together and do something, so it was a treat. The online version of ticket to ride is pretty fun. If you want to play then go to the link above and get a username and password. It's free to sign up, but you can't create games. Since I own the game and I resistered with the code that came in the box I can create games. Let me know if you sign up and we can play some time. Mike went out and bought a microphone yesterday so we could talk via Skype while we played. In case you are wondering, Jenny won the first game and I won the second. This brings my all-time win-loss record in Ticket to Ride to 4-14.