2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session 2013 special election arts arts and culture author ballot measures basketball bomb books boy scouts budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal college courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration international internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana marriage media medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes television terrorism theater third parties transportation union university of oregon washington wildfire women

Similarly to pdx0707, I was very curious to hear the ideas that would come up on the show and what's on Oregonian's minds, but was unfortunately completely turned off by the first caller.  It was even more painful to realize that the questioning went on - as if the topic/caller was bringing any value, and I stopped listening.  I hope that truly creative and productive ideas were still discussed today, as the bottom-up approach is attractive and should have brought a variety of creative ideas.  I also hope that the dissapointing start of the program didn't hurt the purpose of the quest, and that OPB will do some self-investigation on what when wrong.  It really wasn't up to the caliber of OPB, its listeners, and the Meyer Trust.   

posted 2 years, 10 months ago
view in context

Just to be clear, this is not my idea, but I truly believe it has incredible potential for our kids: Can something as simple as the timing of recess make a difference in a child’s health and behavior? (NY times, Jan 25,2010). Rescheduling recess — sending students out to play before they sit down for lunch appears to have led to some great changes in both cafeteria and classroom. Schools that have tried it report that when children play before lunch, there is less food waste and higher consumption of milk, fruit and vegetables. And some teachers say there are fewer behavior problems. The few schools who have tried the switch surprisingly report that moving recess before lunch ended up adding about 15 minutes of classroom instruction.

There are logistical issues with initiating that switch in Portland, but if we can get our kids to eat more, waste less, and learn more via a simple change of schedule, I'd say we need to at least try it.  And a million is hopefully more than enough!

posted 2 years, 10 months ago
view in context