Seen Read Heard: April 2023

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling (The Free Press, Podcast Series)

I heard that J.K. Rowling’s reputation was taking a beating because of some tweets she had made. I also heard that there was a podcast that included a great deal of Rowling herself talking about those tweets. I found myself listening to all six episodes of the podcast. It was a well-crafted narrative with a host telling her own story and doing an impressive job getting Rowling and her critics to share their thinking while keeping the listener eager for more. 

In the end, the channel on which the podcast was posted is worth further study. The Free Press (thefp.com) calls itself an independent news source. They position themselves as “silo busters” by not being beholden to any one perspective in their news reporting. I find that concept exceptionally valuable in this day and age of too many people watching only the news that aligns with their opinion. 

As a Middle School Awesomeness Initiative (AI) Teacher with Middle School English Teacher Katie Malone Peterson ’97, we presented The Free Press and The Week as sources that attempt to provide a real service by not operating within an opinion silo. I do not actually know The Free Press or The Week well yet, but I applaud these reporters for seeing the consequences of the echo chamber reality in which we exist today. I hope our AI students make us proud by being mindful of whether they are taking the word of a siloed source. I applaud their choice to listen, to read or to watch news sources that present different perspectives. The world will be a better place when more people are making an effort to understand opinions different from their own. We at FWCD have an important role in helping put more informed citizens into society.                 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (as performed by Jim Dale)

After listening to the J.K. Rowling podcast, I couldn’t help myself: I went back and listened to the most amazing actor performing the entirety of the first book in the Harry Potter series. This first book remains my favorite: shorter, more amazing for its original creation of the world of Hogwarts and Muggles and Quidditch and Harry and his friends and enemies. The actor, Jim Dale, makes the enchanting and evil characters alike live big in my imagination. I can’t help but think the recorded book is even better than the Harry Potter movies: The recorded book leaves room for the listener to fill in so many gaps with their own imagination. 

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS by Ben MacIntyre

Shared with me as an example of the value of “out-of-the-box” thinking, this story of a stealth World War II British commando team also taught me about fighting in Northern Africa in that war and about many of the complex characters who comprised the incredibly impactful group. 

The Special Air Service (SAS) impact was mostly dependent on out-of-the-ordinary tactics. The founder of the group, David Stirling, had had an unremarkable record as a student and seemed destined for the life of a mostly spoiled inheritor of significant wealth. Instead, as a member of British forces as World War II consumed Europe and Northern Africa, he devised a concept of destroying enemy aircraft with a small group of men, originally air-dropped behind enemy lines, but eventually operating entirely on the ground.  

SAS strategy as designed by Stirling was unconventional. It was not the typical head-to-head battling; it was really terrorism in the cause of war. The small group destroyed huge numbers of planes and blew up massive fuel supplies, in the process playing an outsized role in the allies taking control of Northern Africa.

The discussion of the book that I was a part of was all about places we are stuck and need unconventional strategies and thinking. Specifically, we were talking about people living on the streets.What out-of-the-box thinking might we apply to minimizing homelessness? All the while, my mind was wandering back to our world at FWCD. What problems do we have, what unfortunate circumstances do we seem to be accepting that need us to simply see them differently? We must continue to look for creative solutions to all of our challenges at school and beyond.