Faces, Bulls, and Chickens
And all the BS that's fit to print
To be a creator, one must possess the capacity to rebel. - Erik Ritenberry, Poetic Outlaws
Devil inside, the devil inside
Every single one of us, the devil inside
Devil inside, devil inside
Every single one of us, the devil inside-INXS
Yes, every one of us has a bit of a devil inside, pushing against all the things ‘they’ say we should do, say, and be. Who, exactly, do ‘they’ think they are? And why do they think they get to tell any of us what to do?
Seems a very Republican mentality to me…
Most of the first half of my life was spent trying to please others and making wild attempts to do whatever it was that someone else with some sort of assumed authority and influence over my life thought that I should be doing. Little thought—nay, no thought—was given to what I wanted to do, what excited me, what interested me, what made we want to get up early in the morning.
No, friends, my days were spent doing what I was told. No independence, no self-regulation, no self-determinance. I went from one activity to the next, forever in search of the approval of those “in charge” of my life.
My, how the days would have been different if I’d stood up for myself sooner…
I digress. Without those lessons, I wouldn’t be the person, the dad, the husband, the educator I am today. I wouldn’t have the passion for ensuring that no child has to experience what I did in school and come out on the other side of that institution with nary a clue about what to do with their lives. Even if that means they have to be a bit of a rebel to get shit done.
Rebels make change, they destroy the status quo, they make things interesting, and they abide no BS, a recurring theme in today’s newsletter.
I encourage you, look for opportunities to rebel a little bit this week. Piss a few people off (they’ll get glad in the same spot they got mad in), wander off the prescribed path, and most of all, ask the one question that is more important than any other in times of frustration, angst, and general discontent…
Why are we doing this? The answer is often not what we expected or wanted.
Anyway, here are ten things worth sharing with you this week:
Meritocracy is BS: “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” - JK Galbraith.
In a world where billionaires are worshipped as visionaries and markets are treated like oracles, a darker truth pulses just beneath the surface: the myth of meritocracy is mutating into something far more sinister. Cory Doctorow argues that what begins as an economic fairy tale—that the “best” rise through grit and talent—inevitably curdles into a justification for inherited power, and then into a polite, data-washed revival of eugenics. Because if the rich deserve their place, then their children must be genetically fit to rule—and the rest of us, by contrast, deserve to be ruled. This isn’t just capitalism. It’s caste, coded in spreadsheets and cloaked in the language of efficiency.
A nice cuppa: In my ever-present pursuit of becoming a Brit—yes, it’s a thing-I’m trying to make a good cup of tea. I swear I like my tea much, MUCH stronger than others. However, if you’re trying to do the same, here’s some advice from George Orwell, Christopher Hitchens, and Douglas Adams.
Transactional schooling is BS: If you want to understand why students are using AI to ghostwrite their way through school, don’t blame the robot—blame the system that taught them their thoughts don’t matter. In his sharp rebuke of the moral panic around student AI use, John Warner argues that our obsession with grades, rubrics, and future-proofing has hollowed out the very purpose of education. What’s the point of writing if all it earns you is a box checked and a promise of some deferred reward? This isn’t a crisis of cheating—it’s a crisis of meaning, born of a transactional model of schooling that’s trained students to perform, not to think.
Brian Eno, world-renowned creator and hero of this writer, took a stand this week, asking Microsoft to seriously reevaluate its relationship with the Israeli government. He’s also taking the fee from his original Windows 95 startup chime and sending it to relief organizations. Side note: Microsoft is apparently blocking emails with content related to Gaza and Palestine.
The authors are real, but the books are BS: From the Department of Really Stupid Ways to Use AI comes news that the Chicago Sun-Times published a list of summer reading titles (from a third-party service) filled with real authors but totally AI-generated book titles and summaries. Way to model responsible usage, adults. We can’t get mad at the kids for using AI to do their work if we don’t hold ourselves accountable, too.
In a world obsessed with speed, shortcuts, and surface-level success, John Spencer makes a powerful case for slowing down. In his latest post, he spotlights a quiet revolution happening in classrooms—not powered by apps or algorithms, but by teachers who choose depth over dopamine. This isn’t about a flashy new program or a viral strategy. It’s about reclaiming learning as a process of curiosity, resilience, and meaning. In a culture that rewards quick answers, Spencer reminds us: depth is the most radical thing we can offer our students.
Prompt writing isn’t BS: In an age when students can type a few words and let AI do the rest, it’s tempting to dismiss prompt writing as a shallow shortcut. But David Wiley flips that narrative: writing prompts for AI isn't the end of thinking—it’s thinking in action. In the paradox of large language models, the clarity, depth, and specificity of your prompts determine the quality of the output. That makes writing not just relevant, but essential. As Wiley argues, prompt writing isn’t a gimmick. It’s a new literacy—and maybe the most economically valuable one students can learn today.
Roger Ebert once described film noir as the “most American film style,” and I agree. OpenCulture has a list of 60 noir films you can watch for free and could likely put to good use in your classroom next year.
Picasso’s process isn’t BS: With just a few bold strokes, Picasso could summon a face, a bull, or a chicken-turned-demon—alive on glass, vanishing just as quickly as they appeared. In Le Mystère Picasso, the legendary painter and the cinematic eye of Henri-Georges Clouzot joined forces not to explain Picasso’s genius, but to witness it in motion. Decades before digital art and speedpainting, Picasso turned the act of creation into performance, capturing the fleeting magic of transformation—where a line becomes a soul, and a chicken becomes something far more unsettling.
RIP George Wendt, who played the iconic Norm Peterson. Norm is a cultural icon, even inspiring a Star Trek character. Here’s a super-cut of every time Norm enters the Cheers bar. RIP Normie, I hope your stool was waiting for you.
That’s it for this week, Starfighters. Get into some good trouble this week.
MP