"Real Life Heroes": Teachers

The following video is a trailer for a documentary titled "Accidental Hero: Room 408." The film follows the life and work of forensics coach/teacher Tommie Lindsey, who built the ferociously competitive James Logan High School Speech and Debate squad from a small after-school program into a juggernaut on the National Forensics scene.

I have known Tommie for six years now and I have had the great opportunity to work with him and his students down at James Logan (which is located in Union City, CA not far from the greater Oakland area.)

Tommie is the paragon of a real-life hero, an educator who puts in to0 many hours and who has faced too many challenges to just give up his hope and dream of helping his students find their voices and and their talents.

"Real Life Heroes": Historical Figures

I really enjoyed our preliminary discussion of "real life" heroes (as opposed to comic book heroes or fictional protagonists.)

We will be extending our conversation on real-life heroes in class today. I think its important to think of real-life heroes in terms of archetypes (as opposed to a rigid criteria or definition.) A real-life hero can be found in all walks of life: teachers, parents, siblings, mentors, colleagues, employers. We can also think about real-life heroes in terms of historical figures or artists, writers, thinkers, and revolutionaries.

Speaking of real-life historical heroes, The New York Times printed an interesting article regarding the icon status of our first President, George Washington:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/opinion/18hogeland.html?th&emc=th

It is interesting to note from the article that Washington shunned the adoration that his colleagues and admirers thrust upon him. If someone does not want to be considered a hero...are they still a hero?

Project Pitch Period/Feb. 13, 2008

The very important PROJECT PITCH PERIOD is almost here. On February 13th be sure to arrive on time and prepared to give either DOC or Mr. A. the best pitch possible. This is worth some substantial points! Cheerio, DOC

Songs of Superman

That Superman documentary is pretty interesting, eh?

Speaking of the Man Of Steel--I was looking over my iTunes library and it hit me: there are a lot of songs out there that are either about Superman or they reference Superman.

Here are the songs that I could think of that fit this category; please post any others in the comment section that I may have left out.

(The song titles with asterisks are in my iTunes library, btw.) :-)

"Sunshine Superman" by Donovan*
"(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" by The Kinks*
"I Am Superman" by R.E.M.*
"Waitin' For A Superman" by The Flaming Lips*
"Pocket Full Of Kryptonite" by The Spin Doctors
"Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down
"Superman" by Five For Fighting

The World Superhero Registry: Real Life Super Heroes!

I read about the "world superhero registry" in a magazine last summer. The website is a database of real-life people who don costumes and patrol the streets of their towns.

Here is Jade Justice, Defender of Rochester, Minnesota:




The World Superhero Registry can be seen at: http://www.worldsuperheroregistry.com/

The alternative newspaper City Pages in Minneapolis has an interesting article on the phenomenon: http://articles.citypages.com/articles/2008-01-16/feature/superheroes-in-real-life/

Discussion Questions to Ponder Regarding Heroes and Popular Culture

Here are some of the questions that came out of our first class discussion. This is just the beginning!


Is the study of heroes in popular culture the history of the future or a look back at previous mythology?

Does a heroic person or icon ever cease being heroic?

If a hero lets you down, are they still a hero?

Can a hero have flaws? Should a hero be required to have flaws?

Is a hero’s alter ego a different aspect of their identity or is there no such thing as an alter ego?


Other Topics:

-The academic prejudice against studying popular culture
-Fiction versus fact: the real person and the legend

Hello, Comm 480 students! Here are two sites that you might want to check out.

1. The Popular Culture Association web site is: http://www.pcaaca.org

2. If you have an interest in "Film and History," check out: http://www.uwosh.edu/filmandhistory/index.php

I would like to put together a paper proposal for this conference that will take place in the fall. If you might be interested in this, send me an email. (DOC)