Lee Thompson Young :: A Remembrance

I met Lee Thompson Young when he was 14 years old. We had been searching and searching for the young teen actor who could play the very difficult dual role of Silverstone/TV action hero and Jett Jackson, the kid who longed for a normal life. We saw many young actors – many of them convincing and compelling playing a teenage boy, but none of them believable as a young Hollywood star who is already living and working in an adult world. We sent our ever-patient casting director, Pat McCorkle, out yet again, to cast an even wider net.

Then Cas Hyman spotted a boy in a Robitussin commercial – and he was the one. It was meant to be – Pat had recorded his audition the previous day and before we could even ask for it, the tape arrived. Lee Thompson Young WAS The Famous Jett Jackson. As Cas wrote last night, this young actor carried our production effortlessly on his shoulders. He had absolutely no experience – just some school plays and a commercial – yet he instinctively knew what was required of a professional actor. He was completely believable in both roles. The series could not have succeeded, indeed, could not have been filmed, without him.

Lee was an incredibly old soul in a boy’s body. He had perspective, confidence and an abiding calm, no matter how much pressure we were under in shooting the Disney Channel’s first original series. One day he came up to me, touched my arm, and told me that he thought I was doing a really good job. It makes me smile to remember how thrilled I was to receive that compliment from a 14-year-old, but that was the power of his presence on set. Yet, despite this maturity and obvious star quality, he was unfailingly professional, fun to be with, and connected to the people around him. His default instinct in any situation was kindness.

We did an episode about Jett’s first girlfriend, and the story called for his first kiss. The Disney Channel was freaking out at the thought of an onscreen kiss, with numerous conference calls, meetings and admonitions to be sure that it didn’t “go too far.” Frankly, I was a little worried about it myself. Lee was not a typical teenager, he was stunningly attractive and charismatic, and I suspected that he was more experienced than his onscreen character. Finally, we came to the day of the actual shooting of THE KISS. After much haggling back behind the monitor, Cas and Disney Channel’s Adam Bonnett decided that I should be the one to talk to Lee. I took him aside, looked into those unforgettably wise, steady, amber eyes, and explained the concept of a “chaste kiss.” I was in my early 40s then, but I blushed like a teenager, detecting a flicker of amusement behind his level eyes. Nonetheless, he listened respectfully, processed the input, and perfectly portrayed a shy kid who had never kissed a girl before.

Cas and I have worked with so many child actors over the years. Despite the pressure to get the job done and stay on budget, we always tried to be mindful of their youth, respectful of their futures, and to honor the promise we made to their parents when we hired them. We took school time and tutoring seriously, and used our collective power as “the bosses” to make sure they knew how important we believed it was for them to keep their feet on the ground and use the money they were earning to go to college (Lee did so – USC, with Honors). Of all the young actors I have worked with, I would never in a million years have thought that Lee Thompson Young would end up in the class of fallen child actors.

Please don’t remember him this way. Lee Thompson Young was one of the most deeply spiritual, grounded, multi-faceted individuals I have ever met. I don’t know what happened. We may never know what happened. I do know that he brought the best of himself, every day, to the rest of us. My heart breaks for his mother, Velma Love.

Rest in peace, sweet prince.

Plowing FORWARD

Four years ago a farmer in Hillsdale NY, near our Copake Lake house, used his thresher and cut the word OBAMA in huge letters 30 yards high into his hayfield. It was so unexpected and delightful in largely Republican upstate New York. For the past four years we have referred to him as the "Obama Farmer." As in, "Hey, stop at the Obama Farmer on your way home and pick up some corn."

Rural Columbia County has been devastated by the recession and sadly, although I check every time I drive past his field, our agricultural ally has not yet declared his allegiance. I finally gave up watching for his declaration, fearing that like many others, his elated, hopeful feelings from 2008 had not carried over to this election year.

That is until today. I was driving along Route 23, slammed on the brakes and turned the car around. Sure enough, there was the Obama Farmer in his thresher in the gathering dusk, carving out the very beginning of those same big letters in his cornfield! Perhaps he was one of the undecided up until now, or maybe he just had a busy harvest. But our ally is back, and we've got his vote. GO-BAMA!!

"I AM TREMBLING WITH FEAR"

Tremens factus sum ego.

I am trembling with fear.

I am singing Paul Leavitt’s REQUIEM today with the New York City Master Chorale as part of the September 11th Memorial Concert series at Trinity Church/Wall Street. The church was a haven for first responders and the injured after the attack on the World Trade Center. Various groups will be performing throughout the day, evening and weekend, as we seek to provide solace, hope and comfort to the hundreds of thousands expected to visit the site this weekend, the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

These words, "tremens factus sum ego," are part of the movement entitled “Libera Me.” The text has been set hundreds, if not thousands of times, by virtually every choral composer, as part of the requiem mass. The movement comes toward the end of the requiem, as the singer pleads with God for mercy (Libera me de morte aeternam…..Save me from eternal death / damnation). Leavitt has composed a strikingly unusual and unsettling version of these words. As the soloists sing their lyrical, beautiful plea, the entire chorale, sotto voce, is chanting repeatedly underneath their line: Tremens factus sum ego. I am trembling with fear.

As we rehearsed the piece on Wednesday night, my heart was aching with the thought of the brave fire fighters who climbed those stairs as everyone else was hurrying down. Surely, these words were in their hearts and minds, even as they bravely did their duty.

Ten years ago, I was living in Cornwall, New York, which is 10 minutes from both West Point and Stewart Air Force base. Many of my friends and neighbors were (and are) in the military, though I knew them in civilian clothes, coaching softball, serving as deacons and walking their children to the school bus just as I did. On the Sunday morning after the attacks, I processed into church with the choir, as we did every Sunday. When we settled into the choir stalls and looked out into the packed church, I saw, to my amazement, that the military men and women in the congregation were wearing their uniforms. We began to sing “America the Beautiful,” and tears rolled down the faces of these tough, seasoned officers. I caught one glimpse and never looked again. My job was to sing, and if I was going to sing, it was impossible to look at those heartbroken faces.

This is part of what a musician can and must do, when confronted with unthinkable heartbreak. We swallow the lumps in our throats, focus on the text and the beauty of the musical line, and do our best to wrap the suffering in God’s beauty. We have all experienced it at funerals; today, we make a similar offering, on a much grander scale.

My heart is full. I am very glad to be there. I hope that we can offer some comfort.

Organ Bliss in Seattle

For me, one of the highlights of the annual Tallis Scholars Summer School in Seattle are the performances of Joseph Adam, the organist at St. James Cathedral. He and Peter Phillips have established a tradition whereby Joseph lets Peter pick what he would like to hear for the Postlude after we sing at the Mass on Wednesday night.

It's always great, but this year's choice was an absolutely mind-blowing tour de force. The prelude was very beautiful, and a piece I hadn't heard before - Scherzo, op. 2 by Maurice Duruflé. I've sung and heard a lot of Duruflé this year, as my New York choral director, Dr. Thea Kano, specializes in his music. So it was lovely to hear the Scherzo, which was exactly what I've come to expect from this composer - intensely personal, ethereal music written by an organist who was clearly influenced by Debussy.

The big payoff was a 25-minute Postlude, a stunning performance of Franz Liszt's Fantasia and Fugue on "Ad nos, ad salutarum undam." You can expect to be awed by any performance of Liszt keyboard music, and this didn't disappoint. The huge, sweeping performance on the double organs was so powerful that you could actually feel it - something akin to standing close to a helicopter landing!

Joseph is really a treasure. He sings with us, too, which makes our alto section that much better. His work is a unique and special part of the Seattle TSSS experience.

Memories from the Dakota

My first direct contact with John Lennon’s domestic world happened five years after his death.

It was October 9, 1985, and his Central Park memorial, Strawberry Fields, was being dedicated on what would have been his 45th birthday. I was a producer for MTV News, and like every other news crew, VJ Martha Quinn and I were standing just inside the park, at 72nd Street and Central Park West, video cameras at the ready, with very little to shoot. Yoko Ono had made it abundantly clear that this was to be a private, family day for her and Sean. We could all film the mosaic in the park if we wanted to, but she wasn’t giving interviews.

As we stood there, a plan started to formulate itself in my head. For some reason that I’ve never quite been able to figure out, Yoko Ono had a particular fondness for Martha Quinn. And I knew that Martha had her phone number. I said casually, “Martha….there’s a phone booth right over on the corner” (this was pre-cell phone days). “Why don’t you give her a call, see if she’ll let us come up?”

Next thing I knew, we were in the elevator, on our way upstairs.

My first reaction was that the apartment was amazing – the entire top floor, front of the building, overlooking Central Park. My second thought was to worry about how we would ever get out of there without breaking or ruining something. There were expensive art and ceramics everywhere, and the entire apartment was white. I looked dubiously at my crew, who were rushing to quickly get set up before we wore out our welcome, hoping that they had wiped their feet very well when we emerged from the park.

The only people whom I saw in the apartment were Yoko, Sean Ono Lennon, and a bodyguard, wearing a gun in a shoulder holster. I remember thinking how unspeakably sad (to say nothing of incredibly ironic) it was that Yoko Ono and this beautiful boy lived with a loaded gun as a constant presence.

Yoko suggested that we interview Sean, who was then ten years old. We sat in the kitchen, where there were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves full of cookbooks, art books and record albums (this was also pre-CD days). Martha asked Sean questions about his memories of his father, what kind of music he liked, what he was studying in school, whether he played music himself….and about what it was like to be friends with Michael Jackson. I remember that Sean replied, giggling, that it was really fun, and that Michael called him “Rubber.” Then she asked what they were doing to celebrate his father’s birthday, and he described pulling out the albums and listening to music – both his father’s music and the music that his father loved. It helped him try to remember his father. I glanced over at Yoko Ono, who was watching silently, her face impassive.

When the interview was over, Yoko took me aside and said that one question was a problem, and would need to be erased. “You understand,” she said, “that he is only 10 years old, and he doesn’t know exactly what he should share and what he shouldn’t.” I thought to myself, “Oh, NO. There goes that incredibly intimate story about listening to the music and remembering his father.” But I was wrong. She told me that if he were older he would understand that if you are going to be friends with Michael Jackson, you can’t talk about Michael Jackson.

And with that, the man with the gun escorted me into a room that had been converted into a professional video studio. We pulled our master tape out of the recorder, put it on the deck, cued it up to the answer about Michael Jackson, and erased it. He played it back, checked to be sure the video was deleted, and handed it back to me without a word.

Today, like everyone else, I find it hard to believe that John Lennon would have been seventy years old. We are all 30 years older than we were back when John Lennon died. Now I’m a parent myself, and understand much better what he was feeling when he sang the song “Beautiful Boy.” I’ll never forget the day that Yoko and Sean were generous enough to share a little bit of John’s world with us.

Author's Guild Meeting Tonight: ELECTRONIC RIGHTS, ELECTRONIC MARKETS

I was trying to tweet from the panel as it was happening live, but there was not a viable wireless signal in the room. So, continuing here.

Author Susan Cheever was (to my ears) a voice of reason throughout the evening. “Things like royalty percentages are going to be settled in court, through negotiation. What I think we should be looking at is the fact that we’re in a whirlwind…we’re in a time that’s as revolutionary as the invention of the printing press. Is this going to change the way I write? If I know that my books are going to be digitized and made available chapter by chapter, then do I WRITE chapter by chapter? Thinking about these things now may at least keep us ahead of this breaking wave."

The consensus seems to be that the "going" royalty rate for eBooks is going to be 25% of net proceeds from ebook sales. i.e. 25% of proceeds that publishers receive (gross proceeds less returns)

Although nothing could be resolved in the room, it was a good evening for airing all sides, with moderator Michael Cader (publishersmarketplace.com) summing the evening as follows: The underpinning of trust among longtime partners is eroding as we explore this new business. Bad news for most authors is that your advance is going down… Publishers are worried about the dozen agents whom Amazon flew out to Seattle, feel like they need to explain their real costs to the agents……Agents would like to keep legacy rights with legacy publisher, but that doesn’t leave them with any leverage to negotiate…The traditional publisher/author/agent relationship is eroding – everyone has retreated to their trenches.

This is not as big an issue for children's writers yet, because the eBook readers aren't in color. It is looming on the horizon, though, likely within two years. Sorry the adult writers have to bear the brunt, but glad they're leading the way in getting this figured out (while the publishers build the digital infrastructure they need for this new world).

I agree with Jane Friedman and Susan Cheever, who both adamantly believe that these are exciting times!

Building a Distinctive Neopets Christmas Gallery :: Top Tips

OK, I admit it. Long after my daughter has grown up and moved on (I initially joined Neopets to share it with her....when she was 9), I'm still on Neopets nearly every morning. There are many "ways in" to Neopets - for me, it's building collections. And over nearly ten years, I've converted our original joint account into a Christmas Gallery (username lrn_jbk945) that I'm very proud of.

Thanks to everyone who has neomailed this season with compliments about my Christmas gallery. Some have asked for tips on how to build a collection like this, and since neomail is too limited to say very much, I am sharing my top tips here.

1. Be realistic about the size of your gallery, because the cost of upgrading can be crushing. The bigger your collection, the more impossible it is to buy anything because it costs so much just to add slots in the gallery. At this point, with over 800 items in my collection, I’m up to 33K (NP) just to add five item slots – a major investment when I'd rather be spending my neopoints on buying great Christmas items.

2. There is no index where you can find all existing Christmas/Holiday items. The best way to discover what's out there is to look at top collectors and see what they've got, what they're adding, and start making a wish list for yourself. Keep that list on your computer, and note the current "going price" on either the Shop Wizard or on the Trading Post. From year to year, the value of items changes, and you'll have a reference to refer to when Christmas is rolling around again and you want to consider buying new items.

3. My favorite gallery to for browsing is by a Canadian woman who calls herself Wizzney (gallery name is wizzneys_christmas). She always has the best stuff – I’m constantly surprised by new, great items she has (I don’t know how she affords them!) Anyway, I look there first to see what is there, and what I ought to acquire for my collection.

4. Narrow your focus. There are SO many Christmas items, and the older/rarer ones are terribly expensive. If you have a special focus that you highlight, it’s easier to come up with a standout gallery. In my case, I’m leading with Taelia, the Snow Faerie, and have a great collection of her items. That makes my gallery stand out as different from all the other Christmas galleries out there, and also gives me a message platform for the holiday season (see image above). Developing a focus also helps you determine things you know you DON’T want to waste neopoints acquiring (for example, I don’t really care about Wreathy, the Snowager or Raindorf…..so I don’t waste neopoints or precious gallery slots on them).

5. I don’t put all the Advent Calendar items in my gallery – only ones that actually relate to Christmas and have a positive vibe (the gross and/or violent/angry items just don’t work in my gallery). When you decide not to display a new Advent Calendar item, hold it for two days and then put it up for sale. You’ll get the highest price early – from people who forgot to do the Advent Calendar on a particular day and are willing to pay premium price to have the item during the Christmas season. The longer you wait, the less it will be worth, because Neopia is obviously saturated with these free giveaways.

6. What about NeoCash items? Hmmmmm.....this is a personal choice. These purchases are called "microtransactions," and they are a major Internet revenue source in Asia. The trend is just catching on here, and as a media professional, I'm interested in this trend. I'm also willing to spend small amounts of cash ($10 at a time) to buy items that particularly enhance the theme in my galleries. On the other hand, I do feel a little guilty about the kids on neopets who look at my gallery, see NC items, and know they can't afford them. Not guilty enough to stop buying them, though. I just try to balance those acquisitions with other items that I acquire through "free" neopoints currency, to keep it fair.

7. By the way, if you buy NeoCash cards (at Rite Aid, CVS, Target, etc), when you cash them in you get rare items that are worth a lot of neopoints. These small cash transactions pay off in large numbers of neopoints.

8. I spend the rest of the year building up my total of neopoints, so that I can buy for Christmas (and Halloween - my other gallery). If you're an adult like me you probably don't have time to play games to acquire neopoints. Still, there are steady and reliable strategies that require only about 10 minutes per day, and neopoints steadily build. They are:
* Set up a bookmarks folder so you can quickly click through all the free daily giveaways - Tombola, Coltzan's Shrine, Discarded Magical Blue Grundo Plushie of Prosperity, Neopets Fruit Machine, Weltrude's Toy Chest, Wheel of Slime. Do this every morning.
* Always keep 800 NP available so that you can play Test Your Strength and buy a Scratchcard from the Ice Caves as often as you can (you can do each of these every six hours). Test Your Strength gives good spooky items which always sell quickly, and you can always sell a scratchcard for more than 600 NP. Nice, steady income.
* Play Fashion Fever every day. Quickest 900 points you can earn.
* Buy Race to Riches scratchcards in bulk at the lowest price on the Shop Wizard, and scratch 5 Race to Riches scratchcards every day. You always make more than your money back - I'd say the average return is 50%.
* Don't scratch ScratchCards of a higher level than Race to Riches. They have the same prizes, so there's no premium to win. You'll make many more NP by selling them.

Good luck building your own distinctive gallery collection! And as I say on my Christmas Gallery homepage:
Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.

Have a GREAT holiday, however you celebrate it!

Liz

Preparing for the Funeral of a Three-Year-Old

My heart is breaking for my friend, who has lost her beloved daughter Sylvie. How can we say goodbye tomorrow morning? What words can I possibly offer?

These two poems offer no answers, but possibly some comfort.


LITTLE ELEGY

(FOR A CHILD WHO SKIPPED ROPE)



Here lies resting, out of breath,

Out of turns, Elizabeth

Whose quicksilver toes not quite

Cleared the whirring edge of night.



Earth whose circles round us skim

Till they catch the lightest limb,

Shelter now Elizabeth

And for her sake trip up Death.



- X.J. Kennedy



ON SUCH A NIGHT
On such a night, or such a night,
Would anybody care
If such a little figure
Slipped quiet from its chair --

So quiet -- Oh how quiet,
That nobody might know
But that the little figure
Rocked softer -- to and fro --

On such a dawn, or such a dawn --
Would anybody sigh
That such a little figure
Too sound asleep did lie

For Chanticleer to wake it --
Or stirring house below --
Or giddy bird in orchard --
Or early task to do?

There was a little figure plump
For every little knoll --
Busy needles, and spools of thread --
And trudging feet from school --

Playmates, and holidays, and nuts --
And visions vast and small --
Strange that the feet so precious charged
Should reach so small a goal!

- Emily Dickinson

I Feel Like Quoting e.e. cummings Today

i thank You God for most this amazing
by e. e. cummings (1894 - 1962)

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

My Interview with the Kidsville News

I did an interview this week for the “What’s It’s Like To Be...” column in Kidsville News!, which explores different occupations.

QUESTION: How do you pick the kids who sing on the Kidz Bop CDs?
We did a nationwide talent search to find Kyra, Becca, Valerie, Harrison and Dana – the Kidz Bop Kids. They can all sing, dance, and do a really good job of working together as a team.









Liz Nealon at work with Becca, Kyra and Valerie of the Kidz Bop Kids

QUESTION: How do you pick the songs?
Kidz Bop is all about having the top hit songs on the CDs, so we look at what is selling, what is being played on the radio a lot, and we also listen to kids’ feedback on KidzBop.com. We try to give you all your favorites on every Kidz Bop CD!

QUESTION: What's your favorite song?
Oh, my. Having spent my entire life working with and performing music, I’m afraid I can’t name just one. BBC Radio has a program called “Desert Island Discs.” It holds the Guinness World Record for longest running radio show, and on the show they interview celebrities by asking them if they were to be cast away on a desert island, what would be the eight pieces of music they would simply have to take with them? So, if you have room, I’d like to give you my favorite eight songs!

1. “Theme from Peter Gunn” - best action music ever written. The original by Henry Mancini is still the best, but there’s also a great, new French pop version which samples the Peter Gunn theme. It’s called “Peter Gunn (Turntable Detective)” and the artist is The Killergroove Formula. You can find it on iTunes – play it for your French teacher!

2. “Theme from Twin Peaks” by Angelo Badalamenti. Twin Peaks was a dark, haunting cult television series created by David Lynch in the early 1990s. The theme song established the mood from the very first second, and when I hear it today I'm transported straight back to the dark Pacific Northwest woods where the Twin Peaks series took place (same location as the Twilight series, by the way).

3. “Pump it Up” by Elvis Costello. My favorite song from the original punk era – the 1970s! Intense, energetic, just keeps building higher and higher. For years I tried to convince another singer, my friend (the late, great) Robert Palmer, to record this song – I thought he’d really tear the roof off with this song.

4. “In the Evening” by Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant has one of the most distinctive rock voices ever; I think this is his most powerful recording

5. “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas. I just love the lyric "I am three thousand and eight, you're so two thousand and late.” Wonderful.

6. “Un Bel Di,” from the opera Madame Butterfly, by Puccini. You don’t have to know (or like) opera to understand this beautiful, sad song. Madame Butterfly is a Japanese woman who falls in love with an American Naval Officer who has left Japan for good. She dreams that he will one day come back to her, and she sings this song (“Un Bel Di” means “One Beautiful Day”) about how she imagines his return. One of the most beautiful vocal lines ever written. Even if you don’t understand Italian, it will break your heart!

7. “Glad” by Traffic. No matter how many times I've heard it, this song always makes me want to jump up and dance. The person playing keyboard is Steve Winwood, who is also a great vocalist. He was first known as “Little Stevie Winwood,” and started touring and performing with famous rock singers while he was still in elementary school.

8. “Julia,” by John Lennon. He wrote it as a tribute/love song to his mother, who died when he was very young. I love it because my daughter is named Julia, so it is my love song to her, as well.

QUESTION: What skills do you need to be the General Manager of Kidz Bop?
Well, I have a pretty unique combination of skills that makes this the perfect job for me. I majored in music in college and trained to be a music teacher (though I’ve never actually taught in the classroom, I use those skills all the time). I worked for a record company for five years after college, and learned about how a record label chooses its artists, how it produces the records, and some of the important things that a company needs to do to sell the artist. Then I worked for ten years for MTV, where I learned all about making music videos and producing Rockumentaries (and of course, we do this all the time at Kidz Bop). And finally, I’ve done a lot of work producing television shows that star teenagers, so I’ve had a lot of experience looking for good young singers, dancers, and actors, and working with them to teach them how to become professional performers. All these skills are very useful in running a record label like Kidz Bop.

QUESTION: When, and why, did you first become interested in this profession?
I have wanted to work in music since I was a young child – singing is the thing that makes me happiest in the whole world. If I could have had my dream job, I would have been a singer/dancer in the chorus of Broadway musicals. It turns out that I don’t have a good enough voice to make a living as a musician, but I have always found ways to make music be a central piece of the work that I do. And I still go to see musical theater as often as I can!

QUESTION: What do you do? Describe a typical day on the job:
One of the best things about my job is that it’s different every day. Today I'll be in the recording studio with a wonderful 12-year-old singer named Sinai Rose; earlier this week I was in Los Angeles with the Kidz Bop Kids, shooting our next television commercial.

QUESTION: What’s the hardest part of your job?
Telling a young performer that we’re not going to choose them.

QUESTION: What is the best part of your job?
Giving a talented young performer his or her first professional opportunity.

QUESTION: What advice would you give to kids who are interested in this profession?
First, work hard in school, and get a good education. Right now, going to school is your “job,” and developing the habit of working hard and being the very best you can be is a life skill that will help you succeed later in life.

Second, if you want to be in the music business, you need to be listening to music all the time, and you should listen to all different kinds of music (see my list above!). Start to be a discerning listener. What is an artist doing to achieve a distinctive sound? How are songs different from each other? Who do you think is a good lyricist (writer of words) and why? The more you think and analyze music, the more knowledgeable you will become, and this will make you a better music executive.

Third, take whatever music appreciation classes are available to you in school. The more you learn about the “greats” and why their music has endured, the better prepared you will be to produce great music yourself!



Kidsville News! is a fun (and free!) educational resource used by teachers, parents and children to develop and promote learning, literacy and character education. Our readers include children, kindergarten through 6th grade, as well as parents and teachers. Kidsville News! is currently published in 23 states, with monthly circulation exceeding 1.25 million.

Letter from a Sixth Grade Teacher to Kidz Bop

I started my day today with an inspiring letter (see below). I wonder if there are other teachers out there who use Kidz Bop in school? We could create a section of our website where teachers and kids use our video upload tools to work on communication and literacy skills. Would love to hear from any teachers who are interested in this.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hi Liz!
A very close friend of mine is a 6th grade teacher in California and a while ago, I told her that I knew the head of Kidz Bop (you!) and she got so excited... She asked me to pass on this letter to you which I have copied and pasted below. You and your company are clearly making a really positive impact on her and her students! :) I hope this letter starts off your day with a smile.
Best wishes,
Jane

***************

Hi Jane,
Could you please pass on this note to your friend who is affiliated with Kidz Bop? I'd love to let her know how her work is making a difference in my classroom. I teach 6th grade at a low-performing school (Ramona Elementary) in a low-income neighborhood (Montclair, CA). My students are predominantly Latino and most of them are below grade level. My colleagues and I work hard to provide quality instruction, valuable experiences, and new opportunities for the students here. We try to use music to encourage and motivate them to stay on task and work to their potential. The students are familiar with and enjoy radio music, but we cannot play it for them in a school environment. Even the "clean" edited version has inappropriate lyrical content. We download Kidz Bop versions from iTunes and play it for them during transitions, group work time, and even whole-school assemblies. The students love listening to the music while they work. Since they know any noise from them will cause me to turn it off, they are absolutely quiet when I turn it on. They have their favorites ("Let's Get it Started" by Black-Eyed Peas) and request them often. It makes my classroom a friendlier, hipper, and more enjoyable place to be. Thank you to the creators and employees of Kidz Bop for taking the time to make all of this music "clean" for my students!

Sincerely,
(name withheld since I don't have her permission)

My Family's Encounter with the Kennedys

My father was raised in a poor, working class, Irish Catholic family (actually, they were one step away from starving class - my grandfather's store failed during the Great Depression), in a hardscrabble Scranton neighborhood called Bone Hill. When he was accepted into the Naval Academy, my father became the first member of his family to attend college, and eventually moved away from the old neighborhood to start his own family.

We idolized the Kennedys. My parents spawned a similarly large (nine children) family, and we played sports together, sang around the piano together, and covered our heads with lacy tiaras as we lined up at Mass every Sunday, just like the Kennedys. Every evening we crowded around the dining room table under the peaceful gaze of a romanticized, Victorian portrait of the infant Jesus, which hung on the wall behind my mother's place. At my father's end of the table there still hangs a copy of a painting of the late Pope John XXIII, with Jack and Bobby Kennedy on either side of him. The three are walking away from us, into a sunlit place where presumably, they will no longer know pain or grief.

I was 14 years old, just finishing my freshman year of high school, in the summer of 1968. Though my idealism was rocked by the back-to-back assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, I remained an enthusiastic supporter of civil rights and champion of the underdog. After all, I was a first grader when President Kennedy was inaugurated. When he told us that he was passing the torch to "a new generation of Americans," it was clear that he meant he was passing it to me.

My father was devastated by Bobby Kennedy's death. He had been working for the county Democratic Committee, making calls to solicit donations for the Kennedy campaign and passing out literature to friends, colleagues, and fellow Little League parents. And so, after Bobby died, my father decided that we would go to Hyannisport for our summer vacation. That meant that on Sunday, our second day on the Cape, we all dressed up and headed to Mass at Our Lady of Victory Church, where the Kennedys worshiped. It was just one month after the death of Robert F. Kennedy.

As if my father had conjured her, Rose Kennedy was there. She was dignified in her still fresh grief, her face shielded by a black mantilla. But she spotted our family, eight (at the time) little kids all lined up in one of the pews, and it must have reminded her of her own. She approached us after the service and offered Memorial Cards, with Bobby Kennedy's picture on one side and a prayer on the back. My father shyly asked if she would take a picture with us, to which she gracefully assented.


My father idealized the Kennedys without ever recognizing that they were part of the privileged, patrician class, far removed from our existence as a large, suburban family doing our best to make ends meet. He refused to listen to any criticism of the Kennedys, and dismissed as lies any talk of their abuses of power, arrogance (and let's not even mention the President's philandering). As a "sophisticated" college student and young adult, I thought he was ridiculously naive in his unerring support of and identification with the Kennedys.

Looking back this week, I have to say that I think Dad had it right. Although Teddy Kennedy had every privilege in the world (and often took advantage of that fact), he nearly blew it all with a series of public and potentially crushing missteps. Still, he persisted on, righting himself and continuing to use his position to try to make a difference for the poor and minority citizens who counted on him to champion their cause. Frankly, I find it easier to relate to this flawed but compassionate man than it is to look up to a perfect hero immortalized in marble. I'll never be that, and Ted Kennedy surely knew he never would be, either.

Warrior, statesman, father, husband......and friend to many, even those who never knew him. As the NY Times wrote this morning, when Ted Kennedy is reunited with his big brothers in heaven, he's going to tell them "I carried the torch......I carried it all the way."

Reuters Feed from Iran

Reuters has a Twitter feed which is one of the best sources of information that I have seen - @reuters_iran.

Al Jazeerah/English reportedly is streaming video, much more than our western news organizations can, but their server must be swamped. I haven't yet been able to get on.

Neda's Voice

Last night I joined the Facebook group - In Memory of Neda - which sprung up immediately after the videos started to circulate. Looking at the list of members this morning, it is the most diverse, international group I've ever been a part of of.

The mainstream media is still not reporting any details - I suppose because they are restricted from reporting on the ground and can't confirm the story. MSNBC.com mentioned briefly videos of a young girl with blood flowing from her nose and mouth, said that she had "reportedly died," and that was it.

Neda was reportedly watching the demonstrations from the curb, with her father, when she was shot through the heart by a sniper (unconfirmed - this is what everyone is writing on Twitter). Why would a peaceful, innocent young woman be singled out? She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, not the chador required by Islamic law in Iran for women appearing in public. I suspect that was enough to make her a target. These young women, unrobed and demanding equal rights, are the leading edge of the "sea of green."

I hope, eventually, when the chaos dies down and it can be "reliably" reported, that Neda will become the Tank Man (Tiananmen Square) of the Green Revolution. Her death should not be in vain.

Twitter on the Barricades - Six Lessons Learned - NYTimes.com

This weekend is my first true immersion in Twitter, and I find it's more useful to read the information coming out of Iran as a big swath of general sentiment....rather than taking each individual tweet at face value. I found myself wonder why being in the thick of the dialogue with individual protestors trading tips, locations, and warnings was so absolutely absorbing, since I'm not there, don't know any of the locations they're describing, and don't really know who is who, in terms of reliable information. This article, from today's New York Times, explores these same questions.
Twitter on the Barricades - Six Lessons Learned

Morning in NY; Mid-Afternoon in Tehran

Dipping into the Twitter feed this morning, I'd say the overall tenor is less fraught, reaching still higher for moral authority and peaceful protest. There is also an overwhelming concern, which I didn't see yesterday, that the feed has been infiltrated by government agents.

Here are some highlights, 7:30am EDT:

pilotwomanf/tehran; "it will be in Vanak sq. Pple will be there at 4:30 pm,(after 30 mins) Tehran time. som1 called me and said it."

saitamaguy2002 Eyewitness: Special Forces are standing between Azadi Sq. and Emam Hossein Sq.; about 11 kms.

debbiezrm RT CAUTION: BLOCK all NEW users with NO or only VERY FEW followers! They are BASIJ!

oxfordgirl RT @persiankiwi: today the Gov is trying harder than ever b4 to hack our communications

iran_09: Iran is full of rumors - but the army is NOT on the streets - not against the people - no tanks yet –

mcaviglia: They have hacked GHALAM NEWs - website of MOUSAVI - Sea of Green will NEVER rest

Libertyfan44: Yesterday we voted for change. Today we fight for freedom. Tomorrow we will be FREE!!!!

koabal85: PLZ be careful, twitter full of gov agents joined yesterday, have few followesr and are spreading panic.

ranTweet @LiberT LiberT RT from Iran: "Iran isn't falling -- it's standing up"

karinaschneidrg RT frm Iran: Mousavi - Confirmed - calls for ALL the nation to stand on balconys TONIGHT and show support with 'Allah Akbar'

Her Name Was Neda...

Newsvine - Her Name Was Neda...

I can't bring myself to post a link to the videos (there are two, shot on cell phones from different angles). It's just too sad.

The Battle is On: Sampling of the Twitter feed from the Streets of Tehran

legolas81: doctors/nurses wear red crescent/red cross symbol so news can see if you are attacked for being street medics

jkebeans: remove all street signs, so shipped-in forces will lose orientation

rinkjustice: LIST MAP to EMBASSIES ACCEPTING INJURED; DO NOT GOTO HOSPITALS http://tinyurl.com/nwrvsd

PatriotRose: Don't WET MASK WITH WATER-vinegar & Lemonjuice effective against teargas به ماسکهای جلوی دهنتون آبلیمو وسرکه بزنید. آب نزنید

walkerdl: WE CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH, MULTIPLE SOURCES CONFIRM: BASIJI ARE AT HOSPITALS. GO TO EMBASSIES

pilotwoman: Her name was ندا (#Neda), which means voice or call in Farsi. She is the voice of the people, a call to freedom

D_chosen_one: Suggestion: Disorient Basij entering your neighborhood by painting over numbers and removing street signs.

muluap: go to German Embassy if wounded, set pressure on western embassies until they let you in. They are human, they will

soynicole: PLEASE RETWEET - Basij rounding up injured protesters at Hospitals. List of EMBASSIES taking in injured: http://bit.ly/2rYIbt

lauraluvscoffee RT GO BACK & DELETE PAST TWEETS that have Iranian usernames. Arrests have been made. Please ENSURE ALL SEE THIS

buzzard1964: Change your twitter location to Tehran and time zone to GMT +3.5. This helps shield & confuse security police

rarianrakista: Book on how to fight tanks and armed forces in urban areas. http://bit.ly/k2ARx

iamtheyak: If you haven't yet, please change your profile location to Tehran & time zone to GMT+3:30, to help foil Iran govt spies

SecularnFree: Please only post CONFIRMED SOURCE information. The GOVT has placed misinformation on Twitter.

iran_09: Hospitals in Tehran are NOT safe. Basijis there, ppl disappearing.

Dlsale: LIST OF FAKE IRANIAN ACCOUNTS (Some working for Iran Gov't) http://bit.ly/greenfakes

Magicspin: یک برده است که یکی از منتظر کسی که دیگری را به او آزاد است. A slave is one who waits for someone else to free him.

bigbadblackwolf Deleting tweets does NOT remove them from search. Iranians should remove their name from their twitter profile

VivianBoroff: Basij R marking doors 2 attack later. Use oil/petrol 2 remove the mark frm your door.

RDUgirl: Iransource45 is an Iranian agent. If enough people block him, his count will be disabled.

FairyKingAub: CHEMICAL BURN FIRST AID http://bit.ly/Za5k5

Rezaliteit: Embassies accepting injured people: Finnish, German,British, Dutch, Norway, Belgian, Italian, Slovenian, Portuguese

Schteeboman: muluap look policemen in the face. Appeal to the heart of younger ones, some will change sides

pilotwomanRT: Look at the ppl personally confirming tank story, they are new arrivals, have between 20- 0 followers & want to scare you

pilotwomanRT: There comes in every struggle a moment that tips the balance. Death of Neda has shifted this battle to the side of the ppl

Demian888: Tehran, Iran, for every basiji, 11 free women and men should stand up

EmpiresCrumble: 4CHEM.BURNS:cool running h20, 20mins, rmve jwlry/clths near burn, cool wet cloth/towel, sterile wrap, rewash if need

theresefarmer: Mousavi - we have gone too far to stop now

SecularnFree: Neda looked at the camera then died - She was looking at us. FREE IRAN NOW

toddbober: Do not listen to those who tell you to take up the gun. Mousavi calls on Sea of Green not to be violent

flipngenius: Iranian military and police - turn on the basij. This girl should not have died. http://tiny.cc/basij

The Revolution as it's being tweeted...

It's nearly 6am in Tehran - Sunday morning is dawning, another day of protests awaits (I know this because my Twitter account is set to GMT +3.5, Location: Tehran).

I've been glued to Twitter all day - the Internet, mobile/wireless communication, and social media have all converged to bring about the maturing of the concept of democracy. It has always been an ideal, practiced by various populations, with varying degrees of success. Democracy is no longer an ideal, it's a reality. No government, anywhere, can hold back the tide of information in the hands of the people.

One of the fascinating things tonight is the reporting, on Twitter, of the death of a young woman named Neda. Neda means "voice" or "call" in Farsi, and she will clearly represent the voice and will of the Iranian people, putting a face to their cause. #neda is currently one of the highest ranked feeds on Twitter, and links to video of her death are available (I can't bring myself to post it here - simply too sad). She was young, beautiful, and gravely injured. In the brief clip that I saw, she looked directly into the camera and then died - heartbreaking. What I find amazing is that even as thousands of cries of her name reverberate across the ethernet, not a word has been reported on any of the major news Internet sites - at least, not that I can find. I am sitting here watching Christiane Amanpour do her wrapup on CNN, entitled "Blood on the streets of Iran." She is clearly the most authoritative voice reporting on television, yet Neda has not been mentioned.

Last week, I would have said that I prefer to read news on the Internet - because when I pick up a newspaper or listen to the radio, I'm seeing/hearing stories that are a day old - I read them hours before on the Internet. Twitter has blown Internet news right off the track. Of course, there will still be a need for thoughtful, well-researched, "professional" journalism. But when it comes to an event like this, the news cycle has suddenly gotten exponentially shorter.