This podcast is being published after quite some time from its recording, due to Antonio’s Reclaiming The End of Semester (hence, the awesome title). Not only did he take a long free time with his mother in Italy, far away from his official duties (but still working somehow…), but he has been also been detached from the social networks that he so adamantly insists teaching with & about.

After saying the usual Hola, Alan and Antonio start this episode talking about the long and winding and meaningful road trip Alan had been doing across Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, up to beautiful Canada.

They let him pass through the border, apparently without questions. He Who Hath No Fame! Who, Alan?

So they begin talking about the end of semester, and Antonio’s compiling his students’ most interesting work (through their syndicated blogs), which will be published soon(er or later).

Alan asks about the hurricane’s lingering effects on his students and Antonio says this has been a very pleasant semester, especially when compared with the last under Maria’s effects. Still, there was still many so-called no-power pockets, particularly in the south-east up in the mountain zones, which help Alan remember the bubble… meaning the privileged area around San Juan, where residents have had a little break others haven’t. Here is the post he did last year with close-up photos of his students.

flickr photo by avunque shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

Antonio speaks highly about the many ONG’s and particularly Casa Pueblo (the Organización de Autogestión Comunitaria) in the town of Adjuntas, which has been providing people with solar-powered alternatives and built a solar-powered cinema.

I couldn’t help saying that one needs to live in a bubble to survive, when such horrific  events happen and when a country is subject to an oppressive regime from a Fiscal Board that stands above the elected government itself.

Alan did talk about the incredible generosity of Parisa Mehran and her students,  who we had the fortune of crossing our paths with–here is a shot of her students’ bookmarks.

Bookmarks from Parisa in Japan!

Bookmarks from Parisa in Japan! flickr photo by avunque shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license

And here is her tweet pointing to her post recounting everything. Hello and thanks, Parisa!

Alan then is prompted to speak about his red-lining mapping stuff he’s doing with his students in the Net Narrative course [Digital Alchemy and Networked Narratives]. Listen to him here: he connects the ideas of gaming, boards, mapping and certainly the social segregation issues. Plus the #edtech tools: in this case a widget-creating toolset called H5P [h5p.org].

We finish off when I ask Alan about the podcasts he listened to while driving the long distance between Arizona and Canada. Here they are!

  • This American Life
  • TED Radio Hour (npr)
  • Reply All, a new “podcast about the internet’ that is actually an unfailingly original exploration of modern life and how to survive it.” (The Guardian)
  • Song Exploder, “a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made”.

On my side, I just listen to the Walking Up podcast, since its episodes are very long (averaging 1.5 hours each) where Sam Harris “explores some of the most important questions about the human mind, society, and current events”.

BTW, we are now enforcing the infamous and much maligned Twenty Minute Rule, and we made it!

Featured Image: flickr photo by avunque shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license