Go here for the Index page – and to watch them – and/or embed them elsewhere.

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There are 3 short Videos in this portion of The Series:

The “H-Series” includes the following:

H1: EPPI and PACT (15:29)

H2: EPPI – Stage I (6:42)

H3: EPPI – Stage II (6:03)

Book 6-Pack

Related Books:

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Back in the Day

I’m a grey beard now – a child of the 60′s. A White Boy from the suburbs (of Chicago and NW Indiana and later KC).

I recall the recoil of others when James Brown sang it loud: “I’m Black and I’m Proud.”

Play this in the background as you read the rest of this post – unless of course, you think it will be just too much cognitive overload!

I didn’t recoil, and understood the sentiment – expressed/heard later in my life – of the sin of low expectations.

I “got it/that” – that people of color needed to see positive role models and feel good about themselves and their potential.

The same with women/girls.

As a bag boy at a Jewel Food Store in HS I recall being asked in the job interview in 1968 if I could work for a woman. I got the same question in 1976 when interviewing for a part-time job while in college, could I work for a woman? In between I had worked for a Black Man who was my Petty Officer in the US Navy.

My HS Freshman Class was the first class integrated in Park Forest IL – but that was not a big deal to me at all – as it was to a few others.

I had had a Black girl – Faye – sit in front of me 5th through the middle of 7th grade – in my parochial school back in La Porte Indiana. She, BTW, was the only one who really reacted to the news of the assassination of President Kennedy that November 22nd in 6th grade.  At home later that night THAT was explained to me.

Here we were – Broussard, Wallace and Jackson – on a day off at Special Services on the Subic Bay Naval Base in The PI in late 1973. Photo by Bill (his last name).

Many of my Navy friends (or were they merely acquaintances - due to our particular circumstances of chance?) and shipboard work colleagues were Black, and Brown and Yellow. And White. Below – Bill.

And I did get a ration of gas (boy, did I clean that up) about renting an apartment in Long Beach with a Black friend (Bill) and another White guy while our ship was in Dry Dock. Bill even convinced the powers that be to send me off to Journalism School in Indianapolis. Off the Deck Force and chipping paint all day long.

Some of my shipmates showed their true colors that week that we rented that Long Beach apartment.

In Boot Camp I had learned that there were only two kinds of boys, Cowboys and White Boys, according to a fellow Boot Camp Company Petty Officer – when he responded to being called “boy” by one of our 75 closest friends for that 16-week period.

After boot camp he went to some other ship – whereas over 40 of the 75 in my Company went with me to the U.S.S. Okinawa – home ported in Long Beach – and later San Diego.

Me on the ship – in the Hanger Bay.

Back in the Day we knew each other by our last names only – almost exclusively – and I only knew the first names of just a handful of my 600 Navy shipmates – and fewer yet of any of the 2400 Marine guests – that we ferried about in the South China Seas on the U.S.S. Okinawa – LPH-3 – to do what Marines do for a living.

Me, I ran the CC-TV System to keep everyone entertained during their off hours – and published a ship’s daily Newspaper.

Back in the Day – it wasn’t “Rewind – Please.”

I’d get written up – from complaints by the next ship – whoever received the programming that I had forwarded on when I was finally done with it – if I didn’t rewind every spool of 16mm film – and the 2″ reels of video – as my Command would hear about it – and then me. Stuff flows downhill. Back in the day.

During the day we played music under a slide – over the CC-TV system and all 75 TVs – and did a daily check of each TV – to re-tune the color and tint back to something that could be watched by people. Everyday.

And the music we played included Rock – and Soul. We’d get requests from “the Brothers” as we hit every compartment with a TV. Play this and play that. “Don’t have that in my collection,” I’d respond – and they’d show up later that evening at the CC-TV Studio with a cassette that I would use to add their favorite music to the Reel-to-Reel tapes I had – that I played over the system – all day long.

It was Bill who introduced me to Stanley Turrentine (now deceased) – the master of the tenor sax and jazz. I had 33 of his albums once – and now have 32 CDs of Mr. T’s music – and all are loaded onto my iPod and my computer files. Pieces of Dreams became my new most favorite album – along with Working Man’s Dead.

The only time I/we wouldn’t play music during the day – was when we/the ship were doing Air Operations.

Even I wanted all the focus on that. That’s what we, as a US Naval Warship – were all about.

Helicopters – and Marines.

The Gator Navy.

Recall the Helicopter in the Last Scene of Miss Saigon?

That last helicopter out – in April 1975 – came from the Oki Boat – my home away from home. That photo of the “last boot” on the US Embassy? A Marine heading back to LPH-3.

Here below is the USS Okinawa sitting in the Hong Kong Harbor about 18 months before Operation Eagle Pull and then Operation Frequent Wind – the evacuations first of Phnom Penh and then of Saigon.

April 1975 was a busy month for the US Navy.

I was asked to run the TV system 24/7 as we ferried a boat load of civilians back to The PI – twice that April – and with a little help from my friends we did – Black, Brown, Yellow and White. When the XO asked me what I intended to show all day and night – to see if I was thinking (always a test, from these oblique teachers), I immediately responded “Cartoons, sir.”

He smiled and walked off saying, “Carry on.”

I had been recording every Cartoon that passed through my operations for months and months, anticipating the need for that universal kind of programming.

18 months before we actually did these operations we had been sitting off the coast of Cambodia waiting for weeks and weeks – waiting for the orders. We actually had gone back, rotated back to the States, while one of our sister ships did that drill, waiting and waiting off the coast.

We returned months later, took up position, and finally one day – after 75 days at sea without seeing land – had an extra 3,000 guests onboard. Those reels of cartoons came in handy.

As I and my co-worker made our daily rounds to check on our 75 TVs – I couldn’t help  but notice that non-English speaking Cambodians (and later Vietnamese) could really screw up the tint and color adjustments on a TV as well as Americans. A Universal truism. EVERYBODY thinks they know what they are doing when it comes to adjusting TVs – now of course no longer necessary – but this was Back in the Day.

Thank Truman

This - in the US Navy – is where I learned much more about diversity – and prejudice – both the overt and covert kinds – and also how to play the game of politics – from Michael Bill – one of my best friends on the ship – a Black kid whom I had met as a fellow Boot Camp Company Petty Officer in my extended stay after the first 16 weeks of Boot Camp (I forget what they called it) – where we spent another 2.5 weeks learning how to chip paint and repaint the hulls of US Navy warships – and taking care of our charges.

President Truman died the day before I had arrived at Boot Camp in late December 1972 – just after Christmas. That shut everything down as the Navy paid its respects – and all flags flew at half-mast. I had been living in KC – and had made many a trip to Tiger Records in Independence MO – near the Truman residence. Drove by it all of the time. A modest house where “Give ‘em hell Harry” lived with his wife Bess.

Truman had signed Executive Order 9981 in 1948 – which was the Act that desegregated the armed services – and why I worked for a Black Man a time or two during my tour on the U.S.S. Okinawa. An unpopular move – only few today appreciate.

Lessons From My Father

The Vietnam War ended my 5th day in Boot Camp – just as WWII had ended for my father while he was in a US Navy Boot Camp – back in his day.

Here is the old man in 1945 with his niece, my cousin Sherry, and his cousin Barry. Sherry’s father was a Navy Pilot. 2nd Cousin Barry, and his family, took me in while I was home ported in San Diego – to keep me out of trouble. He had insisted that I spend every weekend free – when I didn’t have The Duty – in Escondido. Every weekend.

Before the Navy I had worked for my father’s construction company in KC – all the summers of my youth between the ages of 12 and 19. There I earned a man’s wage (once I reached 14) and I was the one that the old man used to teach everyone else a lesson about work – and about working side by side with diverse people – racially, ethnically and socioeconomically.

My father didn’t overtly discriminate against anyone that I ever witnessed. When I was a kid he’d hand me over to some of his Black workers for days and weeks at a time during my summers – I had to work every stinking day that I was off school don’t you know – to tag along with them at first – and then to work alongside them later.

That paid off later – as I learned that people are people.

My father taught me that – both directly and indirectly. He taught me a lot indirectly about many things. And he taught others that way too.

“I don’t pay you to sit!” he screamed at me after arriving on the job site one sunny summer afternoon. “If you’ve got nothing to do – you do it standing!!!”

We were all – all 30+ of us – were taking a break – as there was an issue with the Backhoe and the ditch and some storm sewer line – that needed to be resolved before we could lay more pipe.

30 men stood up with me – although I was the one he was pointing his finger at and directing his verbal wrath.

Even then “I got it/that” – being used as the foil – for teaching others – indirectly. I got that work ethic thing through him – both directly and indirectly.

I later learned to call that approach – “oblique” – in the Navy – from the 45 degree turns we learned to make when marching on the parade grounds – the grinder – as it was called. Indirectly teaching others – through deeds – and not just words – oblique. By example – by design.

An aside: Me and a real grey beard/mustache – back in the day – a sailor who worked for The Hong Kong Ferry Company – in the tunnel from the Ferry Boats to the terminal in Hong Kong in late 1973/early 1974.

Forward to Today

I had intended to write and post this on February 1 – the first day of Black History Month. Reflecting on when and where and how I had learned about Diversity.

But then it struck me.

I don’t have that many people of color in my online Social Networks. And fewer in my professional networks – compared to Back in the Day.

Yes there are some people of color and other differences at ISPI International – and ISPI Charlotte – but I have less on Social Media it seems (except for on Facebook)  - as I use to know and network with a more diverse set of people back then – than I do now.

Hmm.

What’s up with that – I wondered at the first of this month/and still wonder on this Leap Day of the Leap Year?

So I decided back on the 1st – to wait on writing/posting this – to see how my network was going to address this – to see if they would even address Black History Month. To count up the instances and references to Black History Month.

The Score?

Pretty much so close to zero – that I’ll just call it zero.

In fact, as I look around my world, online and offline, in all the traditional and newfangled media – I see/saw very little attention paid to Black History Month – nowadays.

Perhaps that’s a good sign. Maybe.

I know however that THAT work is not yet done, finished, or anywhere close enough to being not-needed, not yet anyway. Progress, yes. Close, but no cigar.

Perhaps the world has diversified it’s views to other aspects of diversity – beyond Black and White – and what I am seeing and not seeing reflects that.

Perhaps the younger generations have indeed gone beyond all of that – and it’s no longer needed.

I will continue to reflect on this for a while – and suggest that you might do the same.

Hmm.

I hope that this Post hasn’t been too oblique for you.

It’s too important a lesson to miss.

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With apologies to Canned Heat…

Come On Come On Let’s Work Together

I guess it’s getting more and more difficult to create new content for some target audiences. At some point you’ve probably said/written it all – even at the nuanced level. So – rather than repeat yourself – you expand the topic – expand the field of view – broaden your base.

However – you then begin to encroach.

Imagine all 9 baseball players standing at first base.

We all want to tag the other guy out.

But who will catch and throw the ball to first?

Imagine all 9 baseball players standing on the pitcher’s mound.

And no one at home to catch the strike that surely will be thrown.

Imagine all 9 baseball players – and no one knows how to or is willing to bunt – and make that sacrifice.

Know one likes taking the hit to their batting average – or their budget.

But sometimes it is necessary.

Imagine all 9 baseball players at home plate – ready to hit – swinging their bats.

Someone’s likely to get hit.

Get It Together

Divide and Conquer.

Collaborate.

It’s survival not of the fittest – but of the cooperative.

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There are 7 short Videos in this portion of The Series:

The “G-Series” includes the following:

G1: PACT Facilitation Overview (4:55)

G2: PACT Facilitation Tips 1-2-3 (4:59)

G3: PACT Facilitation Tips 4-5-6 (9:16)

G4: PACT Facilitation Tips 7-8-9 (6:52)

G5: PACT Facilitation Tips 10-11-12 (7:14)

G6: PACT Facilitation Via the Web (11:53)

Book 6-Pack

Related Books:

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There are 10 short Videos in this portion of The Series:

The “F-Series” includes the following:

F1: Proj Plng – Plans & Proposals (17:07)

F2: Proj Plng – CAD Planning (5:38)

F3: Proj Plng – MCD Planning (6:33)

F4: Proj Plng – IAD Planning (2:53)

F5: Proj Plng – Teams & Roles (12:14)

F6: Proj Plng – Proj Steering Team (4:12)

F7: Proj Plng – Analysis Team (5:23)

F8: Proj Plng – Design Teams (3:34)

F9: Proj Plng – Development Team (2″13)

F10: Proj Plng – Pilot-Test Team (2:51)

Book 6-Pack

Related Books:

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Some Excerpts From a 1983 Design Document

We all worked for the Project Steering Team.

Why a T&D Path – from a Curriculum Architecture Design effort is important…

It All Starts With Analysis of Performance

A Visual for an Implementation Plan

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Video snagged from a Jay Cross post here.

Thanks to Harold Jarche for Tweeting about this!

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There are 4 short Videos in this portion of The Series:

The “E-Series” includes the following:

E1: IAD is… (6:41)

E2: IAD – Performance Tests (7:27)

E3: IAD –  APPOs (3:05)

E4: IAD – Performance Simulations (7:43)

Book 6-Pack

Related Books:

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There are 8 short Videos in this portion of The Series:

The “D-Series” includes the following:

D1: MCD is… (5:22)

D2: MCD – EM/ LM/ IAS (4:12)

D3: MCD – Design Meeting (10:09)

D4: MCD – Focus: Lesson Maps (6:11)

D5: MCD – Learning Objectives (4:00)

D6: MCD – Focus: Activity Spec (4:15)

D7: MCD – Development Kick-Off (5:54)

D8: MCD – Pilot-Testing (7:00)

Plus – Added on to The Series…

D9: MCD- 3×3 Design Framework for Adapted Deployment of Generic Content (6:24)

Book 6-Pack

Related Books:

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