Playgrounds Welcome March Basketball Madness

Now that he's an ex-President, Barack Obama welcomes his extra time to fill out March Madness brackets for the annual basketball tournament pitting 68 top U.S. college teams against each other. Former University of Pennsylvania stars welcome the chance to reminisce about years back when they were on an Ivy League basketball team that reached the Final Four. They remind each other how they were the tough recruits from the New York public leagues who recognized the teammate potential of a lanky lad from a Connecticut prep school.

     March Madness also brings players to welcoming neighborhood basketball courts. The short Shark Tank entrepreneur, Daymon John, reports how he, by being the one who brought the ball, always was welcome to play in pick-up games. Surprisingly, North Korea's short President, Kim Jong-un, is a basketball fan who probably would welcome an invitation to a March Madness game.

     There's even a semi-professional basketball team in Tibet, China. Willard "Bill" Johnson, a former MIT basketball coach and professional player in Iceland, Australia, and Cape Verde, coaches a team made up of nomad sheep and yak herders and Buddhist monks who were prepared to play in the Norlha Basketball Invitational in Gannan, part of China's Gansu province. Unfortunately, Beijing canceled the tournament, because local police voiced security concerns about controlling a large gathering of people during the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

     One of Johnson's players, 6-foot, one-inch Dugya Bum was a school drop out who didn't quit smoking until basketball changed his life. His home now displays a framed photo of LeBron James. Basketball also transformed the difficult lives of Norlha's nomad women who became interested in trying new things, like yoga and meeting together to chat, once they too had a team.

     The Olympic Creed claims "The most important thing about the Olympics is to take part." Around the world, in playgrounds and gyms everywhere, the most important thing may be getting to know each other by taking part in sports. 

The Sport of Gaming

Can gaming's growth now offer opportunity for content specialization? In February, 2019, tech and sports entrepreneurs invested $17.3 million to develop the sports content and global expansion of the European company, G2 Esports.

     As mentioned in the earlier post, "Looking for a Position as a Top Analyst or a Young Voter?," recruiters now visit gaming competitions to hire winners in what is becoming a $150 billion dollar international gaming phenomena. Companies recognize some youngsters grow up with a talent for gaming development and hire employees at age 16.

     Stadiums where spectators watch gamers and teams play "League of Legends", eat snack food, and purchase jerseys and miniature statues of professional, hall-of-fame players attract sponsors in South Korea, China, Russia, and Canada. Tournament prizes totaled $150 million in 2018.

     By 2019,  since influential gamers attracted millions of followers, some like Ninja (Tyler Blevins) and PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg) also racked up funds from endorsements and merchandise. Ninja hawks a graphic novel and his famous headbands.

     China's Tencent company provided the "Honour of Kings" game played as a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games. Although the International Olympic Committee decided against including electronic sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, they will be an official part of the 2020 Asian Games. 

   

   

Virtual Reality Goes to School

To prepare students for future success, they need early exposure to new technologies the way Bill Gates learned computer science in his teens.

     California-based, Facebook-owned Oculus recognized the importance of getting kids up to speed on virtual reality (VR) and donated its VR headsets to schools, libraries, and museums in Japan, China, and the United States. According to an "Innovation of the Day" post on trendwatching.com, Oculus also is helping the public school system in Seattle, Washington, develop a course intended to teach how to create VR and helping teachers learn how to make the most educational use out of VR technology.

     Virtual reality is already a hit in the gaming world of China's Tencent company's "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds" and "MonsterHunter: World." Competitors played Tencent's "Honour of Kings" at the 2018 Asian Games' eSports demonstration event in Indonesia. The eSports' event will be an official part of the 2020 Asian Games but not a part of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.  Although the games include such sports as boxing and shooting,  the International Olympic Committee said electronic sports promoted violence and contradicted Olympia values.

     It should be noted: VR is not just for kids. Elderly folks, physically unable to enjoy the foreign travel of their younger days, readily put on VR headsets to travel on new adventures. 

Follow the Interest

Just as criminal investigators are advised to "follow the money," "follow the interest" is good advice for those hoping to engage young people in world affairs.

     A variety of interests might draw a student to Africa. Consider fashion. What inspired Ruth E. Carter, the costume designer for Black Panther,  the comic book-inspired movie kids are eager to see? Like Carter, who studied African tribal patterns, colors, and silhouettes, fashion conscious movie goers will be inspired to think about how they too could incorporate the Ndebele neck rings Okoye wears in the movie into their outfits.

     Students interested in film careers won't think twice about casting people of color from any country in the movies they plan to make. They know Lupita Nyong'O, a young Nigerian-raised star won an Academy Award for her supporting role in 12 Years a Slave.

     Fashion designers-in-the-making also have seen Nyong'O modeling African-inspired clothes in Vogue. The magazine also introduced them to Nigeria and the Lagos-based Maki Oh, the designer responsible for the dress Michelle Obama wore on a trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2013.

     Paul Simon's interest in music caused him to sing with Mama Africa Miriam Makeba in South Africa in 1987 and to record his Graceland album with South Africa's Ladysmith Black Mambazo choral group. The British hip hop grime of Ghana's Stormzy draws the current generation of music trend setters to Africa.

     With the Olympics approaching on February 9, student downhill skiers, cross-country skiers, bobsledders, figure skaters, and speed skaters might want to learn more about what produces champions in Austria, Germany, Russia, Canada, and Sweden.

     Those interested in soccer, already follow their favorite sport in Barcelona, Madrid, Manchester, and Brazil.

     And if students like food and cooking, those interests can take them anywhere in the world.  

   

North Korea: Bill Clinton's Second Chance

                                 Diplomacy Only Choice for North Korea-US Relations


     On Andrea Mitchel's report July 7, 2017, James Clapper said the only solution he sees for the North Korean situation is diplomacy. To that end, consider:

     President Bill Clinton always wanted a Nobel Peace Prize. He tried unsuccessfully in the Middle East to follow in the steps of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter. From his experience bringing home two U.S. hostages from North Korea, he has credibility with Kim Jong Un. By opening up new contacts with the United States, he could help free Kim Jong Un from the Chinese clutches that threatened to replace him with his half brother, Kim Jong Nam. The last thing Pyongyang needs is more cloistering sanctions.

     President Trump offered Xi Jinping a great trade deal in exchange for help curbing North Korea's threats to South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Why shouldn't Pyongyang benefit from a great U.S. trade deal? Or, better yet, from Tiger Woods' help building a golfing resort in North Korea. Asians love golf.

     No Clintons were among "The 100 Most Influential People" in TIME magazine's annual list in 2017, but Kim Jong Un was. Wish he'd come to the U.S. to attend TIME's New York party for invitees. At least he knows he's on the list with Donald Trump, Juan Manuel Santos, Theresa May, Pope Frances, and other world leaders.

     Couldn't President Clinton bring Dennis Rodman back to visit basketball-loving Kim Jong Un and set up a future exhibition game by the Harlem Globetrotters in North Korea? After all, they are called the Globetrotters. It may be too soon for help with U.S. training methods to pay off for North Korean athletes marching into PyeongChang, South Korea, for the Winter Olympic Games next February. But sending a well-dressed contingent of new speed skating challengers there would announce that their golfers, archers, and badminton and ping pong players will be ready for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.

     And isn't it time for the ePals.com website, that enables U.S. classrooms to work on projects with classrooms in foreign countries, to reach out to teachers and students in North Korea to learn about more cities than Pyongyang? Later, President Trump would discover there is a beach city called Wonsan that would be perfect for a golfing resort. Could an earlier North Korean-US partnership classroom project create a toy for Hasbro or Mattel to market?

     Entertainment seems to have a magnetic pull on North Korean leaders. How did Kim Jong Nam lose his chance to succeed his father? He discredited the family by trying to go to Disneyland in Japan. And wasn't Kim Jong Nam's mother an actress and isn't Kim Jong Un's wife a singer? U.S. booking agents might discover some untapped talent in North Korea. Ben Affleck is someone who could handle the challenge of developing an ARGO-type script and acting in and directing a film, not in China but in North Korea.

     With nuclear weapons and long range missiles, Kim Jong Un got the world's attention. He's now in a position to capitalize on a new opening to U.S. diplomatic, trade, development, media, sports, education, and entertainment resources. This is his moment...and Bill Clinton's.

   

   

   

How to Become an International Entrepreneur

In Shoe Dog, Phil Knight, the creator/founder of NIKE, quotes the maxim, "When goods don't pass international borders, soldiers will." He adds, "Trade is the path of coexistence, cooperation. Peace feeds on prosperity."

      Knight's book encourages those who would work for world peace and their own happiness. He frankly presents the ways he handled and mishandled the challenges every international entrepreneur faces and tells them they have a big bull's eye on their backs. He observes trolls everywhere trying to block, thwart, and say no to the entrepreneurial spirit. Elsewhere, I've read entrepreneurs can best avoid discouragement by telling no one, when they first decide to start a business.

     Knight's business began modestly. He sold shoes out of the trunk of his car at sporting events and opened his first office next to a pulsating bar.

     He embraced a management style of telling people what to do (not how to do things) and letting them surprise him with the results. What did one of his early employees do? He set up a data base keeping information about his retail customers, not only what they bought but also their birthdays so he could send cards. And he furnished a store with comfortable chairs bought at yard sales, shelved books about running along with shoes, hung posters of runners, and gave his best customers T-shirts with the company logo on them.

     Knight outlines sources of funding: family and friends; local, regional, national, and international banks; venture capitalists; trading companies; public A and B stock offerings. Each funding option has pluses and minuses. Trading companies, for example, lend money with the aim of buying out/taking over the business unless, at the offset, a business stipulates its unwillingness to sell.

     Besides the never-ending need to find funding, Knight ran into other problems. Steve Prefontaine, the famous distance runner who was NIKE's first celebrity endorser, died in an automobile accident. Packing too many innovations into a new shoe led to a recall. Despite a contract, the first overseas manufacturer Knight relied on to provide the shoes he sold decided to dump him and get a new distributor. NIKE would have better luck when it was first to find a shoe supplier in China. In the US, competitors tried to put NIKE out of business by using an American Selling Price customs provision. After making a high priced shoe similar to NIKE's, US manufacturers asked the government to impose a $25 million duty on NIKE imports that totaled 20% of their American selling prices. Even after negotiations, NIKE paid a custom's duty of $9 million.

     Setbacks can turn into learning experiences and worldwide benefits. After the media blasted conditions in its overseas factories, NIKE responded by becoming a leader in the factory reform movement. To eliminate the toxic process of bonding shoe uppers to soles in a rubber room, NIKE invented a fume-less water-based bonding agent that the company shared with its competitors.

     And, finally, Shoe Dog teaches the cure for burnout is more work, and the Japanese word, kensho, means the aha experience of enlightenment, when you suddenly understand.

Chinese Culture Creep

The Chinese Year of the Rooster is fast approaching on Saturday, January 28, 2017. After the antics of the Year of the Monkey, the rooster wakes us up to prepare for fresh challenges that require a quick wit, practical solutions, and persistence.

     With theme parks and film, savvy showmen Qiaoling Huang and Wang Jianlin are providing entertainment and spreading Chinese culture at the same time. Huang's Songcheng Group is making its first overseas investment in the $600 million Australia Legend Kingdom. On Australia's Gold Coast, local visitors, the 1.2 million Chinese tourists who spend $8000 per trip, and other international tourists will be able to visit a theme park that features an aboriginal Australian village and the "Mystic Orient," which showcases Chinese and Southeast Asian culture.

     Chinese investors have acquired AMC movie theaters and the Legendary Entertainment movie studio in the United States. Wang Jianlin, chairman of the (Dalian) Wanda Group/Wanda Cultural Industry Group, is in the process of developing a state-of-the-art Movie Metropolis Complex and offering up to 40% of production costs to attract filmmakers to Qingdao. China's censorship State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television is therefore positioned to counter Western values and to introduce China's core socialist values into films and to influence the culture of global moviegoers.

     China's attempt to buy into World-Cup-class soccer (football) suffered an initial setback. According to TIME magazine (Jan. 16, 2017), Christiano Ronaldo, a Real Madrid star, turned down a $314 million offer from a Chinese Super League club. But by 2018, Alibaba had a sports channel streaming soccer. China's HNA Group was one of  the sponsors at the French Open tennis tournament May 22 - June 11, 2017.

     Chinese culture has no trouble being represented on dinner tables around the world. Begin the Year of the Rooster by dining at a local Chinese restaurant or, with an adult's help, try this recipe at home.

                                                         Pineapple Chicken Stir-Fry
Servings: 4

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 boneless, skinless Chicken breast halves, cut in strips
1/2 green or red pepper, thinly sliced
1 can (15.25 oz.) pineapple chunks in their own juice
3/4 cup sauce (1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 tsp ginger)
Hot cooked rice
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and green pepper, cook and stir 5 to 6 minutes or until chicken is done (no longer pink).
2. Drain pineapple and reserve 2 tablespoons of juice. Combine reserved juice and sauce.
3. Add pineapple chunks and sauce mixture to skillet. Cover and cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Serve over rice.




    

Soft Power

What changes minds, governments, behavior? The idea that a trainer can get a horse to do something by using a carrot that rewards or a stick that hurts translates into soft power and hard power. In international relations, hard power takes the form of tanks, bombs, drones, assassinations, prison sentences, torture, and economic sanctions. Soft power can defeat an enemy without firing a shot or sending anyone to a dungeon.

     Young men from Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois, began kicking a soccer ball around in Andahuaylillas, Peru. Children heard the familiar sound and joined them. Adults came to watch and some also joined the game. The Loyola students were in a program exploring the way sports can be used as a means of youth and community development. Communities determined to prevent gangs from destructive activity during summer vacations can beef up policing and arrests or they can work with businesses to provide summer jobs and with parks to leave the lights on for midnight basketball games.

     Why were a female music group, a Ukrainian filmmaker, and a blogger sent to Russian prisons and penal colonies? Why are Hong Kong book sellers in Chinese prisons? Authoritarian states recognize the soft power of music, film, social media, and books to overthrow repressive governments.

     Fashion, video games, educational systems like Montessori or Suzuki, and ethnic foods also spread values and cultural influence.

     Of the millions of people who have visited Disney theme parks, few have noticed the employees dressed as costumed characters when they enter or exit the park. The doors they used are in dim, uninviting alcoves away from the fun, excitement, and bright lights designed to entertain visitors.

     The bottom line is: recognize the impact, influence, and power of soft power.

(You can find additional information about the influence of films and soft power in the earlier posts: "You Oughta Be in Pictures" and "What Moscow Could Learn from History."

   

Education for All or One?

Is it possible to reconcile the two approaches to education that are at odds these days?

     On the one hand, there is an emphasis on using standardized tests to evaluate students, teachers, and schools. Even writing assignments require a student to follow a standardized five paragraph format that begins with a thesis followed by three paragraphs presenting arguments to justify the thesis and a conclusion.

    The other approach to education recognizes everyone's need for decent housing, health care, food, clean water, a certain amount of sleep (See the blog post, "Sleep Deprived Test Scores."), and, yes, education. But this approach also sees individuals with different abilities and argues that setting the same goals for every student is a waste of time, money, and energy. It unfairly blames students for not working hard enough and/or not wanting success badly enough. Yong Zhao, a professor of education at the University of Oregon, also observes that what is not measured, such as creativity, sports ability, and music, unfortunately becomes unimportant.

     Researchers David Z. Hambrick, Fernanda Ferreira, and John M. Henderson point to skilled Olympic sprinters who were faster than competitors even before they were trained. They found the popular idea of a certain amount of deliberate practice only explained 26% of the variation in the skill of expert chess players and novices; 21% of variation in musical skill, and 18% of the variation in skill in sports. Genes could explain up to half the variations between experts and less skilled performers. Innate talent makes a big difference.

     In response to these differences, some have suggested engaging students in more project-based opportunities, where they can put their individual interests and talents to work creating products and services that satisfy particular needs. Through interactions with other cultures, students also can broaden their interests and discover they are good at foreign languages or new styles of painting, music, or dance (See the blog post, "Introduce Disadvantaged Kids to the World.")

     Recognizing the different abilities of students leads to the idea of evaluating students differently in ways that do not involve standardized tests. Software might be used to: 1) monitor day-to-day answers students give in math and reading assessments and in video games that test higher order thinking, 2) provide feedback, and 3) allow students to make corrections and proceed at their own paces.

     Findings that social and emotional qualities account for at least half of a student's long-term chances of success also suggest the value of learning to interact with each other during periods of undirected free play (See the earlier blog post, "Learning Can Be Fun,") and using something like the Gallup student poll to help each student understand how important his or her maturity is.

     Finally, standardized tests given on a few days during a student's education are no substitute for portfolios that look at multiple factors, such as a student's projects, group presentations, teacher-created assessments, and technology proficiency. Nor can an occasional standardized test measure the graduation rates, demographic information, and future student employment that indicate how well a school is accommodating various student abilities.

Take Your Best Shot

Like many mothers, I experienced a day toward the end of winter, when I couldn't think of any new ways to amuse my six-year-old daughter. That's when I bundled her up and sent her into the courtyard with my old Super 8 movie camera. What caught her eye? Did she learn not to pan too quickly? While she didn't develop an interest in becoming a photographer, exposure to the photographic and movie-making processes could help another student discover an international career.

     This week we'll see all aspects of the Sochi Olympics in magazines and newspapers, on TV, and on the Internet. We'll also see reporters broadcasting from Sochi. Look at the backgrounds behind them. Just as network correspondents tell viewers where news is being made by standing in front of a school, parade, or courthouse, young people can begin to pay attention to the backgrounds they choose for their photos.

     To get ideas for photography, young people can check out lightbox.time.com, photography.nationalgeographic.com, and the scenic wonders Ansel Adams captured in Yosemite National Park. Also, be on the lookout for a new book, The Photographer's Eye, from National Geographic. It includes the best photos from the 300,000 submitted by photographers around the world, as well as tips telling how these photos were taken. Street photographers just ask people they see on the street if they can take their photos. It's a good way to show how regular people look when they're just going about their lives.
Seeing a drone used to film surfers from overhead reminded me how photographers often view life from different angles. With YouTube, there also are different ways to project your views of life.

     At ngkidsmyshot.com, kids can find out how, with a parent's permission, to submit their own photos that might be featured online or published in National Geographic Kids. Students can learn about National Geographic's Traveler Photo Contest at NationalGeographic.com/TravelerPhotoContest/ or go to nationalgeographic.com and search "travel photo contest.".There are four categories for photos: portraits, outdoor scenes, sense of place, and spontaneous moments. Information about the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for photography is on an earlier blog post, "Young Voices." Free Spirit Publishing is sponsoring a "Words Wound Video Contest" for teens that ends April 15, 2014. A teen will win $250 by posting a short video on YouTube that shows how teens can use technology and the Internet to make schools kinder places. Details are available at freespirit.com. For information about future competitions designed to attract African feature movie and documentary cinema talent, go to afrinollyshortfilmcompetition.com.

     Sarah Stallings at National Geographic suggests a number of things to remember, when taking photos:
1. Hold a camera steady in both hands and brace upper arms against body.
2. Think of a tic-tac-toe grid over your picture. The horizon can be on a vertical line and key elements on the intersections.
3. Take a number of photos of the same object or scene by moving closer and closer.
4. Catch before and after scenes that no one else has by arriving early and staying late for an event.
5. Light gives emphasis to the important parts of an image. Inside, light from a window or a doorway focuses attention on a subject. A Luma company device enables a cellphone to obtain a light reading that makes it easy for photographers to set a camera's appropriate light setting.

     The field of photography has many branches. Besides sports, photographers travel the world to report the news; photograph fashion, nature, and landmarks; take photos for postcards and travel brochures; and win Oscars for feature films, documentaries, animated full length and short movies, and live action shorts. Museums, such as the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., now exhibit photographs. A number of fashion photographers, who not only know plenty about style and design but also have social media fans, have become brands, i.e. entrepreneurs whose prints appear on products. David Bailey for one offers T-shirts printed with the likenesses of Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Grace Jones.

    Photography requires patience and technology. My grandfather was friends with an eye doctor who was a freelance photographer who waited for hours to capture the best light for a photo he took of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Steve Winter worked for 14 months and used a video camera equipped with infrared detection and external lights to capture the iconic "Hollywood" sign behind a puma in Griffith Park, California.

      In color or black and white, a photographer can have an exciting international career.

Wide World of Sports

Young fans of professional baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer already know their favorite teams depend on the skills of foreign players like Brazil's soccer star, Neymar. Franklin Foer's personal interest in soccer led to the international perspective he describes in How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. As an example of the way globalization should work, Foer points to the Barca soccer club of Barcelona, capital of Spain's Catalonia region and the 1992 Olympic city remembered for the archer who lit the games' flame with a burning arrow. Reflecting Barcelona's history as a Mediterranean trader willing and able to make a deal with foreigners, Foer holds up Barca as a model of nationalism without enemies or the desire to dominate the world. On the other hand, Foer criticizes multinational companies that use soccer in advertising campaigns that target all consumers alike. He believes globalization needs to respect each country's national character.

     While all sports may not lead to a theory of globalization, in years when the summer and winter Olympics are televised, young people may develop an interest in sports other than soccer, football, basketball, and baseball. Little girls start to dream of taking their places on the world's figure skating stage with South Korea's Kim Yu-na or becoming gymnasts like Gabby Douglas. Young boys set out to compete around the world like Apolo Ohno or Michael Phelps. If true to the goal set by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the friendly competition of the modern Olympiads can help create internaitonal goodwill and lead to a happier, more peaceful world.

     Not only in Olympic years, but every year, sports can draw kids into the potentially friendly and peaceful world of international competition. Flags, foreign languages, and local landmarks are on display at numerous events such as the Australian Open tennis championships, World Grand Prix auto races, the America's Cup, and Tour de France cycling races. Sumo wrestling, native to Japan, now has competitors and fans from the U.S., Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Russia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Those who watch the professional women's golfing tour know up to 40% of competitors come from Asia. On the sidelines, no country has a monopoly on producing professional coaches, scientists developing growth hormone tests, engineers revolutionizing athletic equipment, or, yes, noisemakers for cheering teams to victory. Investigations involving Lance Armstrong and Marion Jones revealed how important the role of non-athletes is in exposing cheaters and leveling the playing fields in the Olympics and other sporting events. On a lighter note, thousands will be grateful to the inventor of the new maraca-sounding caxirola that will replace the annoying vuvuzela at the 2014 World Cup soccer matches in Brazil.  In short, there are many roles for children who gain global awareness because of their interest in sports.