trust all is well. it’s been a long time. for the last few weeks i have been dealing with the end of semester crush. all grades are in now so things are reverting to normal. let me once again pick up the reins on this front.

recently, i had the good fortune to participate in an inspiring program on african americans and mathematics. Aframath2009 was held at boston university on april 25, 2009. here are some of my notes from this event.

The first speaker was kenneth elmore, dean of students at boston university. dean elmore brought the welcome and the charge to those gathered. he began by reminding us of the african american presence in boston from the days of slavery to present. he talked about the role that university has played in the struggle for african american self determination in the city of boston, the state of massachussetts and beyond. he reminded us that the founders of boston university were self made, self taught folk who were firmly against slavery, supported strongly the rights of women and were dedicated to the education of african americans. so, he concluded that it was entirely appropriate that boston university was the site for an Aframath gathering. it was, he noted, that it was no accident that dr. martin luther king jr. received his doctoral degree from boston university in 1955. dean elmore’s point of emphasis was to direct the attention of those gathered to the importance of “pop culture” in the lives of student in general and african american students in particular. to this end he challenged us to think creatively about integrating tools of pop culture into the work of the academy. how do we integrate facebook, twitter, blogs,… into the classroom? how do we use technology to leverage our competence and our reach? what are your thoughts on how i might the use of facebook in the classroom? there was a note of urgency in dean elmore’s welcome and charge, as he talked about some recent reading, gang leader for a day, by sudhir venkatesh which investigates the lives of youths involved in gangs and offers some insight into the wasted talent in our cities. more to come. be well.