Brain Canvas

I like to think that our theme this month is, in some ways, getting back to our Brain Canvas roots: the delivery of high quality unadulterated “what if” scenarios. This month’s twist comes in response to a recent announcement made by the U.S. General Services Administration, a federal agency responsible for providing support for the basic functioning of other government agencies like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Education and others. Its mission is, “to use expertise to provide innovative solutions for our customers [i.e. government agencies] in support of their missions and by so doing foster an effective, sustainable, and transparent government for the American people.” The GSA, as its known, will launch an app in July hosted by ChallengePost, an online crowd-sourcing platform, that will ask the public submit their ideas for different challenges that will be posted by different government agencies. In June, Brain Canvas will offer a preview of what this innovative approach from the GSA could look like. Since the app won’t launch until July, we’ll be playing the role of both federal agency and innovative citizen, posting the challenges that we would most like to see address along with our proposed solution. We invite you to leave your own solution in the comments section of each post. The best comment from the month will win a T-shirt with the Brain Canvas logo. Look for the first challenge to be posted next week!

Fantasy sports is a hobby of statistics. Friends and colleagues compete to assemble all star fantasy teams in football and baseball, earning points for the performance of each individual player week to week. The activity necessitates that one quickly learn the nuances of the sport and habitually track the outcome of each game as they manage their rosters in anticipation of the coming week’s matches. Fantasy sports are an entertainment enjoyed by thousands who invest hearts, time and wallets in their duty as fantasy coaches. But what if this same model were applied to a nobler cause? What if the incessant watching, anticipation and debate that fantasy sports affords our lesser heroes could be somehow engendered in the ones that truly matter, and that too often escape the oversight and reproach of the common man. I’m speaking of course about our nation’s congress. Imagine thousands of children and adults across America forming their own fantasy congress leagues, drafting their favorite leaders from the upper and lower chambers, and following their performance each week as they attend committee meetings, vote on amendments, filibuster and rise or fall in the polls. By adding a little competition, we could see the same attention to detail and anticipation over hotly contested outcomes in our political arenas as well as our sporting arenas. The beauty is that the stage is already perfectly set. As fivethirtyeight.com demonstrated during the 2008 election, the only pastime that has more data and statistics to pour over than baseball is American politics. Starting with the mid-term elections in 2010, we could see political fans across America drafting fantasy congressional teams comprised of their favorite incumbents and challengers, deciding whom to “play” each week as their poll numbers rise and fall. And perhaps, as a functional fantasy political system emerges, it will bring us closer to a functioning real political system as well.

I recently saw the film Accepted. Its more or less your standard young adult male comedy (think any movie starring Ryan Reynolds, which this one some what shockingly does not). The protagonist Bartleby Gaines is the unlucky high school slacker who manages to get rejected from every university he applies to, including The Ohio State University if memory serves (I just like how they put the emphasis on the all the time. I’m a badger myself). Instead of disappointing his over zealous parents he decides to create a fake school, the South Harmon Institute of Technology. After writing himself a fake acceptance letter from South Harmon, Bartleby goes as far as creating a fake website, leasing an abandoned mental institution to serve as the campus and recruiting Lewis Black to act as the dean in an increasingly elaborate plot to fool his parents. The ruse predictably grows beyond his control as hundreds of fellow rejects apply to South Harmon and arrive on the first day of class expecting a real university. Rather than admit defeat, Bartleby and his gang of friends keep up the illusion to its bitter end, wherein the jealous ex-boyfriend of Bartleby’s new girl exposes the fraudulent university to the parents of all the students in an act of revenge. In the end, Bartleby is able to demonstrate to the state board of education that his ragtag, student taught classes merit accreditation, allowing South Harmon Institute of Technology to remain open. And of course he gets the girl. This movie would by no means be worthy of mention even here on the humble Brain Canvas blog were it not for the radical approach to higher education that it suggests. While the university system in the US is, supposedly, the envy of the world, my experience in it was not without its critiques. Too often the system discourages innovative and original thinking, rewarding those most able to repackage the ideas of those who came before them. It certainly teaches valuable skills for the life beyond college, but actual knowledge is often rather useless except to those few who aspire to spend their careers digging themselves ever deeper into an isolated hole of academia. In other words, professors. At the end of the day, the system is extremely adept at entrenching the ideas (and authority) of the status quo. Don’t get me wrong – it is without a doubt far better to have gone through this system than to not have, even for those of us who don’t intend to spend the rest of lives in the classroom. But Accepted, despite the puerile hijinks and token black guys, is in its own way unbelievably subversive to this status quo because of the one, simple question it dares to ask: What if universities taught students things they actually wanted to learn? On that note, check out my schedule for the fall semester at Brain Canvas University: The History of Water In this class we examine the history of our most precious natural resource, from pre-history to the modern era, from Kathmandu to Kansas City. We also examine the future state of this resource in our modern world. Students are expected to have formulated a concept and business plan to positively impact water conservation by the end of the semester. Debate Each week a different student will be responsible for posing a question to his or her peers for debate. Moderated discussion will ensue for the remainder of class time. Cooking with Rosemary Rosemary is undoubtedly one of the most delicious herbs known to man. This semester we will learn how to harness this little wonder to its fullest potential. Recipes will include grilled pork loin with mango-rosemary chutney, cheddar bacon rosemary bread, and the divine orange rosemary cheesecake. Biography The biography is a historical reference of particular usefulness, giving us insight into the minute experiences that shaped great historical figures into the people the ultimately became. In addition to reading select biographies, each student will be expected to complete their own auto-biography by the end of the semester. Students are free to use whatever medium they choose to complete their biography (writing, photography, video, twitter updates, etc.) Welcome to Brain Canvas U, Class of the Future. What are you taking this semester?