Commonplace – Page 21

Navigating the High-Stakes World of Finance and Friendship: A Review of Cory Doctorow’s “The Bezzle”

Cory Doctorow’s “The Bezzle,” a prequel to the celebrated “Red Team Blues,” revisits the life of Marty Hench, a forensic accountant with a penchant for uncovering financial scams. Doctorow’s narrative takes us back to the dot-com boom and the 2008 financial crisis, exploring the concept of the ‘bezzle’—a term coined by JK Galbraith to describe the deceptive calm before an embezzlement is discovered. This novel is not just a journey through financial intrigue but also a study of contrasts and consequences, set against the backdrop of America’s burgeoning prison-industrial complex.

The novel starts with Marty and his friend Scott Warms, who finds himself rich but disillusioned after selling his tech company. Together, they uncover a Ponzi scheme on Catalina Island, initiating a chain of events that exposes the darker sides of wealth and the legal system. Doctorow masterfully interweaves these personal dramas with broader societal critiques, especially highlighting the ruthless privatization of American prisons by private equity firms, creating a ‘bezzle’ of far greater magnitude and moral bankruptcy.

Doctorow’s prowess lies in crafting a compelling thriller and his acute observations of the technological and financial landscapes. His attention to detail, from the quirks of the dot-com era to the insidious spread of neo-Nazi police gangs, roots the narrative in a reality that is both recognizable and reprehensible. The novel’s strength also lies in its characters, particularly Marty Hench, whose journey from a sharp-minded accountant to a more reflective, albeit chastened, individual offers a nuanced exploration of friendship, loyalty, and the cost of justice.

“The Bezzle” stands out for its incisive commentary on the intersections of crime, punishment, and capitalism. Through Marty’s eyes, Doctorow delves into the mechanics of white-collar crime, juxtaposing the frictionless lives of the wealthy against the grinding hardship of prisoners and their families. This narrative is about uncovering financial fraud and exposing the societal bezzles that allow injustices to thrive unnoticed.

Doctorow’s novel resonates with the gritty realities of America’s carceral state, mirroring the detailed world-building found in science fiction and fantasy to lay bare the truths of our own world. The comparison to historical works like Dickens’ “Little Dorrit” reinforces the timelessness of these themes, emphasizing how the past and present intertwine in perpetuating systemic greed and exploitation.

In “The Bezzle,” Doctorow does more than tell a story; he invites readers to question the very fabric of society, the nature of friendship, and the price of freedom. It’s a book that thrills, educates, and disturbs, offering a mirror to the moral complexities of our times. It’s a must-read, not just for its narrative drive but for its urgent, resonant message about the world we navigate—both in the financial markets and beyond.

If You Liked This, Read Next

Red Team Blues — The first Marty Hench novel, set in Doctorow’s near-present rather than the 2006 of The Bezzle. If you liked watching Marty dismantle financial scams with forensic precision, this is the logical next stop. Same voice, same furious intelligence, different crime.

Chokepoint Capitalism — Doctorow’s nonfiction with Rebecca Giblin, making the case that Big Tech and Big Content have captured creative labor markets. If The Bezzle made you want to understand the systemic forces behind the scams rather than just the fictional version, this is the book. Dense, well-argued, and genuinely alarming.

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou — The definitive account of the Theranos fraud, told by the Wall Street Journal reporter who broke it open. Where Doctorow fictionalizes financial predation to make a point, Carreyrou documents the real thing with equal force. Reads like a thriller and is completely true.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis — If the 2008 financial crisis backdrop of The Bezzle hooked you, Lewis’s account of the handful of people who saw it coming is essential reading. The best explanation of what actually happened that most people have read.

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Exploring the future of learning and the relationship between human intelligence and AI – An interview with Professor Rose Luckin

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In this interview, Professor Rose Luckin, a pioneer in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with education, shares insights on the ethical dimensions of AI deployment in education, emphasizing the importance of ethical AI and its potential to support learner-centered methodologies. She discusses the challenges and opportunities generative AI presents in assessment, learning, and teaching, highlighting the need for robust partnerships between educators and technology developers.

Professor Luckin stresses the importance of integrating AI into education with carefully crafted ethics and governance frameworks to maximize its potential benefits while mitigating risks. The paper discusses AI’s evolving role in education and the critical need for lifelong learning. It underscores the imperative of ongoing research and collaborative efforts to navigate AI’s significant dangers and opportunities in education.

Here’s another interview with Professor Luckin on AI and Education in the 21st Century:

Love and the Distance: The Role of Presence in Online Learning

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A new paper titled “Love and the Distance: The Role of Presence in Online Learning” explores the impact of online learning on teacher and student presence in the context of holistic education, which emphasizes love, care, and interconnectedness. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a shift to online teaching and learning, raising concerns about maintaining this sense of presence in virtual classrooms.

The study involved interviews with four post-secondary educators, focusing on managing emotions and creating a positive online atmosphere. They emphasized the use of positive mental states and contemplative rituals to compensate for the lack of physical presence. Instead of redefining the concept of presence, educators utilized online tools to maintain traditional notions of presence, such as requiring visible cameras.

The findings highlight the importance of managing affective associations and building community cohesion to foster a sense of social presence in online environments. Challenges include balancing control with allowing personal agency, managing visibility and participation, and adapting to the lack of physical cues in online settings.

The paper concludes that further research is needed to understand how holistic educators’ exposure to online technologies may impact contemplative ideas of presence. It suggests that existing technologies must be adapted to incorporate elements of holistic education and extend the notion of presence to digital contexts.

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – Real Live Roadrunning

In my estimation, Mark Knopfler doesn’t get the widespread acclaim he should as one of our most talented guitarists making music over the last few decades.

And Emmylou Harris is also an underappreciated gem.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy these two masters performing together in this concert from 2006.

A Graph of Solar Eclipse Coolness: Totality or GTFO

Yeah… this comic from XKCD pretty much sums up the whole total eclipse thing.

Random Links 4-3-2024

Counting what counts

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“It would be nice if all of the data which sociologists require could be enumerated because then we could run them through IBM machines and draw charts as the economists do. However, not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
William Bruce Cameron

If there was a better quote for how many schools assign grades to student work, I don’t know what it might be.

Yes, the US’s most popular form of grading still uses letter grades. I know I know, those letters have numbers assigned to them to make it easy for teachers to score.

But who decided what the numbers meant, and why is the range for failure so huge compared to everything else?

Normally, on a 100-point grading scale, more than half of the “numbers” give you a failing grade.

Really? Can we finally admit that, much like Whose Line is it Anyway, the points don’t matter?

Authentic work, the goal so many of us in education are working toward, isn’t easy to “count,” no matter how you frame it.

But the skills students learn when they are presented with real problems and shared with a real audience absolutely count.

Count what counts, leave the rest to the number-crunchers.

On finding time to be creative

This semester, I’m in a class called “Leadership for Creative Problem Solving,” with the ever-impressive Mary John O’Hair leading our group. We’ve talked a lot about what it means to be creative, specifically in the land of educational leadership, but my conversations always come back around to finding ways to be creative and flexing those muscles.

In my attempts to follow Austin Kleon’s advice and show my work, in our final discussion board post–something else I’ve tried to spice up this semester because oh my god can discussion boards be an absolute pain in the you know what and I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy but understand why we have to do them–we were asked to share an article or video we found in our studies on creativity and leadership.

Like the good oversharer and curator that I am, I linked to this blog, specifically to my tags on creativity, leadership, and creative leadership.

It’s not a great usage case for setting up your own public commonplace book, but it works.

One of my peers, an excellent educator and union leader, made a comment about not knowing how I do it all.

I don’t know either, I just do it. And I think that’s the key.

Creativity is an act of repetition and drudgery. Rarely, if ever, do the clouds of your mind part, allowing rays of glorious creative inspiration to bombard your brain with ideas. Nor is there an “idea factory” in Schenectady, NY, offering a subscription idea service–but that never stopped Harlan Ellison from telling people there was.

No, creativity is backbreaking, mind-numbing, and difficult. It should be difficult. It should be work. It should take something out of you and make you pause multiple times throughout the act of creating. It should make you think and it should make you question your life choices.

But, creating is what we were born to do. And everyone has something different to create, something different to express their unique gifts.

And being creative is something we must do often. Daily, as a matter of fact. Stephen King talks about writing 2,000 words a day, no matter what. Ryan Holiday says to “two crappy pages a day” to progress toward your goal.

One of the best rules I’ve heard as a writer is that the way to write a book is by producing “two crappy pages a day.”

It’s by carving out a small win each and every day—getting words on the page—that a book is created.
— Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday) October 7, 2022

It isn’t all going to be pretty–trust me, it’s not–and you’re going to get frustrated. Teachers, you’ll always be improving lessons. Students, you’ll always be thinking about how you can improve that last bit of work.

Each of us has a gift and someone is waiting for us to share that gift with the world.

Let’s do this.

He chose the nails

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Easter Sunday, 2024.

I thought I’d share something from Max Lucado…

Want to know the coolest thing about the coming? Not that the One who played marbles with the stars gave it up to play marbles with marbles. Or that the One who hung the galaxies gave it up to hang doorjambs to the displeasure of a cranky client who wanted everything yesterday but couldn’t pay until tomorrow.

Not that he, in an instant, went from needing nothing to needing air, food, a tub of hot water and salts for his tired feet, and, more than anything, needing somebody – anybody – who was more concerned about where he would spend eternity rather than where he would spend Friday’s paycheck.

Or that he resisted the urge to fry the two-bit, self-appointed hall monitors of holiness who dared suggest that he was doing the work of the devil.
Not that he kept his cool while the dozen best friends he ever had felt the heat and got out of the kitchen. Or that he gave no command to the angels who begged, “Just give us the nod, Lord. One word and these demons will be deviled eggs.”

Not that he refused to defend himself when blamed for every sin of every slut and sailor since Adam. Or that he stood silent as a million guilty verdicts echoed in the tribunal of heaven and the giver of light was left in the chill of a sinner’s night.

Not even that after three days in a dark hole he stepped into the Easter sunrise with a smile and a swagger and a question for lowly Lucifer – “Is that your best punch?”

That was cool, incredibly cool.

But want to know the coolest thing about the One who gave up the crown of heaven for a crown of thorns?

He did it for you. Just for you.
Max Lucado, He Chose the Nails

Fight for your right to own media

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Until recently, I was wholly moving toward all streaming media. I had unloaded a bunch of DVDs onto someone at Goodwill, along with some HD DVDs (yes, I chose poorly in the mid-2000s format wars). In my brain, I knew it was far easier to access my favorite films and TV shows through streaming or owning a digital copy.

Then, something changed. The tech bros decided that just because you had paid to own a copy of something didn’t necessarily mean you owned it; you were paying for the privilege of watching it when they’d let you.

And they could change their minds about that privilege any time they wanted.

This stance comes from the fact that when you buy physical media, copyright law says you own it, but streaming media is governed by “terms of service,” which none of us bother to read and are subject to change at any time.

What it boils down to is that you’re not actually buying the media; you’re purchasing a license to view or listen to it.

For me, the moment of change came when I wanted to plop down and rewatch some of Ron Moore’s excellent 2004 reimagining of Battlestar Galactica. Sadly, it’s nowhere to be found on streaming services now.

Damn, and blast, that was the final straw.

While stores are reducing or eliminating physical media, some of us refuse to give up, searching through eBay postings, local pawn & thrift shops, and online directories like Decluttr and Blu-ray.com to find great deals.

Also, great distributors like Kino Lorber and Arrow Video are continuing to release excellent films on physical media. Both services tend to serve niche audiences with an extensive back catalog–where else might you find a double feature Dr. Phibes set–and have decent pricing.

And you can’t forget about the Criterion Collection films, many of which you can find through Barnes & Noble–the company that just won’t give up in a battle with Amazon–to add to your collection at a great price.

Why am I going on about this? Because I believe what Ursula Franklin said, decades ago…

"Many technological systems, when examined for context and overall design, are basically anti-people. People are seen as sources of problems while technology is seen as a source of solutions." (Ursula Franklin, The Real World of Technology)

Streaming media services have become definitively anti-people. They really don’t care what we want, just that we keep paying for their service. The viewing options across streaming keep getting worse and worse, both in quality and quantity, and more services are combining to provide even fewer options for us lowly common folk.

The bottom line: buy physical media. More importantly, if you’re a creator, release your stuff on physical media. Teach our students about the value of owning something and not just renting it from someone else. Remind them that we must evaluate every technology to see if we are using it or if it is using us.