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God, I love the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  If you haven't seen it, then you are just wrong.  Rent it online or go to your local used DVD store and pick it up.  For those of us who are 'children of the 80's', this film--directed by an honorary philosopher and poet of our generation, John Hughes--was practically a right of passage.   Into what, I'm still not sure.  But damn it, it gets you there!

One of the iconic moments of the movie is barely over a minute long and yet it effectively launched Ben Stein's career in entertainment.  In it he brilliantly portrays the droning, high-school history teacher that we have all had in various manifestations.  As he blathers on about the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, the students boredom-induced responses run the range from one girl's threatening death stares to another guy waking up in a puddle of his own saliva.  Recalling this moment in the film got me thinking.  As much as I wish that life was like ditching school, stealing a Ferrari from your best friend's dad, joy-riding it all over Chicago on a perfectly sunny day, and pulling of an epic lip-syncing of Twist and Shout surrounded by a half-dozen beautiful women and thousands of parade-goers, more often than not...it's not.

So several months ago I wrote a two part series that sought to define what I believe to be the mutually exclusive terms of 'faith' and 'religion'.  I thought I was done.  But then, like in Hollywood, I couldn't leave well enough alone.  I felt compelled to make The Dark Knight Rises...or hopefully something better, like Toy Story 3.  OK, no more movie references!  Let me get on with it and share two more defining characteristics, one each for faith and religion, which will hopefully serve as either encouragement or a warning sign as we tarry on in our spiritual journey.

OK, I lied.  One more movie reference!  Remember the classic scene in Gladiator where Russel Crowe's character, Maximus, fights his first match in a literal theater made for human barbarism?  After slicing and dicing his way through an initial barrage of competitors, the reluctant warrior screams at his blood-thirsty audience, "Are you not entertained!?"  This isn't done to join with the crowd in celebrating another good show, but rather to shame them for sinking to such depths of depravity.

DreamWork's/Universal Studios' Gladiator (2000)

You see, there are two forms of entertainment: one that engages and inspires change and impact and another that simply passes the time and numbs us to responsibility by appealing to our shallowest of desires.  When it comes to the latter, I cannot think of a finer example than that of the modern American 'worship' experience.

Chairs are important.  Got to have the newest, thickly-padded chairs.  And when it comes to worship as a "living sacrifice" as the Apostle Paul described it, we all know that lighting is the key to achieving true transformation.  Red and magenta are sure-fire winners.  Oh, and if you can add a fog machine!  Boom!  You are almost guaranteed to enter the Holy of Holies...every...single...time.  Mix in the most charismatic and least-offensive preacher you can find and keep the whole show...I mean service...to ideally seventy-five minutes or less, and someone on Yelp is bound to declare that this church has 'a great worship service'.

Think this sarcastic rant is an unfair characterization? Ask pastors what percentage of their congregants participate in other activities of the church that happen outside of Sunday morning.  Quickest way to shrink your attendance?  Announce an all-prayer meeting or service project.  Want a cult-like following and status as the newest 'must see' church in town?  Hire a rock star 'worship leader' who previously scored and occasionally still moonlights as a professional recording artist in the half a billion dollar Christian music industry.  I've personally heard former colleagues in 'the ministry' say that if you can't "knock it out of the park" on Sunday morning, your church is as good as dead.

And don't make the mistake of assuming that this is a new development.  Religion has always rallied to supposedly sacred ceremony as the pinnacle of worship, thereby reducing faith to a form of holy entertainment.  Even the ancient practice of the Eucharist--which in the end entails stuffing and slurping down our gullets some Costco sample-sized bread and juice--is declared in Catholicism as "the source and summit of the Christian life."  Human nature, being what it is, will always gravitate to the least amount of pain and boredom it can conjure up.  Religion just keeps coming up with new and creative ways to 'give the audience what it wants.'

In contrast, faith is boooor-iiiiing!  Seriously, the best word I found for it is 'mundane'.  As an edjective, the word means, "dull and ordinary" and "relating to ordinary life on earth rather than to spiritual things."

That's perfect!  Faith is inherently worldly.  The words 'faith' and 'spirituality' are actually antonyms.  We are always trying to connect faith to a grand eternal plan, when the real essence of faith is grounded in the common now.  It's found in somehow rallying the will to be loving to my cat when it has yet again desecrated my front porch with the partial remains of some poor, unfortunate rodent.  Faith is seen in working when I don't want to work.  It's helping out some jack-ass who forgot to put gas in his car.  I could go on, but I think you get the point.  Faith is loving when you are tired of doing it and you see absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel.  Maybe the light is you surprising yourself that you somehow managed to put up with life without being a total dick in the end.

I actually feel excited about exploring ordinary boredom as the supreme act and pinnacle of faith, like a student who is 'expecting God to show up' as he or she faithfully sits through an annoying presentation on voodoo economics.  It just feels like there is real depth there in contrast to the more aesthetically pleasing presentation that passes for 'worship' these days.  Who knows!?  Perhaps by mowing my lawn along with trimming my neighbors overgrown weed garden on Sunday morning, I've actually been engaged in worship more than lifting my hands in exaltation to the almighty projector screen.

Warner Bros' The Matrix (1999)

But perhaps you would rather "take the blue pill".  If that's the case, then let me conclude by sharing with you something I would like to call, 'The Honest Benediction'. You are free to pass it on to your pastor or priest next time you see him or her, or to use it yourself if you are professional clergy.  It goes like this...

As we leave this house of worship, may you quickly forget all that was said and sung but for the general, warm feeling of non-committal contentment.

May your 'constructive criticism' on how to improve the service, which you inscribed anonymously on the back of a connection card, be well received by the spiritual leaders to whom the care of your soul is entrusted.  May you be endowed with Divine patience and an open checkbook as they seek to find a better Worship Leader and a more entertaining children's ministry Director.

May God's favor lead you to the best parking space and the shortest line at your favorite post-service restaurant.

And may God's blessings but not his commandments be present with all of us each day, until we meet again.

Amen.

I'll be honest.  I was a little nervous to read this book.  Nervous?  You're thinking, "Kirt, how can you be nervous about anything having to do with perhaps the most harmless human being in recent human history!?  That's like being terrified of Gandhi!"  Well let me explain.  As most of you who have been following this website know, I'm in a season of 'deconstructing' my religious heritage.  So this book is the first I've read that is expressly focused on spirituality since I made my decision to leave evangelicalism nine months ago.  When you are going through a season like I am, you are wrestling with a lot of fears, chief among them being the fear that somehow you will be talked back into your prison cell.  Sometimes, the overwhelming loss of community and certainty can become the proverbial siren call, and the instrument that is played is the old, familiar language that is used to define, and therefore control, as all religion's do.  However, the book was a gift from a wonderful friend who understands the road I am walking.  And so, in an act of faith perhaps, I picked it up and finally took in the reflections of the author, Amy Hollingsworth, as she recalled her profoundly personal and touching relationship with the iconic shepherd and friend of children, Fred Rodgers.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that instead of the author pigeon-holing me into the usual square hole of dogma, the book was actually a very fresh take on the age-old discussion of spiritual disciplines, yet without the overly simplistic moralism that many quietly assume when it comes to conversing on the often called 'holy habits'.  As far as the specific disciplines, what is identified and elaborated on in The Simple Faith is nothing new: prayer, silence, service, and forgiveness are familiar members of the roster.  But one chapter and its highlighted theme stood out to me.  It was called, 'The Best Gift: Your Honest Self'.  When you think of it, Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood was seriously out of date.  Many at the time used that as comedic fodder.  And yet, as Mrs. Hollingsworth points out, "Fred stood fast."  She goes on to observe that, "He wasn't tempted to change the pace of his program when MTV ushered in a generation of attention-deficit viewers" and that "the set was perpetually shrouded in seventies decor, long after puke green went out of vogue" (54).   Beyond physical appearance, the very qualities and characters of the show were a relentlessly faithful depiction of himself.  As such, Mr. Rodgers was far less entertainment and far more an imaginative but very real conversation.  This kind of authenticity and vulnerability was so often lacking in my previous life in conservative Christianity.

In the end, I'm glad I overcame my fears and took the time to read this book.  It was a timely read that helped show me that I can engage with familiar language while still growing past the rigid religiosity of my past towards a more loving and accepting expression of faith.  I think I'll take off my sweater and stay here for awhile.   I give The Simple Faith of Mr. Rodgers two dog-ears.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the website, including the Dog-Eared Review scoring system.

Disney/Pixar's Incredibles 2 (2018)

When the nation was gripped with the prospect of a dissolved Union, a key political race for a Senate seat in Illinois was shaping up to be a defining moment which might literally 'make or break' the country.  The hot button issue at the center of this sociopolitical storm was that of slavery, specifically whether or not the soon to be newly minted State of Kansas should be a place where the practice of slave-holding would be allowed.  On one side of the ring was the incumbent, Senator Stephan Douglas.  In the other corner was the man who would eventually become the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.  Douglas would embody the philosophy that argued that slavery was a State issue that didn't require Federal meddling.  Lincoln sought to counter this with making slavery a moral issue and one that tested the fundamental doctrine of the United States that "all men were created equal".

By now, some of you are already thinking, "What in the world does this have to do with memes and gifs!?"  Well in the run up to the election, the two politicians had agreed to a series of seven debates.  Each debate was a total of three hours long, and not three hours we might be accustomed to on today's 'news' which typically features sexy people trying to shout over each other in multiple, highly produced segments accompanied by dozens of mind-numbing commercial breaks.  No, these were two dudes taking for three hours in three parts: An opening argument which lasted one hour, followed by a one-and-a-half hour counter argument, concluding with the original presenter being given thirty minutes to rebut the counter argument.  These Lincoln-Douglas debates would draw massive crowds, the kinds of which, when adjusted for population growth and urbanization, would be equivalent to filling today's major sport's stadiums.

The intense focus and commitment to civic engagement that would be required to languish for hours in the country fields and town squares of 1850's Illinois is nearly impossible to imagine these days.  Like the character Doug in the Disney-Pixar film Up, we seem to be so easily distracted by just about anything that comes into our peripheral or auditory space.

Disney-Pixar's Up (2009)

And while I have become more and more a fan of brevity the older I get, I wonder if we perhaps have reached a cognitive point of no return in terms of our inability to carry on extended conversations.  Nothing seems to illustrate our proclivity for bite-sized public rhetoric more than our quick-draw use of memes and gifs on social media.

Hey, I get it!  A lot of them are quite clever and pack a concise punch.  And lest we forget, there was a similar visual rhetorical device in use in the 1800's that continues to this day; it's called political or 'editorial cartoons'.  

So I am not opposed to the creative use of a single piece of visual social commentary.  What concerns me is our inability to move beyond this into a more comprehensive dialogue.  Rather, the use of most memes and gifs are like a rhetorical hit-and-run.  I found a short but thoughtful article called "The Current State of Public Discourse", in which the author says it best:

I even created a meme a year or so ago to communicate a similar point using the wildly popular (bad pun intended) image of the late actor, Gene Wilder, in the classic 1971 version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  The accompanying text reads like this:

OK, so it is a bit long-winded for a meme, but you get the idea.  And isn't it telling that something like that might be considered 'long-winded'!?

Of-course the last few years, and the political crazy train we rode straight off into Eastwood Ravine, haven't helped.

Take, for example, our current President, Donald J. Trump, when he Tweeted a gif from a well-known alt-right Reddit forum wherein it edits old WWE footage to depict him beating up a CNN reporter.

Certainly we have come a long way from the days of Lincoln and Douglas.

So is there any hope?  If so, what might we do to get us to a better place?  Well I could only think of one piece of advice to offer, and it's a personal challenge for myself as well.  There are some people out there that I think have some crazy ideas.  To make matters worse, some of them are not only unhinged from reality, they are assholes as well.  So here is the advice: start talking to those people.  That doesn't mean we stop opposing their policies and attempts to seize power.  After all, our willingness to have an extended conversation with someone we disagree with doesn't legitimize their beliefs and behaviors.  It's just a recognition that we are all human beings and as such are equally not immune from craziness and asshole-ery.  And if at the end of our conversation our views have stayed the same, that's OK.  At least we can say that the manner in which we walked out our convictions had much more in common with a three hour debate than a ten second gif.

This last February, a rumor circulated on the internet that set die-hard Disney fans into a frenzy.  The word on the street was that The Haunted Mansion in Florida's Magic Kingdom was going to be permanently converted into a new Coco attraction.  The rage was palpable.  If true, there was a very real possibility that a Gaston-like mob would have put a stop to the proposed displacement of 999 'grim grinning ghosts'.

It didn't take long for the rumor to be dispelled, like so many other hoaxes that are often found on the disinformation highways of the world wide web.  I and my fellow Disney park geeks breathed a sigh of relief.  But I was also a bit disappointed.  You see, I love Coco!  And I certainly was not alone as the 2017 Pixar entry scored a hansom $800 million globally.  The downside, at least in the eyes of Disney CEO Bob Iger, was that the film was "not a franchise".  FYI, that's code for it not lending itself to multiple sequels and therefore less money.  I truly hope that Disney doesn't limit their imagination for new e-ticket attractions to franchises at the expense of stand-alone films like Coco.  For me, this movie felt like a truly special addition to the Disney/Pixar collection of stories, and both critics and audiences felt the same way.  As such, I think a Coco-themed dark ride is well deserved...as long as it doesn't require the death of a beloved attraction like The Haunted Mansion.

That's where Disney California Adventure comes in.  As I have covered in both a previous piece on the upcoming Marvel-themed land along with another one I wrote on my ideas of a re-imagined Hollywood Backlot, the massive DCA course correction has opened up the best available space for new attractions.  No Disney fanatics were going to riot over gutting the original disaster of a theme park as it launched in 2001.  So in came the stunning Buena Vista Street, an incredibly immersive Cars Land, and a more subtle but effectively redesigned Grizzly Peak Airfield, just to name a few examples from the world's greatest and most expensive extreme theme park makeover.

So what other piece of real estate in DCA could be used for Coco?  With Pixar Pier's launch last month and Marvel's claim on the soon to be extinct Bug's Land and adjacent backstage area, there are three remaining areas of the park that could easily be re-purposed without any shedding of tears.  One I already mentioned, the Hollywood Backlot.  I just don't think that area is the best fit for Miguel and Co.  The other two are the Pacific Wharf district and the western half of Paradise Gardens Park (the eastern half is The Little Mermaid and the viewing area for World of Color).  Of these two, I think the Paradise Gardens space is the ideal fit.

Its location allows for a more subtle transition and the most secluded environment to, with proper design and sight-lines, create a mini-land.  This would require demo of just about every ride and structure in the area.  So say goodbye to the Golden Zephyr, Jumpin' Jellyfish, Goofy's Sky School, and the Silly Symphony Swings along with the current food and beverage options.

While I'll leave it to the professional Imagineers to iron out the details on this new Coco-themed area, I'd like to share a few broad concepts to kick-start the conversation. 

First of all, Disney has already been warming up the place with their special Plaze de la Familia, which they rolled out last fall with the release of the film.  This space should similarly include a robust schedule of highly interactive and family friendly character meet-and-greet, arts and crafts, and live performances that draws upon both the unique musical, artistic, and storytelling expressions of Coco alongside the universal themes that it so brilliantly illustrated.

The physical design needs to incorporate elements of Miguel and his family's village including the residences, shoe shop, square, and cemetery.  The cemetery would be on a rising hillside and serve as most of the ride queue.  Ironically similar to The Haunted Mansion, this would lead to Ernesto's mausoleum, where park-goers would enter in groups and be lowered in an elevator to the remainder of the indoor queue and ride itself.  This would mean a significant amount of excavation.  But with The Little Mermaid's queue and show building as an approximate footprint, there is plenty of space for such an attraction that leaves room for all the other amenities you would expect.  As for the ride itself, it would transport guests to the Land of the Dead.  Here there are so many story directions one could go in.  Just re-watch the movie and let your imagination fly.  As far as the platform, Imagineers could choose to employ anything from the classic Disney dark ride systems to the more cutting edge virtual reality simulations like Pandora's Avatar Flight of Passage.  Perhaps switch out banshees for Alebrijes?

Last but not least, we need to talk about the FOOD!  Disney, please do your best to provide some ethnically faithful cuisine.  Many of us who have not grown up in that culture have been woke by enjoying 'the real deal' in contrast to Taco Bell and Tex-Mex.  So for those of us who have come to love Mexican food along with those for whom it is an important part of their heritage, we are going to need something better than a cheap, quick-serve knock off.  We know you can do it.  Think traditional recipes and methods of preparation, like you do with candy on Main Street.

So there you have it Armchair Imagineers!  Do you think Coco should come to California Adventure?  If so, what do you like about my ideas or what would you do differently?  Share your thoughts down below.

We begin by bidding farewell to It's Tough to Be a Bug along with A Bugs Land, which was quickly added in 2002 as a modest attempt to improve the original DCA 1.0 from its epic blandness, five years before Disney launched its 1.1 billion dollar extreme theme park makeover.  For what it's worth, I rather enjoyed It's Tough to Be a Bug, and some years later, when I returned with my then three-and-a-half year old daughter, there were a few other attractions in A Bug's Land that proved enjoyable for the family.  With that said, once Cars Land was parked next door it became obvious that the combination of being essentially a few county fair quality rides themed to a one-off and aging Pixar film wasn't going to cut it in the era of Universal vs Disney competition.

So most die-hard Disney fans know about the extremely complicated legal gymnastics associated with the Marvel brand as it was sold off piece by piece to Universal, Fox, Sony, and eventually Disney Studios in 2009.  With Bob Iger and Kevin Feige wrestling Sony into submission to share Spider-man with the massively successful Marvel Cinematic Universe, followed by the Mouse House's likely to be approved purchase of 21st Century Fox and with it Marvel's X-Men characters, all the pieces seem to be in place for Disney to make full use of it's new arsenal of comic book gods and goddesses...except for those previously mentioned pesky legal restrictions.  At the other end of the rope in this branding and intellectual property tug-of-war is Universal Studios.  The end result is that Disney has to be very careful in how they roll out the roster of Marvel superheroes at their theme parks. The greatest restrictions are in Florida, meaning that Disney World will likely never have a fully Marvel-themed land and that individual Marvel character attractions can be added only if they are not already being used at Universal's Sunshine State parks, such as the recently announced Guardians of the Galaxy addition to EPCOT.  That leaves the greatest amount of flexibility to the original Magic Kingdom and Disney's oversees parks.  Finally after a couple of year's of leaked rumors and marketing teasers, it was made formal a few weeks ago when Disney announced all new 'Super Hero' lands at DCA, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.  What surprised some was the aggressive timeline for launching these new homes for the Avengers--that being 2020.  But in the case of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, it makes perfect sense as they hope to bring some 'balance to the force' between the two gates with the launching of Star Wars Land, aka Galaxy's Edge, in 2019.

Well that is enough background!  Let's get on with the one thing that all Armchair Imagineers love to do...SPECULATE!  Let's start with the basic footprint.  The press release is still very light on details, with the only thing highlighted being the demise of the previously discussed Bug's Land.  Already shuttered is It's Tough to Be a Bug and by the end of summer all the rest of the attractions will pass on to Yesterland.  Previous comments from Disney senior executive Robert Chapek seem to allude to the backstage parking lot directly east of Cars Land as being a part of the Marvel expansion.  Originally there was talk of this new land consuming a significant part of Hollywood Land but those rumors seem to have gone quiet with Disney giving up on the Eastern Gateway project.

There was speculation that the new Eastern Gateway would leave room for DCA (and a new Marvel-themed land) to expand into what is currently the shuttle buss drop off. But now that this plan has been nixed, it looks like the Avengers will be focused on the space between Hollywood Land and Cars Land.

So here is what I believe will be the approximate footprint for the new Marvel 'Super Hero Land' (see picture below).  You will notice that along with the backstage parking lot and A Bug's Land, I've speculated that the buildings which currently house the Animation Academy and the Hyperion Theater could also be used as expansion space.  More on that in a minute.

A very practical matter that needs to be resolved is the trolley route.  It now feels ridiculously out of place as it rolls towards the new Guardians of the Galaxy and this will feel even more awkward as the area is fully Marvel-ized.  A simple fix is to send it north into the Hollywood Back-lot instead of its current southern route down what is called Sunset Boulevard.  This would require relocating the trolley maintenance facility somewhere in the Hollywood Back-lot area.  I'll be discussing what to do with this ghost town part of DCA in next month's installment of Armchair Imagineering.  

Also, I hope that Imagineers are thinking about how they can preserve an immersive experience for the new Super Hero Land and its neighbor, Cars Land.  Perhaps they should consider extending the facade of the latter's desert mountain range to obstruct any views of Marvel's attractions, with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy which unfortunately can be seen from half of DCA.  They have done such an amazing job it seems in Disneyland with buffering the world of Galaxy's Edge from Frontierland and Critter Country.  While they don't have nearly as much space to work with, I'm confident their brilliant minds can come up with a solution.

FINALLY, we can get to the content of this new land beyond that of the already established Guardian's presence.  Well let's start with what we do know.  Here is how Disney described it in their official press release:

At Disneyland Resort, the new Super Hero-themed land will begin recruiting guests in 2020, with even more new experiences to follow. The Guardians of the Galaxy will be joined by Spider-Man and the Avengers in what will become a completely immersive Super Hero universe, furthering the evolution of Disney California Adventure park.

This much is clear from this description about Disney's theme park strategy with its Marvel property: If you are a die hard fan and want to see all of your favorite characters in action, your going to need to plan allot of vacations and make sure your passport is up to date.  This is a smart money move even if it is slightly frustrating to those of us who had hoped for a comprehensive Marvel Land that could have been an entire third gate at the Disneyland Resort.  So what characters did DCA win in the superhero lottery?  The answer is Spider-Man.  Front and center should be the addition of a new E-ticket attraction featuring Peter Parker and friends.  What kind of ride?  I'm putting my fake imagineering money on an indoor attraction that, as reported in the Orlando Business Journal, makes use of a technology Disney submitted in a 2017 patent application.  This roller coaster with a swinging sensation will need a good amount of real estate, so I am pegging it for the South-East corner currently occupied by a parking lot and backstage facilities.

As far as other attractions, we are promised that there will be "even more new experiences to follow."  The press release also included three posters, one each for DCA, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.  Could there be some hints in these as to what other Avengers might be distinctly highlighted in each of these parks?   Alongside Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy, the DCA poster includes Dr. Strange and the Black Panther.

Personally, I was really hoping they would bring Ant-Man and the Wasp to Southern California, but the press release seems to indicate that Hong Kong snagged my favorite pint-sized super heroes.  My thought was to recreate a facade of Hank Pym's house as the exterior of the formerly It's Tough to Be a Bug building.  Ironically, the actual house that was used for the exterior shots of the film is on, get this, Buena Vista Avenue.  Imagineers love these kinds of historical references!  How appropriate would it be for the entrance to this ride to be a stone's throw away from Buena Vista Street.  And while the approach with DCA 2.0 is to understand "California Adventure" more symbolically, there are still obvious literal connections to the Golden State and I think the theming of this attraction and the ride itself would be a perfect fit for DCA.  Plus, the very nondescript road where Dr. Pym's pad was located could be a more subtle way to enter this new Super Hero Land next to its neighbor, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and the blur-collar Route 66 to Cars Land.  As far as the attraction itself, there is plenty of queue space where patrons can wander in and out of Pym's backyard and house terminating in a shed where riders get ironically shrunk down to Bug's Land size.  Then, through the 'windows' of the shed, riders can see a very over-sized Dr. Pym pick up the shed and move it inside the house, similar to how Pym shrinks an entire building in the new trailer for the sequel.  In reality, the interior to the shed is an elevator with seats, similar to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, which simulates the appropriate motions while physically moving guests to the second part of the queue where riders now access the actual ride.  The attraction would use the same ride system as Avatar's Flight of Passage, except this time riders mount slightly animated carpenter ants and go on a dangerous mission through the iconic streets of San Francisco.

Unfortunately, as I said earlier it seems like an E-ticket Ant-Man and the Wasp ride is destined for Asia.  If that is the case, then what other Marvel characters could come to DCA and where would they go?

You can just make out the exterior of Dr. Strange's New York Sanctum in the poster.  With some creatively double-sided facade work, I suppose a Manhattan street could serve as the entry point while not interrupting the Car's Land environment.  And I have to say that a dark ride centered on the Mystic Arts could provide ample room for Imagineers to run wild with stunning visuals.  Plus, the ability for Dr. Strange to transport himself to just about anywhere could help his character go to any Marvel setting and likewise allow him and the riders to team up with another Avenger.  This could include multiple scenarios so that the ride stays fresh and get's a high number of repeat visits.

At this point, there isn't much more room left after you have included food options, merchandise, and space for character meet-and-greets or interactive performances.  I think these standard amenities are best found in the center of the footprint, which is approximately where most of the current A Bug's Land is found.  The exception to this would be what I propose as a sit-down restaurant located between Guardians and the new Spider-Man ride.  Here guests could pay a premium price for personal visits from their favorite Avengers just like other restaurants do with other Disney characters, a la Goofy's Kitchen.  They could either theme the restaurant to one particular Marvel character and setting, or have multiple dining rooms with multiple themes.  As far as food goes, whether it be at the sit-down or quick-serve offerings, I would love to see an exact replica of the shawarma diner from the first Avengers movie.

The Avengers (2012, Marvel Studios)

Then what about Black Panther, the other iconic super hero displayed prominently in the poster?  Disney is going to want to capitalize on the amazing success of this newest entry into the MCU.  This is where I wonder if they can make the north side of Hollywood Land's Animation Building purely a facade, opening up the south and east side of the building to become the entry point for a Marvel attraction.  The other option is the Hyperion Theater at the end of Hollywood Boulevard.  However, I sincerely doubt that Disney will want to sacrifice the only legitimate and large indoor performing arts space in the whole resort.  Either way, I suspect that should any of these changes happen it will come as part of a later phase.  Spider-Man and the basic ammenties and area theming will be the first phase with perhaps one or two more 'C' or 'D' ticket caliber attractions added within a couple of years of its opening.

Well those are my thoughts on what we might expect for DCA's Super Hero Land or whatever other handle they come up for the space. We should start to learn very soon about details as they begin to move forward with demo and construction.  But what are your thoughts?  I would love to hear what you think about my ideas and hear some of yours in the comments below.

One thing can be said for sure: that after these and other new improvements and additions are completed, DCA is aging like a fine Napa County wine.

It amazes me how early the seeds of confidence and cowardice can be planted.  It is, quite frankly, one of the things that scares the shit out of you as a parent!  As a father, I know that latent within me are both the universes of unstoppable courage and paralyzing fear.  I know that it is also inevitable that I will impart a bit of both to my two girls.  Apparently it is in our children that we pass on both Heaven and Hell.  So I consider with great intentionality and resolve how I may call upon my children to reject that which is within me that will only serve to hold them back from their truest nature and potential to love.  Conversely, I hope that they would embrace as an inspirational legacy the moments in my life when I have managed to show grit and determination in the face of the naysayers.  In the gulf that exists between these failures and successes, I would ask that they apply liberal amounts of grace.

Lucky for them, I'm not limited to drawing upon my own life when it comes to stories that will hopefully inspire Mel and Elli.  This is especially true when I consider the unique challenges they will face as they march forward as young girls into becoming adult women.  One such amazing lady in my family tree would be Marion Nissen.  After my mom lost her mother at a very early age to cancer, my grandfather would eventually remarry to Marion Oaks of Sonoma County.  One of paternal twins, Marion would be the grandma on my mom's side that I would come to know in my early childhood.  Unfortunately, she would pass away while I was still relatively young, so my memories of her are very vague.  Mostly I recall a gentle woman who made yummy food.  So just conjure up your own images of your stereotypical sweet, old grandma and you will kinda get the picture.  Except don't let the seemingly soft and fragile image fool you.

You see, Marion was born October 12th, 1909, which made her 32 years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed.  One of the unforeseen developments that would come from the following World War 2 was the large-scale launching of women into the paid workforce.  The shortage of so-called 'manpower' meant that the country had to turn to her women to, among other things, build the ships that would prove vital to the war effort.  Enter Marion Nissen, who would become a real life "Rosie the Riveter" during WW2.  She worked as a crane operator at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, CA, one of the major production facilities for submarines.  I can only imagine that at a time when women were expressly told what they could and couldn't do--something that unfortunately still continues to this day in many ways--Marion probably struggled with doubts, wondering if she was 'up for the task'.  But we have her letter of commendation to this day to confirm that she joined with hundreds of thousands of other women who rolled up their sleeves and said, "We can do it!"

Recalling this, I can't help but smile a little bit wider whenever I hear one of my youngest daughter's most common refrains: "I can do it!" followed by "I did it!"  Yes, like her dad and I am sure her great-grandmother Marion, she struggles at times with the "I can't do it!" demons that come knocking at all of our doors.  But when those voices come, I hope she and my oldest daughter can imagine a thirty-two year old single woman, perched atop a crane, doing what only men were supposed to do, and doing a damn good job at it.  And I hope they will always hear from their dad, "Girls, you can do it to!"

If you haven't gotten a chance to read or listen to Part 1 of The Haves and Have-Not of Education, I would encourage you to do so as a primer of sorts for this interview.

Nasir and Lindsey have also shared a number of links to additional articles and videos on this issue as it has played out in Modesto, CA (see below).  I would encourage you to explore them.  If you live in the City, the most important thing you can do is to let your voice be heard with the Board Members of the Modesto City School district.

• Age article

• Afghan girls denied enrollment

• Appeal rejected

• Halima Rahimi- Board of Ed plea on 4/16/18

• Halima Rahimi- Board of Ed denial speech on 5/14/18

• Fear of the community- 5/8/18 age workshop

• Fareema Darwee- Malala quote speech at 5/14/18

There are problems.  There are causes.  And there are solutions.  And there are 'true and false' answers to all three of these.  When it comes to education in the United States, do we have problems?  I think this is probably where there is a near universal consensus that would say, 'True'.  With that said, it would be good for us to recognize, as John Tures of LeGrange College points out in an excellent OpEd piece in the Observer, that the issue of education has often been politicized.  And the name of the game when it comes to politicization is exaggeration.  So we need to make sure we have done our due diligence in identifying the problems accurately lest we fall prey to partisan rhetoric for the purpose of scoring political points.  Still, in regards to performance or 'achievement' in the world of educational assessment, there are clearly serious challenges.  This is particularly true when it comes to racial and ethnic minorities.

Disparity of many kinds between predominantly white and non-immigrant Americans and their black, brown, and immigrant peers, has led many to the conclusion that there are 'two Americas'.  Stanford's Center on Poverty and Inequality produces an annual “State of the Union” report on this reality.  The statistics for 2017 are sobering:

In terms of housing, "Less than half of black families (41 percent) and Hispanic families (45 percent) live in owner-occupied housing, as of 2014. For white families, that figure is 71 percent."  The report goes on to note:

Home ownership helps families accumulate wealth and take advantage of sizable tax savings. By contrast, being forced into the rental market can set off a domino effect of events that then make it more difficult to exit from poverty...Roughly 1 in 6 black and Hispanic households spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing, leaving them with fewer resources to devote to their children’s education, health care and other basic needs.

The report then highlights three additional areas where a chasm of inequality exists:

• When it comes to work, "The employment rate for African American men has been 11 to 15 percentage points lower than that for whites in every month since January 2000."

• Looking at health, "blacks are two to three times more likely than whites to suffer from hypertension and diabetes, leading in turn to higher rates of cardiovascular disease."

• The result to overall wealth is that, “for every dollar of wealth held by the median white family, the median African American family had less than 8 cents in wealth, and the median Hispanic family had less than 10 cents.”

These jarring contrasts can also be seen in the educational life of America's emerging generations.  Consider these facts as reported in the National Center for Education Statistic's 2017 Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups report (iv)...

• At grade 4, the White-Black gap in reading narrowed from 32 points in 1992 to 26 points in 2015; the White-Hispanic gap in 2015 (24 points) was not measurably different from the gap in 1992. At grade 8, the White-Hispanic gap narrowed from 26 points in 1992 to 21 points in 2015; the White-Black gap in 2015 (26 points) was not measurably different from the gap in 1992.

• At grade 12, the White-Black achievement gap in reading was larger in 2015 (30 points) than in 1992 (24 points), while the White-Hispanic reading achievement gap in 2015 (20 points) was not measurably different from the gap in 1992.

• At grade 4, the White-Black achievement gap in mathematics narrowed from 32 points in 1990 to 24 points in 2015; the White-Hispanic gap in 2015 (18 points) was not measurably different from the gap in 1990. At grade 8, there was no measurable difference in the White-Black achievement gap in 2015 (32 points) and 1990. Similarly, the White-Hispanic achievement gap at grade 8 in 2015 (22 points) was not measurably different from the gap in 1990.

Now it's obvious from looking at these stats that, with the exception of a few modest gains, a lack of progress and in some cases regress continues to persist.  Furthermore, we know that this perpetuates the cycle of poverty among minorities in America.  As is widely known, the more one advances academically, the more one tends to make professionally over the course of his or her working years.  Consequently, when educational advancement suffers, so does lifetime income and overall upward mobility.

So what's next?  Well, there is consensus that there is a problem.  This is typically where people want to rush to solutions.  But it would be wise for us to first explore the causes of educational disparity.  Not doing so would be equivalent to a medical doctor performing a surgery before doing a thorough set of tests.  He or she would risk doing greater harm to the patient without a clear picture of what's causing the symptoms.  Likewise, we risk doing substantial socio-economic harm to one of our nation's most precious resources, our children, if we do not know the history and nature of the challenges they face.  These, along with proposed solutions, are what we will explore in Part 2.