Commercial affiliations surround and pull at us all the time. Cars. Computers. Office phones. Like sounds that seep into daily routines, the corporate other and entity enfolds us. iTunes. Rhapsody. "Saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vics.” The question is not whether to participate, but which affiliations to make, which bargains to strike. And the moments of decision are not always transparent. When does google go from hip personal choice to economic force (see the Web)? Can one still google (Facebook, Office, Oracle) and not bleat with the flock?

This is to say, of course, we must and will consider and make countless choices about commercial education. The power. The power of making those choices intoxicates. And should. The idea is to imagine standing amid the swirl and shaping it, affecting its pieces and pitch ("not so fast"). So, textbook writers should ask not whether to be a part of commercial education, but how carefully/forcefully they might shape its production. Aim for?

[Bullets Now]

Relevant
Self-reflective
Classroom-generated
Thundering
Project-based
Multimodal
Public
Creative
Effective (add fraught tree—creative vs. effective)

Watch out for?

Replication
Pitch
Watering
Over-abstraction
Over-simplification
[in that order]

Now it’s got to be a project of love. However wrapped in excesses of deadlines and demographics, not so fast. It has to be a project of love. Rhetorical lights turned to journeys with others. Changes felt and offered. Motivated well, whenever misguided. Some projects tap along for work or money, but [shift the pronoun here] I (one, you) can’t hope to shape the swirl without an honest intent (tag as foundation) that stands behind the words. Without pretense, I can hope to affect.

Not so fast. The real projects must add jazz to the mind. They’ve got to move. Motivate. Make us puzzle thoughts and tweak them toward expression. (The feel-good premise of the year.) The phenomenology of message-making plied into a techno-teacherly process stopped in the shape of book and site. Yes, it’s not just the shape but the process we’re after. That mental change. That sustain.