Jeff Olsen Biebs

just enormously proud of what we're doing here

I try not to be the guy who studied abroad for a while and came back saying Ta and Cheers Mate but I had beans and tea for breakfast today. Very good.

I got to talk today to a student about her interest in becoming a teacher, and I entirely nailed the balance between affirming that she’d be great at it, on the one hand, and not putting any pressure on her, on the other

😎

Not since childhood!

Ludicrously stereotypical Minnesotan weekend: kid introduced me to cross country skiing, I introduced her to smoked trout, Meg darned my snow pants; all at a Lutheran retreat at a non-sectarian camp

Quite pleased to be the parent who helps with middle school math homework BUT one does wonder if the other parent, who spent the afternoon organizing said middle schooler to contact her congressperson about the CFPB, might've been better suited to help CALCULATE SIMPLE INTEREST ON A LOAN

One perk of this gig: sometimes a parent of a student owns a candy factory and so you think you're just doing a conference but actually you get to be Willy Wonka for your family

I think you'd really enjoy SCHOOL PICTURES at Theatre Latte Da, even if you *aren't* a teacher who loves teaching because teaching is hilarious, but who also gets sad if you think about the big picture a lil too much.

Did you know that the end of each verse of Lord Dismiss Us With Your Blessing can be sung to the choral windup to the Battle Cry in Defying Gravity

Putting out the Karl signal @kmfaho.bsky.social - sixth grader just asked me What is philosophy, what do I say

PS please append an "I'm just rooting for us" to the closing sentence about PA. What a missed opportunity. (45/??)

In conclusion it's a perfect song and it should maybe be our school's new fight song, or played at graduation, or at least coffee house.

Respectfully,
Dr Biebs (44/44)

[it kind of goes on for a while] (16-43/44)

Which is funny in the pop song, and way funnier that they had the courage to ask the guy to sing it with a straight face in the Ballad reprise! (15/44)

..and just when it's starting to seem like it's too much for the pre-teen audience to handle, they puncture any burgeoning self-importance with the hilarious "Girl, you look delicious - no, I mean gorgeous." (14/44)

So obviously the Someday songs touch on both of these strengths - the need to have a fairer world where they can be "side by side," but also a seriousness of what it would take to fight for such a world... (13/44)

So. (12/44)

The cheerleaders (etc) who resist zombie integration are clearly wrong, but they're more deserving of pity than of anger (probably about a 80%/20% split?), whereas the parents who try to shut down the bridge between Auradon and the Isle of the Lost are pretty irredeemably jerks. (11/44)

Whereas Zombies is treating cultural diversity and school integration as both a moral necessity and a practical difficulty. (10/44)

After a couple of rounds of Descendants songs, I feel hit over the head with the message that "good and evil are not as simple as they might seem, and especially as they might seem in previous cultural properties managed by the Disney corporation." Like. We get it. (9/44)

But when my kid and I started talking about the themes of the two series, it became clear that Zombies is better - not only more nuanced, but also more topical. (8/44)

Heck, even minor characters in Descendants (your dog, your Doug, Cinderella's-mom-but-travelling-back-through-time, etc) are probably more nuanced than Zed, and the less said about Bonzo, the better. (7/44)

I still basically feel this way about the characterization: Mal, Evie, Uma, Red are each drawn with more depth and sophistication than Zed and A...ddie? [the fact that I'm not confident in her name is partially on me, but I think it reflects a superficiality in how she's written too]. (6/44)

The Zombies franchise entered my home shortly after a long (looooooong) Descendants kick. And at first, both my kid and I regarded it as lesser Descendants, knockoff drivel, good for a change of pace on the playlist but obviously not as charming. (5/44)

forgive me in advance if I step on beloved childhood memories by finding parts of the movie series and songs deeply, ridiculously, gloriously stupid. (4/44)

First, let me say that my reasons for appreciating the song and your reasons for appreciating the song might be different, and I think that's not only okay but great, but (3/44)

Dear [student], I'd always welcome hearing from you, but wow is there nothing I'd rather put aside my most boring grading of the week to discuss than Someday. (Technically the reprise/ballad is my favorite song, but they're both so great). (2/44)

A student I taught a few years ago emailed me, said she'd heard I like the song SOMEDAY from Disney's ZOMBIES, and would I like to elaborate because she likes it too. Here's how I responded.... (1/44)

@currentcaleb.bsky.social ad astra per aspera, my long time friend 🌻💛

No pop culture is going to give me a more concentrated burst of pleasure this year than the first 6 minutes of the Questlove documentary on SNL music.