Four Girders: The Book
After more than thirty years in higher education, most of them helping students — across a desk, in a classroom, and at my own kitchen table — I’ve written a book, and I’ve made it free. It’s called The Four Girders Framework: Becoming a Successful Learner in the AI Era. It isn’t a study-skills textbook. It’s a plain-spoken framework for the four interconnected things that actually shape a student’s success — self-regulation, life balance, learning strategies, and resources — and how they hold together like the girders of a bridge.
Mi libro
La inteligencia artificial se sienta hoy junto a los estudiantes, y aunque los fundamentos del aprendizaje no han cambiado, el terreno sí. De un blog que arrancaba y se detenía nació un libro completo: The Four Girders Framework: Becoming a Successful Learner in the AI Era. Los fundamentos de siempre, ahora frente a los nuevos retos de la inteligencia artificial. Disponible gratis como recurso educativo abierto (OER).
La Escalera de Fidel
Ayer fui a tu pequeño taller y me topé con tu escalera, Fidel. Esa que tantas veces te acompañó, fiel como una sombra. Y me di cuenta de que está llena de ti: marcas de pintura, salpicaduras, gotas y trazos multicolores. Cada peldaño, cada color, cuenta una historia que solo tú y ella conocen. ¡Si tan solo ella pudiera contarnos tus historias!
Natural Contradictions
In a recent Washington Post opinion piece, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argue that children need natural supports such as family, nutrition, and exercise rather than medicalized approaches like mandatory mental health screenings. On the surface, this call to strengthen natural sources of resilience is appealing — and many educators, parents, and health professionals would agree that healthy routines and strong relationships are fundamental to well-being.
Sanitized History
The Trump administration has embarked on a campaign to rewrite American history. The aim is a whitewashed version of the past that glorifies American exceptionalism while discarding well-established facts, critical thinking, and intellectual honesty. This isn’t just rhetoric—it is an assault on the nation’s capacity to reflect, learn, and grow.
Prior Restraint
The federal government’s decision to shut down DEI initiatives under the guise of legality and so-called divisiveness argument is nothing more than prior restraint—a well-known and heavily frowned-upon form of censorship. And as history has shown us, prior restraint is not just a direct violation of the First Amendment, but one of the biggest threats to a democratic society.
Merit and fairness
The new U.S. government administration ordered the dismantling of all federal DEI programs under the argument that such programs are discriminatory and undermine fairness. The government claims they want to implement a purely merit-based system. This view misunderstands the role of access and achievement programs and the structural inequities they aim to address and favors the meritocratic fallacy of effort and talent.
President Elect
“Madam President” should have been a better title for this post. Not today, not yet. Donald Trump is now the President-Elect of the United States and will soon take office as the 47th President. Unlike in 2016, I’m neither shocked nor surprised. Although I hoped and voted for a different outcome, this feels like just another day. I am, however, concerned about how the divisive rhetoric from both sides during this election cycle will continue to affect race relations in America. I’m going to step into political analysis to try to make sense of this moment.
A garbage joke
“There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico”. For those of us with Puerto Rican roots, who cherish both the island and the country we now call home, these words cut deep. They sting, but they also clarify something profoundly troubling. This “joke” isn’t just about Puerto Rico; it’s another thread in a long, ugly pattern. A pattern where people are reduced to a label or a slur, where darker skin tones, different languages, and diverse cultures are treated as defects rather than the gifts they are.
Buen viaje
Gracias Tió Cristóbal por haberme regalado mi primer cuatro; por siempre tener un catre listo cuando te visitábamos de niños; por dejarme usar tu TransAm para llevar a pasear “la jeva” cuando yo era apenas un chamaquito; por ser un gran tío, pero también un amigo. Gracias por tu corazón generoso que siempre daba sin pedir nada a cambio. Gracias por tu ejemplo de lucha. Gracias por compartir tu vida y tu gran sentido del humor con todos nosotros. ¡Coño, que mucho te vamos a extrañar!