This webpage is
UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
Research Stage
Study politics, history, etc.; learn graphic design, illustration, and programming; learn piano; learn Japanese; learn Korean; create learning apps; create reusable assets.
Writing Stage
Write Civic Education Pedagogy and sample curricula; write fact sheets and proposals; write Futoko script; compose soundtrack; attempt to find other reformists and creative artists and network with politicians.
Go to Japan
Performance Stage
Arrange classical pieces for piano and voice; arrange shortened themes; perform at open mics and live gigs; publish concept art; attempt to form band; attempt to find other creative artists.
Animator Stage
Create Unreal Engine animation and motion assets; create interaction, character state, and AI assets; implement character creation system. (Alternatively, create FOSS animation software using GTK, Vulkan, and Jolt.)
Futoko Stage
Animate pilot episode; submit pilot episode to film awards; host fan meets; animate series 1; animate series 2; organize in accordance with the story.
Advocacy Stage
Publicize Civic Education Reform through the press; distribute Civic Education Pedagogy, sample curricula, fact sheets, and proposals; create and distribute course credit software.
Reform Stage
JAPAN: Network with school leaders; lobby for opt-in experimental education programs.
U.S.: Lobby for cost reduction measures; lobby to change state standards; lobby for higher education reform.
Steps to Reform
I will make this webpage look nice... eventually.
United States: Primary and Secondary Education
Grant Funding Law Fact Sheet
List the current laws and programs that are used to determine federal grants for public schools.
Grant Streamlining Lobby
Lobby to simplify the complex and expensive grant laws.
Civic Education Pedagogy
Write a book(let) outlining a new civic pedagogy, focusing on teaching methods.
Sample Curricula
Create sample cirricula to illustrate civic pedagogy in practice and in a full context.
Civic Education Reform Fact Sheet
Gather stats on the failure of the public school system and briefly justify a new approach to education.
Lobby to Change State Standards
Use the pedagogy, curricula, and fact sheet to lobby state politicians to support radical civic education reform.
United States: Higher Education
Bureaucratic Law Fact Sheet
List the current laws that necessitate an expensive bureaucracy to work at universities.
Anti-Bureaucrat Lobby
Lobby to remove unsustainable university bureaucracy.
Accreditation Law Fact Sheet
Summarize the current state of accreditation laws.
Accreditation Reform Lobby
Lobby to reduce unqualified government oversight and limitations on university accreditation.
Down with the 4-Year Program
Use universities' newfound pedagogical freedoms to create unbloated and differentiated Bachelor's programs.
National Qualifications Framework
Lobby for the establishment of a framework to compare university and independent course credit.
Advocacy for Alternative Routes to Higher Education
Support specialized classes, private tutoring, etc. and their independent qualifications.
Japan
Pedagogy Translation
Translate civic education pedagogy into Japanese.
Sample Curricula
Write Japanese-language curricula that fits the needs of Japanese society.
Civic Education Reform Fact Sheet
Gather stats on the failure of the public school system and briefly justify a new approach to education.
Experimental Education Proposal
Propose a means by which primary/secondary schools and universities can opt in to an experimental program that uses alternative means of student evaluation.
Cooperate with Progressive Schools
Find school leaders around the country who are interested in opting in to an experimental program.
Measure Outcomes
Create a means of measuring outcomes between experimental schools and standard public schools and compare both groups.
Crossroads
Futoko (Dropout)
Create a 3D animation that deals with the failure of neoliberal education and neoliberalism in general as a means of promoting civic education reform to a wide population. SEE BELOW.
Course Credit Software
Create a student database software that keeps track of student progress by theme rather than by course, allowing both detailed accomodation as well as straightforward credit transfer without requiring standardization.
Software Distribution
Propose the adoption of the software to school boards, principals, teachers, etc. and create networks for common use.
Teacher Education Reform
Lobby and advocate for teacher education that is affordable, scalable, and focused on civic education.
不登校 Dropout
Overview
Futoko will be an animated series (if possible) that takes place in Japan why? and deals with the existential problems of perpetuating a neoliberal society. Because neoliberalism is rooted in the education system, the primary theme of Futoko is the failure of Japanese education (and foreign, especially American, counterparts). Futoko has a soundtrack that I am currently composing, and each character has two original themes. Well before I have a pilot episode, I will perform arrangements of this soundtrack at live music events in an attempt to gain a following.
Characters
Eventually I will find the time to create production-ready models. Eventually.
鳩 Dove
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Themes:
The Scholars
Neoromantic operatic rock song with tango elements describing the rise and fall of empires throughout Chinese and Japanese history, arguing that during the decline after a golden age, the bureaucrats and aristocrats continue to preach the perfection of their system of governance despite all evidence of collapse, with references to The Scholars, Heike Monogatari, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The Nail that Sticks Out
Arabesque and tango nuevo rock song mocking the Japanese phrase, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down," citing the historical suppression of dissent against the gimin in Japanese history and relating this to Dove's experience with systemic bullying within an evidently failing neoliberal school system.
Brioso
Vocal arrangement of the fifth etude in Scriabin's 12 Etudes in which Dove describes how, unable to relate to her peers and contemporaries, she would resort to connecting with the people in history who sought to make a difference and were, in themselves, social exiles of their times.
Character Overview
Raised by an English teacher, Dove was exposed to English media from a young age and became fluent in the language; she also became interested in Western culture, especially the United States.
She found herself unchallenged in the mandatory English classes and surrounded by peers who had no interest in the subject. She also discovered that her teachers were dispassionately teaching merely to meet testing standards, counter to the proper intellectual development of the students. This led her to become disillusioned with the Japanese education system.
Dove started learning piano when she was young, and she aspires to be a great pianist and especially composer.
雉 Pheasant
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Themes:
One Last Sunday
Neoromantic rock fantasia with quotations from Schumann's "Marche des 'Davidsbündler' contre les Philistins" about the ways in which people cling onto nostalgia and thirst for tradition insofar as it satisfies their own emotional troubles, though neglecting the ways in which obsession with the past harms others in the present and the future, with the conclusion that we must perpetually make ourselves the revolutionary authors and heroes of a new age.
In Praise of Folly
Ambient rock aria referencing Erasmus' In Praise of Folly that discusses the tendency among artists to celebrate "art for art's sake," indulging in elitist artistic perfection, shallow beauty, and righteous self-pity while seldom venturing into themes that call out to those who have never had the chance to make their troubles heard, "painting a sunset in spite of those who've always lived in the darkness of night."
Aria
Vocal arrangement of the second movement in Schumann's Piano Concerto No. 1 in which Pheasant laments the fruitless suffering of animals in cages and factory farms for what are in comparison trivial pleasures of the tongue or even more trivial matters of fashion and aesthetics.
Character Overview
Pheasant is a Japanese Christian minority. She believes in being kind to everybody and making sure to help people in need. She has an interest in philosophy, theology, and child and animal welfare.
Pheasant's family is full of artists, so Pheasant grew up with many creative influences. She likes to sketch and to paint, especially nature scenes and birds using gouache and watercolors. She also sometimes tries out other mediums such as wood carving and origami.
Her church occasionally hosts music performances. Inspired by her musical brother, who happens to play in a jazz band, Pheasant eventually decided to try out drums.
烏 Raven
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Themes:
Behind the Canvas
Macabre march rock song quoting the third movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata that deals with how traumatic events in Raven's life have shaped the way she has learned to objectify herself in the pursuit of any kind of supposedly dependent attachment, exasperated by grotesque displays of female sexualization in media and pornography, leaving Raven unsure of what it truly means to love and be loved.
Fantaisie
Climactic and autobiographical operatic rock fantasia depicting Raven's transition from depression to motivation while she learns that her responsibility is to stand up and fight for the troubled outcasts of society as someone who directly relates to their struggles, playing not merely the role of an understanding consoler but rather that of a leader who will make clear the way forward so that no more may perish as castaways neglected by the masses.
Chopin—Allegro assai
Vocal arrangement and collage of "Chopin" from Schumann's Carnaval combined with "Allegro assai" from Scriabin's 5 Preludes, Op. 15 in which Raven celebrates the beauty and meaning in human effort against great barriers, arguing that the life of someone who chases a grandiose dream and fails is far greater than that of one who chooses from the start to live a quiet and predictable life.
Character Overview
Raven lives with a disfunctional family and has poor mental health. She experiences frequent periods of low motivation and struggles to manage the stress that comes from familial tensions as well as responsibilities at school.
She struggles severely in keeping up with school work, often finding it difficult to do even some of the easier work because it seems so pointless. She assumes that she will not be able to graduate high school and has no real idea about what her future will look like.
Amidst the turmoil, Raven fantasizes about being a famous rockstar. She imagines the freedom and the power that would come with such fame and wealth, and her imagination provides a comforting contrast to her immediate reality.
鶚 Osprey
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Themes:
The Fisherman
Neoromantic jazz-rock fusion song based around the parable of a fisherman who neglects a rotting post holding up his hut over the sea as he obsesses over the immediate profits gained from running back and forth selling fish at the market, the collapse of his home representing the inevitable collapse of neoliberal societies as they focus on short-term economic acheivements while overlooking signs of long-term catastrophic failure.
Shooting Star
Narrative swing fusion song about the conflict between neoliberal careerism and a humanistic life, citing Osprey's dash towards the capital and what and whom she left behind in the name of "success," a term imposed upon her and accepted uncritically despite its fleeting nature and its conflict with the desire to build a family and raise the next generation.
Claire de lune
Vocal arrangement of Debussy's Claire de lune in which Osprey romanticizes the natural landscape of her childhood home in contrast to the city, claiming that, like the light pollution hiding away the stars, in our hubris we claim to be elevated above the animal kingdom as we call our actions progress, not realizing the profound aspects of our nature that we have given up in the process.
Character Overview
Osprey joined the badminton team at the start of junior high school, and she became one of the top players at her school. She likes doing physical activity in general and often spends time outdoors with her family.
She has lofty career ambitions and wants to end up studying and working in the capital. Because of this, she has to grapple with the personal and social sacrifices she will have to make in order to be a high performer in school, including possibly quitting badminton.
Osprey loves karaoke and, through habit of this hobby, has become an unusually good singer, especially after singing along to The Six Gentlemen so often.
The Six Gentlemen
Overview
The Six Gentlemen is a fictional K-Pop band whose music comprises the second part of the original soundtrack of Futoko. Their music is critical of South Korean neoliberalism, and the subplot involving them will be the way in which I reach a Korean audience through the story.
Discography
The Six Gentlemen
The Six Thieves
Rap song based on Kim Chi-ha's "The Five Thieves" that introduces a new thief: the hagwon founder, who profits off a commercialized education system that smothers his nation's youth.
You Split My Heart into Three Kingdoms
Tragic song of unrequited love between a Baekjae man and a Silla woman that takes place in the Three Kingdoms Period of Korea.
To the Gallows, Together
Pop rap song about two lovers whose final romantic moments take place at the gallows as they are hanged for conspiracy to assassinate the Resident-General of Korea.
The Six Persimmons
Living Mannequins
Rap song satirizing the plastic surgery culture of South Korea, describing an incident in which an idol is locked inside an abandoned mall and slowly turned into a mannequin.
Smoking Like It's 1839
Rap song critical of 20th century American geopolitics and the presumption of the superiority of the American model of utilitarian capitalism, referencing British and French military strategy during the Opium Wars.
She's Been Corrupted by Western Learning
Pop rap song satirizing the South Korean culture of misogyny by preaching principles of female deference in accordance to the Confucianism of Zhu Xi.
The Six Paths
Middle-Class Robin Hood
Rap song lamenting the end of peasant rebellions in the wake of modern wealth, arguing that the only ones left to fight are those who, in their personal tragedies, have nothing left to lose.
Beautiful Self-Censorship
Love song about a man who wants to confess his feelings to a woman but can only express his love through obscure and metaphorical language, for which he receives a Pulitzer Prize, but it also causes him to be unable to warn the woman of an oncoming car that ends up killing her.
Chaebol Woman
Love song that takes place in a society where social hierarchy is determined by the waste of one's wealth through vanity, corruption, and hedonistic pursuits, leading one chaebol chairwoman to become the most sought-after romantic partner in the country.