So I’m teaching this morning — another glorious day at West Philly High — and a kid asks me if I can get to myspace on my computer. I think he assumed that I had a broadband card (I didn’t) because the School District has blocked myspace.com.

It turns out he was using myspace as a file server, as a way of keeping files (including those for my class) and was now unable to download the paper. I think the smart folks downtown and most adults see these “social networks” as counter to the academic mission but here was a kid using it appropriately only to be unable to access his work.