Blogging Around

Rachel M's blog really surprised me on how similar our trains of thought moved forward. It was really interesting to be in someone else's head, but hear echos of my thoughts. After reading her Get Organized! blog entry I commented.....

Really Rachel, reading your piece is like experiencing deja vu in every paragraph. It was awesome!
I was actually wondering about how other people would respond to this assignment because I thought that my plan was the one way it could be done. Turns out great minds really do think alike ;D
I am glad to see someone knows how I think through things and feels the same "pressures" to clean the whole room. One thing leads to another until eventually we have come full circle and the whole room is in better shape. Again, this is insane, and so cool all at once, you understand me!! haha :)



Dede L's blog was interesting because I have witnessed the process of her cleaning her room, and she is very silent and so this gave me an insiders look at how she thinks. We don't often agree on things but that is what makes our friendship fun. Seeing things from different points of view challenges both of our minds, and that is what we have in common is the love of challenging each other's opinion. I know it makes me more flexible, and humbled in my opinions because this banter reminds me that others do not see through my perspective, they do not think how I think and that I cannot expect them to "just know". I commented my immediate thoughts....

Let me guess, to treat yourself for all your hard work, you did your nails after finishing. :)
Dede, I'd be able to spot this as your writing anywhere. The first line of five words is totally infused with your blunt, funny, and to the point realistic humor. I love how you go from a simple task of cleaning your room to a philosophical quest for success in life. Maybe it's because we have cleaned your room together, or because you have cleaned mine but I feel as if I witnessed you "solving the mystery of your laptops whereabouts."
Love this and you because it screams DILYANA WROTE THIS in each word.

Get Organized

I am an all or nothing kind of person. I hate doing anything half way. It will either get done fully or not at all. My logic is, if you're not going to finish it, why start it in the first place? Now this kind of thinking has gotten me into many short projects and through simple tasks, and pushed me through long, heavy, complicated and difficult projects. It has also caused my room to turn into a gigantic "pigsty", as my mom likes to call it. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw the Get Organized assignment. It meant that I would have something clean at last! But as it turns out, I had been dragging it out, wondering when am I going to find the time for 45 minutes of cleaning? Between school, work, and homework, I can't find the time to get enough sleep in and now I had to find time to organize. Thinking about it, that was the only downside to this prompt, it takes time.
During that time, I knew where my train of thought would lead me. It goes like this...

" If I am going to organize my closet, I may as well do my laundry, including my sheets, but then I'd have to clean under the bed, which leads to vacuuming, and as long as the vacuum is out I should clean the whole floor. But all this junk is in the way, when did all these water bottles get here, I never knew I had so many chargers and belts, there's the humidifier I never use after it has run out of water, more clothes, binders and random papers, teacups, flashcards, candles, paychecks and earrings, hair dryers, slippers, then the "aha!" moment when I see that my headphones were under a sweater this entire week, receipts and the list drones on and on."

You can see where this is going. This is how my cleaning starts every single time. I love organizing my closet, the catch is that I do not find having a clean closet with a whole hamper and a half of clothes waiting to be reincorporated into the closet, at all satisfying. At this time, I extend this 45 minute organizing of my closet session and reach for cleaning(organizing) my entire room in under an hour. No longer dreading it, I am now excited and motivated to get through one hour and see my new, clean and organized room.

While organizing anything my mind goes into a therapeutic cycle, like a sleep cycle. My thoughts start and pause on tangents like, why did I need an assignment to make me clean my room?, and then they would fade away until I caught myself spacing out then something else would grab my attention and a new thought would come and the cycle began again.

I also thought about how many clothes I have that I just do not use, and I have decided to put them to better use and donate them to Goodwill or something.  Looking back at the hour I spent cleaning my room, I am happy with it. True, it is not what I am completely satisfied with but considering I did this in an hour, I am proud of myself. I got a load of laundry done and into my closet, the floor is clean and vacuumed and I can see my desk from my clean bed. All in all, it was an hour well spent.

An Inconvenient Truth

Mysticism suggests that we are all connected somehow, and it made me think how? The answer Mysticism gives is that while God is a part of every individual, every individual is a part of God. Now that statement is misleading because it provokes the question who is God, or who is your God?, but that is not the point here. The key to understanding this is not looking at it from a spiritual point, but looking at it as it is. In our reality, we are all dependent on one another, and that dependence connects us all. 

In the United States of America, we strive for independence from an early age, and have a common goal to be self-sufficient. The truth is, we are not designed for independence, we are critically dependent animals. We are dependent on food, we are dependent on our clothes, our homes, most of all our families and friends. Show me one single study that shows a healthy human behaving normally after 15 minutes of absolutely no human contact. That means no music, no phones, no television, radio, nothing. It is just not natural. We are designed to be dependent on each other.

That is not a negative aspect. Look at how far we have come in technology. Tell me, was the iPod invented by one person? No it took a whole corporation to come out with each and every version. It is not just our technology, each nation is dependent on another for supplies and alliances, all adding up to safety in numbers. Proving the point that even if the whole religion topic is not your cup of tea, Mysticism does not have to apply to just God, one could even interpret it as we, together are God since each of us is a part of Him. To agree with this idea of mysticism is to understand that our dependence on each other is what has kept us dominant for so long.

Connection: Sophie and I

This week we have been reading Sophie's World in class and it follows a girl who is being unorthodoxly taught about philosophy, and through her experience we are as well. We are learning about history and philosophy through spectacles that make it not the typical history course. It is a history course in disguise or it could also be interpreted that we are wearing rose colored glasses thanks to the added perspective of Sophie. Either way it is a very clever way to teach philosophy.

Sophie's World is written in a way that makes it relatable to high schoolers especially because it is written through the perspective of a high schooler. It connects to all of us because she is fourteen and we were fourteen not so long ago and it is easy to remember that mindset of confusion and looking for an interest that feels right and is so enjoyable it isn't work anymore. Everyone remembers how disorienting freshman year felt and how finding an interest acts as a life vest in an ocean of new things.

No matter how it started, she found something she enjoys and it is developing her mind and character. Not floating in uncertainty and at least asking questions helps her ground herself like art is for me. Just like Sophie, I rarely make time for it until something is in my face and it is just too tempting to pass up, and just like Sophie it built on to my mind, perceptions and character.

Metacognition: Then and Now

Most often, I completely missed the mark, because of the tangents I went off on were more interesting to me than the topic, which made the grade less than what I wanted. The comments read, "very good work", "interesting" and "tell me more" or all this positive mumbo jumbo and yet the grade was still not saying "very good work". That grade would be what it was because the essay was not being graded; its structure was. The substance did not have anything to do with it. Either follow the format or prepare for the consequences.

This system of essay writing that was drilled into my head is not effective nor was it encouraging. I used to always have an incredibly difficult time writing almost anything and began to detest the assignments until my Junior year in high school when for the the first time, a teacher told our class to "forget about the 5 paragraph essay format. Throw it out. I do not want you to use it ever again." I thought he was being sarcastic. As did the rest of my 25 classmates, until we were shown an example.

These new rules are more guidelines that encourage brainstorming then connecting what comes to mind in a way that makes sense, and gets the point across. Introductions could be short or run on for paragraphs, and paragraphs may be short and sweet and to the point, or long and curious and exploring many highways. Conciseness is key for two reasons, teachers do not have the time or energy to read boring fluff that was only written in to fill the negative space and it makes the writing valuable. Valuable because it is clear, and makes the concept easier to grasp. Meeting somewhere in the middle between leading the reader step by step, and making giant leaps leaving the him unable to build the bridge and connect with the text.

My thinking usually began with the thought, "what is my point?" and now it begins with "what do I think, and say about this?" The similarity of all writing is that it draws out a map of how a particular mind gets from point A to point E. All the points in between are checkpoints, ideas or roadblocks that take divergent thinking to get through. I was not taught to think like this, at least for school, until Junior year.

The most significant difference that I realize is that I have conditioned myself to write ideas down whenever they happen. If I have spaced out in a different class and get an idea, I write it down to make it leave my head and get back to class. If I am out shopping and I think of another, I text it to myself. Pretty soon, the essay writes itself, just like that. My outline is a list of all those random thoughts, then connecting them together which brings up more ideas snowballing into a bigger, better piece of writing.

Maybe it's just me, but having to think in order of steps just does not come naturally or easily. It is more of coming up with pieces of a puzzle, and afterwards, fitting them together to make a bigger picture that holds the prompt, an answer to a question, or my opinion on a topic, to a viewer.

That old, overused structure felt like a trap and that trapped mindset did not help me. It actually restrained me in most ways. Now that I think differently about essays, they are more entertaining especially if the topic is interesting to me from the start. A new trick that I have been employing lately is to find some aspect of the subject that amuses me and start there, because that usually leads to a better understanding of the subject making it more enjoyable than before.

I used to be unsure of my writing and even my thoughts, which is why I was not a great sharer, but going over my ideas and noting the ones that have struck me, has encouraged me to speak my mind. Accidental self encouragement happened. Even if my opinion is not the most popular or understandable one it still deserves to be put out there, just like everyone else's. Also, I do not care much about approval anymore because sometimes I myself cannot follow what others are saying, and if I do not understand, I may not approve, In turn, others may not approve of what I am saying because the way they think is not the way I think, and that is what makes conversations fun.

Those conversations, the ones where the partakers are not of one mindset, are the ones that set off a chain reaction. Hearing a controversial opinion sets me off to think and try to understand their thought process, and by doing that, my own thought process changes and expands to add a version of their processing. My own thinking has not only been influenced by school or friends but by complete strangers, family and the world around me, but most of all by me. Reading over what I have written and thinking about how other people will interpret it makes me self conscious. That mindset makes me wonder if my point is clearly stated, if my examples pertain to the situation, if my explanation and ranting even connects to the subject being discussed, but then the clock keeps striking its hands and I know I have to finish so I end the thought and press the publish button. 

blogging around

DedeL-
The first two paragraphs got me thinking about how the film portrays its characters. I completely agree that our lives meet and exceed the standard of the rest of the world, but also to add that watching a documentary like this, does not give us the full picture. I always used to asked myself, if those filmmakers and photographers could go to third world countries and take those moving pictures and record soul crushing events, why don't they, themselves reach out and lend a helping hand instead of watching from the sidelines? After this documentary and then reading this, I realized that helping out at least during filming, does not give the full picture. It makes the viewer go "Oh, well they're fine now. Case closed." But if the recorded lives were untouched, as if we are flies on the wall, watching what goes on, it has a much more gripping effect on the viewer, making them actually want to make an effort because if not them, then who?

When you said, "it seems so easy to stray off the right path", my mind immediately went to the word temptation. Temptation is an instigator we all know, however, temptation affects us way less than those people living in the Red Light District. We face temptation opposite things dealing with spending money on pleasures, should I go out to eat, should I splurge on a useless hat, or should I throw my quarter in a fountain?None of these would affect us much, if at all, while they would set back any one person in Calcutta. These temptations, compared to those of the Calcutta people, are minuscule little specks of dust compared to the boulders of temptations they face with their decisions in life. If they threw a quarter in a fountain, there goes today's breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Next you made me think about how major the change and influence of programs like these are, and spreading the information around the globe, but at the same time its minor. Paradoxical as it sounds, this is how I think of it. There is no doubt in my mind that these kids have been helped to say the least, but they are a teeny tiny percentage of all the rest of the children in the world living, and will go on living, how they used to live. It's sad but true and an obstacle that we as a population have to find ways to improve.




StaceyL-

This is beautiful to see. It is so inspiring to see that a person that is apparently lost to dementia, comes back to life simply from music.

When you bring up losing our sanity if we had no music I totally understand where you are coming from because there have been experiments that have proven that loss of human contact (vocal) for as little as 15 minutes produces unusual behavior and since most music is recorded human voice, this completely makes sense. Maybe if the nursing home played background music they would have found out sooner that it would help this man and others.

I am thrilled you found this and shared it because this proves how connected we all are to music, and through that, to each other. I wish I could say more but there is nothing I can say or write that is clearer than what is captured on video.

Best of the Week: Born Into Brothels (AFTERMATH)

 Each little miracle of the eight little Calcutta kids was recorded as the documentary Born Into Brothels and in this film we absorbed each child's back story; where they came from, and how they lived, but most of all how they were treated. An instinct to protect one another made gaining more and more sympathy for them inevitable which made learning about how their lives have evolved all the more exiting, almost as if we were sharing in their triumph of winning with the vulnerable and deficient hand they were dealt.

Once we finished the documentary in class, we moved on to updating ourselves on their lives after Born into Brothels. They have all gone to achieve so much for an average Joe, but when taken into account where they came from, who their parents are, and how they lived, those factors highlight the level of grit and perseverance and most of all sheer luck each of these children posses. Luck because, they are eight of all the other children around them that were in the same, if not worse situation. Each is lucky because, none was HIV positive in a place where no checkups happen, no vaccines, and no precautions are taken. Lucky because Zana Briski and Ross Kaufmann decided to change the topic of their documentary. So many things went wrong in these childrens' lives, but then again, so many things went so right.

So what about the rest of us?
So many more things have gone right for us, yet most of us take it for granted and ignore that fact. We are the one third of the world that does not live in poverty; that is not malnourished, or dehydrated, or HIV positive, or alone, or with too many mouths to feed. It is beyond easy to forget how fortunate and lucky this part of the world's society is, because we are all so caught up in petty dilemmas like which shoes to buy, and how we can only buy one because last week we bought three pairs and we promised ourselves to save up and stop splurging. And even if we do buy those shoes and more, the rent or mortgage will still be paid on time, the electricity and water, TV and internet, phone bills, car payments and all the rest will not have any problems getting paid. Just take the time to stop and think.

Once a day, take the random thoughts about shoes or which toothpaste to buy, and compare those to the thoughts of that remaining two thirds of the world who is thinking of a place to sleep tonight, or how they are going to find clean water tomorrow. Do this and your head will be out of the clouds, into clarity and back down to earth. Humbled and aware you will see how fortunate you really are to have those shoes on your feet. Enlightened, you will see your luck and reason to push yourself and pull away from those shoes and maybe even keep that promise made to yourself to start saving.

An Inconvenient Truth

Born Into Brothels has a scene where an older woman keeps cursing at this little girl. Besides being utterly abhorred at this woman, I was impressed. This 10 year old little girl, never stooped to her elder's level nor did she raise her voice at her. What is most extraordinary is the display or pure self-control. The capacity this child has for handling blatant disrespect leads me to believe that, another person would not be able to maintain any kind of rationality.
Respecting your elders has always been a precedent of every culture and society. This scene alone challenges that. It brings up a question. Where does a person draw the line between respect for another human being, and respect for himself?
Pushing boundaries is what this age is about. We have pushed and stretched technology, fashion, design, and originality, are precedents next? The good old fashioned values seem to be lingering, but they do not possess the same presence and grasp on people's attitudes. For that 10 year old girl they have an obvious presence, but are they weakening in more developed places? For example, imagine you are at a target and you see a child in a rage or in tears because they were not bought the toy they wanted. Nothing special, it is not unusual here. Meanwhile in third world countries, which make up the majority of the world's population, a child cries when they are losing a loved one, or have tuberculosis, or cannot find food.
More fortunate people here are realizing that there are people that have it worse, way worse. The problem is that in first world countries like the one we live in, life is so fast paced and so hectic, that it is hard to remember that this is not how the whole planet functions. Taking a moment and thinking about all the things that had to go right for you to be where you are at that second is a humbling and grounding experience.

Carry It Forward: Creativity Crisis

The possibility brought up in "The Creativity Crisis" that the way we are taught is not the best way to teach is an oddly comforting thought. Comforting, because that means that all the responsibility for those low essay, test or quiz grades is not entirely on each of our shoulders. Odd, because in our minds there has been no right and wrong, okay and better systems of teaching. It has always been a "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen" sort of thing. And so, we stay in the kitchen and keep fighting not to melt under the pressure.

Thinking about why this particular "drill and kill" system is being used brings up a point of the reason being a natural inclination of all human beings; to compete with one another, and in turn find the "Alpha". Here, one could think of multiple explanations of why we love competition. Whether it is to watch, argue or actually compete, it is an instinct that everyone shares. One explanation for our love of competition would bring up Darwin's theory of Survival of the Fittest. But that would also involve egos into the mix because to compete, we must have a motivator. That motivator in this case, is to be the smartest but to also have statistical proof of that genius, because if it is on paper it must be true.

Trends come and go and IQ scores are getting old, so on to the next one. That one is a CQ score bringing a Creativity trend along, but that does not mean that competition has gotten old, in fact competition is how a decline in American creativity was discovered, or so says the first line of Po Bronson's article, "The Creativity Crisis".

One could also argue that both methods of teaching have their advantages. The drill and kill method ensures that minor and major ideas are at least gone over, while the creative method involves going around and through using previous knowledge to get to an end point. The question is, how can one really measure intelligence or creativity? That depends on independent definitions of what exactly intelligence or creativity means to each person on the planet. For one, creativity could be proven with writing, and for someone else, intelligence could be proven in writing, and for another it may be considered that both could be proven in a piece of writing. The essential point is that those statistics are dependent on independent factors of a multitude of opinions and learning styles. Final question: If there are several learning styles, why is there only one teaching style being used?