Saturday, November 24, 2007

Ooops!






Hey everyone! Look what I did today! :-)






I learned that you don't have to be two years old to make a royal mess. Slippery bowls are no respecter of persons (or the potential inherent in a pumpkin pie, or freshly scrubbed floors, for that matter)!

Oh, and I also successfully proved that gravity is still functioning properly--keeping even the most prideful pastry chefs thoroughly grounded in their own humanity!





Nonetheless, the pie still managed to achieve its potential!










We can only hope for a similar result with respect to the disaster of a paper I am working on!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Did you know . . .?

I awoke Thanksgiving morning feeling a little sorry for myself because I was staying in Michigan instead of spending the holiday with my family in Kansas. However, several friends here invited me to spend the day in their homes. As I enjoyed my day, I found myself reflecting on the blessings of a ward family and thinking about the other people and places I love:

Did you know . . . that the little things you say and do have changed (and continue to change) what I think, who I am, and the shape and direction of my life?

There are so many times that your words pop into my head, that I hear phrases you say coming out of my mouth, that I see the world through your eyes, that I feel your influence in my heart, and that I am grateful that some of the person you are has become a part of the person I am!

Then I am amazed when I think about how long ago those words were said, those thoughts were shared, and that influence was planted. It reminds me to be careful . . . and it makes me smile!

Veggie Burgers

It is no secret to anyone who is even remotely acquainted with me that I find the conventions of academia stifling. Grad school is truly hazardous to all forms of health (or life, for that matter)! It is killing me and I really think the Surgeon General ought to get involved! (Grin)

In an attempt to be responsible for my own health, however, I am trying to find the positives in the whole experience (and that takes a LOT of effort, which requires a LOT of energy!) So it is no surprise that food has captured my attention lately. I am also finding that food is a particularly satisfying outlet for creative self-expression.

Here is my latest attempt. It is modeled on a veggie burger that Cindy ordered from Zuni Grill in San Antonio. I've found that they don't take long to prepare and they are a satisfying (and healthy) substitute for hamburgers.
In case you're curious, this one has asparagus, peppers (green, orange, red, and yellow), portabella mushrooms, and zuchinni on it. It is held together with fresh guacamole, garnished with grated cheese, and is served on an onion bun.


The plan is to finish grad school by June, but if not, maybe there's hope for me as a chef (or at least a food artist)?!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Shadowed Soul

Shadowed soul
Darkest night
Who can bring me
Back to light

Long days
Heart aches
Tears fall
Dawn breaks

Alone.

Cherice Montgomery, November 21, 2007

San Antonio


I went to San Antonio
To have a little fun
(And to do my MSU work
In the 80 degree sun!)

Our hotel was near the Riverwalk
The rooms were full of light
And breakfast in the morning
Was really a delight!

A/C in November?!
That was a little strange,
But I sure got lots of work done,
So I cannot complain!

We gave 3 presentations
That went extremely well
(Or so invitations to present
In 7 states do tell).


We started with the wikis,
Then advocacy,
And finally moved to Teens N Tech.
We certainly were busy!

We lost a lot of sleep
Preparing every night.
Good thing there wasn't much to see
In nightlife or in sights!

The town was really dead.
The food was overpriced,
But we liked Azuca's!
It was very, very nice!


Cindy whined, "These amarillos
were fried too long in grease!"
The chef prepared them Cindy's way.
Cindy shared them with Cherice. :-)


They were VERY, very tasty
So now I'm waiting patiently
For my platanos to blacken
So I can make them a la Cindy!


We visited Bohanan's
Where they paid someone to note
When guests left the restroom
When you see why, you'll choke!

The hostess sprinkled petals
Into the soap-filled sink
And then into the toilet
(So it wouldn't stink?!)


No, we suspect aesthetics
Was really more the plan
And to distract the eyes
From fixtures less than grand.


I think that covers my adventures
Near the good, ole Alamo
(Which was really, really tiny)
And that is all I know!


Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Hot Off the Presses (Well, at Least the Presses of My Mind!)

I've always liked to write, and producing copious amounts of text has never been a problem for me . . . until I moved here. Now that someone is telling me I have to write, I finally understand what the phrase squeezing blood out of a turnip means. (I am also coming to understand that turnips are entirely way too stubborn for their own good!)

Nonetheless, I still entertain thoughts about how school must have made Einstein feel, along with ideas about all the things I might write if someone weren't insisting that I do so. I derive a secret pleasure from generating potential titles and acknowledgments pages--both layered with lots of barely disguised meaning. I've forgotten the more "scholarly" ones because I haven't bothered to write them down, but here are a few whimsical ones that amused me:

ABD is Good Enough for Me!: Why Our Best & Brightest Are Checking Out Instead of Trading Up

ABD - All But Dissertation or All But Dead?: How Grad Schools Are Smothering Innovation & Killing Creativity

From Pollyanna to Puddleglum: Case Studies of Depression, Dementia, & Distractability in Doctoral Candidates

Bitter? Who me? Naaaah!

Monday, November 05, 2007

Michigan the Magnificent

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Photo Collage by Dundoo

A Spider Story

What did yooou do on Halloween?
I ate a spider or two.
Natalie made them and served them to me,
So I thought I'd share them with you!


(To the tune of The Itsy Bitsy Spider)

These itsy bitsy spiders were baked on Halloween.
They climbed onto the table without being seen!
Then into my bowl of chili they crawled,
And I watched them swim around there, completely enthralled!

Cherice Montgomery, November 5, 2007

Eggrolls




Experiment #1: Impromptu Egg Rolls


So, in an attempt to be social, I invited a few people over for an impromptu lunch on my way home from the grocery store. No one came, but I still had a great time! Did you know that you can make egg rolls with only 5-7 ingredients (depending on whether you go vegetarian or not)? Can you guess what they are?!

Experiment #2: Fruit Roll Ups

I had a few wraps left over, so I decided to experiment. I had made a delectable tropical fruit salad with fresh kiwis, mangoes, peaches, pears, pineapple, and a few canned mandarin oranges as a side dish. So, I some into a wrap, rolled it up, and fried it. It was incredibly tasty with a little of the Thai peanut sauce dipping sauce I used on the "normal" egg rolls.

Experiment #3: Baked Alaska, Egg Roll Style

Well, if you can make fruit egg rolls, why not dessert?! Especially when no one else is in the room to make fun of you for having (much less actually experimenting with) such silly ideas!

I rolled up a glob of some very well-frozen ice cream in a wrap and dropped it in the pan. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say it ended up being a bit of a disaster (but it tasted good). Nonetheless, I think I'll stick with baked Alaska next time.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Misery


The passing, peaceful
The sorrow lingers
The heart aches
And silent fingers

Grip the grief
All alone
And wish I, too,
Had been called Home.

Cherice Montgomery, August 2007

Residue


She slipped away,
But left behind
Tear-stained cheeks
And grief-stained minds.

Cherice Montgomery, August 2007

How's Your Math These Days?

Cherice x Your Mind = ?

It occurs to me that I am a product of all the people whose minds I have experienced. With every blog or book I read, every conversation I have, every del.icio.us account I explore, every non-verbal communication I notice, every piece of music I listen to, every website I view, I am taking the best of other people's minds into myself . . . internalizing them . . . making them a part of me.

Cherice x School = ?

I have concluded that, for the most part, the institution of school gets in the way of learning. Its conventions and structures constrain natural patterns and rhythms of learning (which I believe to be highly complex, embodied, non-linear, and relational) and limits understanding by chopping everything up into itty bitty decontextualized pieces in the name of making it all comprehensible.

So with what answers would YOU complete the equations above? :-) Do the answers change when you insert your own name into them?

An Aesthetic Feast

What do multiple literacies look like, feel like, and sound like? What happens when you layer aesthetic, conceptual, discursive, emotional, intellectual, rhetorical, and visual elements using mixed media? Take a look at Dave Werner's Portfolio to find out.

The design of the site and the thinking that it reveals are intriguing to me—especially as you explore pages like the reflect/respect page (be sure to watch the video and click on the process images). Note the multiple paths to navigation, the mix of non-linearity and linearity on every page, and the convergence of inquiry with social activism, community engagement, and arts-based education. I also liked the way the site invites you to interact with it, and in the process, helps you to establish a relationship with its author, its content, and its form. You can see and hear Dave's mind at work (and come to understand more about HOW and WHY it works as it does) as you explore it.

The portfolio is a good example of many of the values of the iGeneration—inter-tainment, identity, individuality, information, innovation, interactivity. It engaged me in considering how our representation of content gets tangled up with our values, and how that influences the ways we choose to represent ourselves personally and professionally. I also couldn’t help but think of the research on cognitive flexibility, complexity, design, engagement, perception, multiple representations, and visual thinking as I was exploring this.

It would be interesting to show this to educators and teacher candidates and ask questions such as:

  • What do these ‘products’ reveal about what the person who created them understands? What do they reveal about what he may not have considered? What do they reveal about him professionally? What do they reveal about him personally?

  • What kind of experiences could prepare someone to create such products? What kinds of experiences would preclude the development of the skills required to create such products?

  • What kind of technological pedagogical content knowledge would be required in order for a teacher to facilitate the development of such products or skills?

  • What implications might this have for the kinds of things we do in our classrooms and for the kinds of assignments we give to students (PreK-12, undergraduate, graduate, doctoral)?

  • What might this mean for the future of education, as well as for cultural, economic, political, and social contexts?

  • What questions should we, as educators, be asking that we currently are not?

Of course, there are many counterarguments. (Incidentally, it would be interesting to see a visual representation of some of them.) There will be many who will find the site overwhelming and who will argue vociferously that it has nothing to do with education, literacy, the future, or the challenges inherent in those endeavors . . . .

For me, however, it is the happiest site I've encountered in a very long while--an aesthetically, conceptually, emotionally, and intellectually pleasurable experience.

A String of Quotes

Well, they say it is bad academic form to string a bunch of quotes together. Perhaps so, but I intend to do so anyway and leave you to make of them what you will!

I believe that experience plays a key role in learning, so this quote from Eduscapes grabbed my attention today: "To really experience many topics, you need a wide range of materials."

It brought to mind Elliot Eisner's comment that, ". . . the selection of a material or activity is also the selection of an array of forces that will influence how students will be challenged to think . . . . The curriculum is a mind-altering device" (Elliot Eisner, pp. 13, 72).

And the combination of those 2 quotes led me to wonder about underfunded schools . . . which recalled this little chant that is often attributed to Mother Teresa:

We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

And so now I'm musing about the irony of teachers who believe in the value of immersing students in rich experiences with the topics they are teaching, but are working in extremely underfunded schools and the contrasting irony of teachers who believe that lectures and worksheets are the best ways to promote learning, but are working in schools that are so well-funded that they have difficulty spending their budgets each year.

All of THAT makes me wonder if anyone is learning anything at all!

References

Eisner, Elliot W. (2002).The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09523-6.