Cherice's Pieces

Almost

2012-01-08T22:28:00.001-07:00

I almost wrote today . . .
After a year away . . .
Perhaps tomorrow . . .
I'll have something more to say . . .
But I guess I'm still not brave enough
Today.

Cherice Montgomery
1/8/2011

Playing at Poetry

2010-08-05T05:10:00.000-06:00

Restless thoughts

Tumble noisily

Through the halls of her mind,

Jostling one another

As they race

Toward fun and freedom

Most shrug out of the words

Zipped around them

As they spill onto the playground,

And, like unruly children,

Resist lining up

In tidy rows of prose

When the day ends.

Pushing and shoving,

They trickle back inside

Leaving a stillness behind

In which unfulfilled possibilities

Echo in the wind

Like the squeak of empty swings.

Cherice Montgomery, August 5, 2010

Exploring Giftedness

2010-03-28T00:00:00.012-06:00

Context:

Conversations with gifted adults
Discussions with friends about the problems of their highly sensitive children
Personal interest in creativity, improvisation, innovation, and productivity
Questions from gifted students about how to manage professional and social interactions
Questions from student teachers and mentor teachers about how to motivate students (especially underachievers and “fast finishers”)

Framing:

Talents ~ Time

“Although they try to cram 27 hours worth of living into a 24-hour day, there simply isn't enough time to develop all of the talents and interests that they may have" (Webb, 2009, p. 9).

Intensity ~ Isolation ~ Intimacy

"Gifted adults commonly have the experience of being 'out of sync' with others but not understanding why or how they are different. Jacobsen (2000) describes how people came to her in her clinical practice with a vague sense that they were different; others had told them repeatedly that they were 'too-too'--that is, too serious, too intense, too complex, too emotional, etc." (Webb, 2009, p. 19).

"From the moment she arrived, it seemed that none of her co-workers was interested in making her acquaintance. Conversations never included her; in-jokes left her completely in the dark; people fell silent when she came near a table in the lunchroom or a fountain in the halls. At first--and still--she tried to believe that it was because she was young, she was frail, she did not make friends easily. But actually, right from the start, she knew it was because she was an ambitious woman with remarkable scores from the best school on the planet; because she was curious and wanted to learn and wanted to be excellent, which would threaten all of them, make them all look bad (Card, 1978/1987, p. 207).

"But without a real friend, it was only a pretense, and I never could let my playmates know anything about me. I studied them and wrote stories about them and it was all of them, but it was only a tiny part of me” (Shiras, 1953, p. 29).

". . . it is a Soul-devastating experience to sacrifice one's authenticity in order to belong" (Silverman, 1988).

“It’s wonderful to be able to talk to another person my own age and have them get everything I say, snap! Just like that! No matter what I talk about . . . . She doesn’t know exactly the same things I do, of course, but she understands everything” (Shiras, 1953, p. 56).

Complexity ~ Creativity ~ Contradictions ~ Constraints

"For gifted children, nothing is as simple as it seems. They see clearly that the answer depends on the context--they see endless shades of grey" (Gifted & Talented Services of Australia, 2007).

"Sensitivity . . . without a developmental outlet turns into irritability” (Mika, 2002).

“The external structure that they are steeped with becomes contradictory or meaningless when confronted with articulate, conscious individual experience” (Webb, 2009, p. 11).

“They may also find themselves feeling angry because they feel powerless to make the changes that they see as needed” (Webb, 2009, p. 16).

Depth ~ Defense Mechanisms ~ Dedication

“Control kept him from showing any emotion at all, though he longed to cry out with the agony that tore at him inside. My walls are deep, but can they hold this? he wondered . . .” (Card, 1978/1987, p. 180).

“‘Ansset, what is your song?’ He looked at her blankly. Waited. Apparently he did not understand. ‘Ansset, you keep singing our songs back to us. You keep taking what people feel and intensifying it and shattering us with it, but child, what song is yours?’ . . . . The object of Control was not to remove the singer from all human contact, but to keep that contact clear and clean. Instead of a channel, Ansset was using Control as an impenetrable, insurmountable wall. I will get over your walls, Ansset, she promised him silently. You will sing a song of yourself to me. But his blank, meaningless face said only, You will fail” (Card, 1978/1987, pp. 48-49).

“‘Oh you sound so sweet. I can see where Ansset learned it. A machine teaching a machine.’ ‘You misunderstand,’ said Esste. ‘It is pain teaching pain. What do you think the Control is for?’” (Card, 1978/1987, p. 42).

Development ~ Disintegration ~ Depression

“One must first disintegrate before one can reintegrate at a higher level, . . . .” (Webb, 2009, p. 14).

“However, this new mental schema may be only partially successful; these individuals may find themselves aware of inconsistencies and pretenses within their new way of thinking, though they may try desperately to convince themselves otherwise. They experience, then, only the dissolving part of the process—without reintegration at a higher level—leaving them with negative disintegration and the accompanying conflicts and negative emotions. Worse, they are unable to return to their previous unthinking way of being (“the rung bell”)” (Webb, 2009, p. 12).

Experiences:

Apple (posted by PeterGreen125). (2006, April 26). Think different. YouTube. Retrieved May 2, 2007, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jULUGHJCCj4

Matilda. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNKrEmcSZ-k (Also available in Spanish)

Norlinger, Ulf. (1998, April 21). Estimated IQs of the greatest geniuses. Retrieved March 13, 2007, from http://hem.bredband.net/b153434/Index.htm

Onodera, Shun. (2008, April 4). Gifted. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkQiI09zlPQ

Orion Pictures Corporation. (1991). Little man tate 2. Little Man Tate. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ky7M8RfNk

Orion Pictures Corporation. (1991). Fred goes to school. Little Man Tate. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4-5sqbjBq0

Shiras, Wilmar. (1953). Children of the Atom. Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, Inc.

Sony Pictures UK. (2010). Cloudy with a chance of meatballs - Dock scene. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3RM5hHfvFA

Sony Pictures. (2010). Cloudy with a chance of meatballs - Jello scene. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUhhIvvCHkU

Tolan, Stephanie. (1996). Is it a cheetah? Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://www.stephanietolan.com/is_it_a_cheetah.htm

Tolan, Stephanie S. (2000). Welcome to the Ark. HarperTeen.

Interpretations:

Some research suggests that people who have been classified as "gifted" may be especially sensitive to certain kinds of stimulation. These sensitivities have been classified into five major domains:

Emotional (often displayed as deep emotional attachment, extremes, or intensity)
Imaginational (frequently expressed as a penchant for fantasy, imaginative play, inventiveness, and visual forms of cognition such as imagery or metaphor)
Intellectually (regularly exhibited as high levels of concentration, intense inquisitiveness, metacognition, and abstract thinking that focuses on analysis, synthesis, or theory-building)
Psychomotor (typically manifested as excess energy and enthusiasm, impulsivity, rapid speech, and physical expression of emotional tension through competitiveness, compulsiveness, nervous habits, or workaholism
Sensual (often visible in attention to aesthetics, the derivation of pleasure from sensory input, and overindulgence during periods of stress) (Fielder, 1998; Webb, 2009)

These "heightened levels of awareness, energy, and emotional response" are a NORMAL part of the developmental trajectory for "gifted" individuals (Azpeitia & Rocamora, 1994; Tolan, 1996; Webb, 2009). However, the feedback that many gifted individuals receive while living life on a daily basis tends to send the message that much of what is at the core of who they are and what they care about is completely abnormal (Tolan, 1994).

This message is reinforced by the fact that the development of "gifted" individuals often occurs asynchronously, with intellectual development typically preceding social and emotional development. Thus, these individuals are frequently "out of sync" with the rest of the world in general, and their same-age peers in particular. Although most gifted individuals are very aware of this fact, many blame this lack of synchronicity on personal deficiencies or idiosyncracies rather than recognizing that it is a very "normal" part of giftedness (Fielder, 1998; King, 2009; Tolan, 1994; Webb, 2009).

Educators also frequently fail to recognize the psychosocial tensions that such asynchronous development produces. Teachers typically focus on qualitative differences between the knowledge and skills of gifted individuals and those of their peers, failing to realize that they are physical manifestations of less visible phenomena, such as marked differences in the focus of their interest and attention, in their energy and concentration levels, in the rationales underlying their goals and motivations, in their thoughts and interpretations regarding the world, and in the way they represent their understandings (Shavinina, 2008; Tolan, 1994). Educators who do not recognize these qualitative differences between gifted individuals and the other students in their classes may adopt approaches to managing gifted students that require them to do more difficult work, in larger quantities, at a faster pace or higher quality that that required of their peers. The needs and behaviors of gifted individuals are also frequently misinterpreted for similar reasons, and both teachers and employers may find such individuals difficult to engage, difficult to manage, and difficult to understand.

The personal challenges associated with the heightened sensitivities that many gifted individuals experience include managing intense emotional reactions to daily events, finding outlets for an overabundance of creativity and/or energy, inadequate intellectual or sensory stimulation, insufficient emotional intimacy, intense perfectionism and self-criticism, and setting appropriate boundaries for self and others (Azpeitia & Rocamora, 1994; Perrone, et. al, 2007; Tolan, 1994; Webb, 2009).

Major life events or stresses frequently catalyze displays of hypersensitivities in most people, but such displays tend to occur more frequently, last longer, and manifest more intensely in gifted individuals. This often intensifies the aforementioned difficulties with interpersonal relationships among family, friends, teachers, and employers, and may even lead uninformed health care professionals to misdiagnose these individuals with attention deficit disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, neuroses, or other psychological problems (Azpeitia & Rocamora, 1994; Mika, 2002; Tolan, 1996).

A number of studies have noted a strong correlation between giftedness and perfectionism. Gifted individuals frequently set goals for themselves based on their intellectual capacity rather than on what may be developmentally appropriate or realistic given their chronological age. They may also evaluate their performance in comparison with that of their associates (who often tend to be older or more accomplished than they are), irrespective of the criteria that would be considered realistic given their lack of experience with the particular field they are exploring. They may also become so accustomed to success at an early age due to their well-developed cognitive skills that they question their own intelligence when confronted with failure--a phenomenon known as "the impostor syndrome" (Perrone, et. al, However, when the “positive energy” of perfectionistic tendencies is harnessed in productive ways, such tendencies can become great resources for personal development. Some research suggests that the ability of gifted individuals to accomplish this is tied to whether or not they adopt a resilient approach to failure (King, 2009; Perrone, et. al, 2007; Silverman, 2007).

The hypersensitivities that typically accompany giftedness are especially problematic for females, many of whom are keenly aware of the gap between who they are and what society expects them to be. The message that their "appearance and sociability" are the primary source of their value to society pervades historical traditions, permeates the media, and is perpetuated by textbooks in which well-known male "experts" blatantly characterize women as inferior. Gifted girls are socialized to believe that they are less capable than men, and many begin to lose confidence in both their abilities and in the validity of their perceptions as they reach puberty. Such perspectives are often further reinforced as high-achieving women interact with competitive men in male-dominated fields and workplaces. Gifted women also lack widely-recognized, high achieving female role models to counter that message, and those who are courageous enough to ignore the message face strong social sanctions when their interests and behaviors deviate from traditional roles and expectations for females (King, 2009; Perrone, et. al, 2007; Silverman, 2005; Tolan, 1994). Thus, gifted females are often faced with a continual choice between intellectual fulfillment and social acceptance.

In summary, gifted individuals frequently experience the world in qualitatively different ways from their same-aged peers. Their extreme sensitivity to their environment, their capacity to handle conceptual complexity, and their resultant skill in a variety of domains enables them to absorb vast quantities of intellectual, emotional, and sensory input. As a result, they require adequate challenge and stimulation in order to avoid boredom and frustration. Additionally, the sensitivities of gifted individuals kindle a variety of interests, fuel a passionate commitment to pursuits they value, and spark intense reactions to life’s events. On the other hand, such sensitivities (in conjunction with the perfectionism that tends to be highly correlated with giftedness) position gifted individuals to be acutely aware of incongruity between their own beliefs and actions, as well as injustice in the world at large. When their vision for the future or themselves exceeds their existing ability to implement it, they may become discouraged or even clinically depressed. Furthermore, because few others are likely to share their passions and intensities, gifted individuals (especially females) may feel forced to sacrifice who they are in pursuit of emotional intimacy or social relationships.

Further Reading:

Azpeitia, Lynne, & Mary Rocamora. (1994, November). Misdiagnosis of the gifted. Mensa Bulletin. Retrieved January 24, 2010, from http://www.talentdevelop.com/articles/Page10.html

Bainbridge, Carol. (2010). Dabrowski’s overexcitabilities or supersensitivities in gifted children. About.com. Retrieved January 24, 2010, from http://giftedkids.about.com/od/gifted101/a/overexcite.htm

Bronson, Po. (2007, Feb. 11). How not to talk to your kids: The inverse power of praise. New York Magazine. Retrieved March 17, 2010, from http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

Fiedler, Ellen. (1998, Spring). Foundations for understanding the social-emotional needs of the highly gifted, The Hollingworth Center, 12(1), 3-5. Retrieved November 25, 2009, from http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/dabrowskis_theory_existential_depression_feb09.pdf

King, Lance G. (2009). The importance of failing well: An exploration of the relationship between resilience and academic achievement. The University of Waikato. Retrieved March 28, 2010, from http://waikato.researchgateway.ac.nz/handle/10289/2807

Kuipers, W. (2007). How to charm gifted adults into admitting giftedness: Their own and somebody else's. Advanced Development Journal, 11, 1-25. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www.xi2.nl/bronnen/Resources/How%20to%20charm%20gifted%20adults.pdf

Mika, Elizabeth. (2002). Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration. Retrieved January 24, 2010, from http://www.talentdevelop.com/articles/DTOPD.html

Perrone, Kristin M., Philip A. Perrone, Tracy M. Ksiazak, Stephen L. Wright, & Z. Vance Jackson. (2007). Self-perception of gifts and talents among adults in a longitudinal study of academically talented high-school graduates. Roeper Review, 29(4), 259-264. Retrieved March 28, 2010, from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Self-perception+of+gifts+and+talents+among+adults+in+a+longitudinal...-a0166696356

Shavinina, Levinia V. (2008). A unique type of representation is the essence of giftedness: Towards a cognitive-developmental theory. The International Handbook on Giftedness. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer Science & Business Media.

Silverman, L. K. (1988). Different worlds at the extremes. Colorado: Gifted Development Center. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jwosbor2/otherfiles/PSY304/Different%20Worlds.pdf

Silverman, L. K. (2007). Perfectionism: The crucible of giftedness. Gifted Education International, 23(3), 233. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://nmgifted.org/GAC%20Resources/Perfectionism%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Giftedness-SILVERMAN.pdf

Silverman, L. K. (2005). Who cares if i’m smart, am I thin enough? The Hague, The Netherlands: European Council of International Schools & The Institute for the Study of Advanced Development. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/PDF_files/Who%20Cares%20if%20I%27m%20Smart.pdf

Tolan, S. (1994). Discovering the gifted ex-child. Roeper Review, Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted Website, 17(2), 134-38. Retrieved from http://www.novosite.nl/editor/assets/amstelwijzer/Tolan_DiscoveringTheGiftedExChild.pdf

Webb, James T. (2009). Dabrowski's theory and existential depression in gifted children and adults. Paper presented August 7, 2008 at the 8th International Congress of the Institute for Positive Disintegration, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Other References

Card, Orson Scott. (1978/1987). Songmaster. NY: Tom Doherty Associates.

Dance Lessons

2010-03-21T23:23:00.000-06:00

Trust is quite the dancer--

Slow, smooth, tiny steps.

Then suddenly, a spin, a dip . . .

When you least expect!

Fireflies

2010-02-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

Soul is full.
Mind's ablaze.
But body's tired.
And so the page . . .

Stays blank.

A Patchwork of Perspectives

2010-01-17T23:59:00.001-07:00

Threads of conversation--
Snippets of text--
Carefully cut
From the fabric
Of her life
And set aside
In the cedar chest
Of her heart
Until the pieces
Suddenly made sense
Stitched together.
Though a few stray doubts
Still stuck out
The shivering stopped
And her worries
Finally fell asleep.

Cherice Montgomery, 1-17-10

Of Identity, Invisible Audiences, Influence, & Investment

2009-09-29T22:52:00.001-06:00

Bradley, a student in Alec Couros's eci831 class, discussed the idea of "invisible audiences" in a recent blog post. His comments sparked a torrent of reflections which certainly won't fit in a single Tweet or even in the comments section of a blog, so I am posting them here instead.

Identity – Who are you? A potentially complicated question often best answered in relation to some person, context, role, responsibility, issue, belief, or perspective. (So, for me, the easy way out of the question would be answers along the lines of: former high school Spanish teacher, professional developer, Assistant Professor of Spanish, supervisor of student teachers, etc.) A quick Google search and perusal of my digital footprints would reveal much more about my personal and professional beliefs and actions over the course of the last 15 to 20 years.

Who am I? In face-to-face relationships, people often rely on age, sex, occupation, title, and other such things to help them know how to behave--selecting comfortable patterns of interaction that fulfill expectations, provide protection, and help them decide how to respond to unanticipated complications in a conversation. Many of those cues are absent online—making it difficult for participants in a conversation to answer the question, “Who am I in relation to you, your expectations for this interaction, and the current topic of conversation?” Consequently, the interaction seems much more fraught with risk and its outcome much less predictable.

Invisible Audiences - Who am I in relation to you? Invisible audiences present even greater challenges in that regard. (I am reminded of Peter Elbow’s reflections on both the positive and negative effects that an awareness can have on the impact of an author’s writing, as well as on the author’s ability to write.) Nonetheless, writing for a relatively invisible audience can also be incredibly liberating—especially for authors who have felt constrained by others’ expectations and/or who are experimenting with their own personal and professional identities. I think a lack of regular feedback may make some authors wonder if participating online is worth the investment.

Influence - Who reads what I write anyway? I also think that many bloggers significantly underestimate the scope of their own influence. Many times while in search of something else, I stumble across insightful blog posts written by people I do not know. Although I frequently read, ponder, and incorporate them into my life, most of the time, I do not comment on them. Nonetheless, my life has been greatly enriched by reading such blogs. I don’t think I am unique in that regard. With that in mind, I choose to “pay it forward,” sharing my own writing (i.e., thinking in process) publicly from time to time as well.

However, I think writing is a gift of self—one that provides privileged access to the mind, heart, and/or soul of another person. And, as is true of all gifts of the self, to give such a gift requires a certain measure of vulnerability. That vulnerability is part of what makes the gift so valuable. And THAT is a scary prospect when one considers the many issues you raised in your post.

I try to read generously, recognizing that most writing is thinking in process and therefore, probably incomplete.

I try to write with an awareness that my posts are likely to be read by a variety of unintended audiences. This gives me the chance to consider my opinions from multiple perspectives which, although they may not explicitly appear in my writing, certainly strengthen its quality.

I try to respond with an eye toward the person behind the words—remembering that it is likely that most of my online conversations are being “viewed” or “overheard” by invisible third parties who are interpreting not only the words, but also the relationship between me and the other person with whom I am conversing.

Investment - What role do I play and how much am I willing to invest in doing so? In other words, ultimately, I think conversing online is an act of faith in the sense that it requires people to believe that what they have to offer will, ultimately, matter in some way. It also demands that writers trust their audience(s) not to misinterpret, manipulate, or misuse what they may share. Unfortunately, as is true in most face-to-face relationships, sometimes that trust is abused. I think this is one of the reasons that issues of audience, purpose, context, and community seem to play such important roles in online writing. A strong community, in particular, can help us mitigate the risk of sharing our best selves with the world (by creating conditions that support that kind of sharing, by protecting those who do share, and by publicly censuring those who abuse the trust of individuals or the community as a whole). Paradoxically, the strength of such communities seems to come from the committed engagement, investment, and participation of each of its individual members.

Thanks, Bradley, for giving me so much to think about (and Alec Courosa for pointing me to Bradley's post via your link on Twitter)!

From Imitation to Improvisation

2009-08-27T23:02:00.030-06:00

Gotcha! - When we encounter experiences, people, or things that touch us deeply in some way, it is natural to want to hold onto them. We try to "capture" the things that bring us pleasure or that resonate with who we are or who we hope to become and incorporate them into our lives somehow. For most of us, that means snapping a photo, purchasing a postcard, getting the recipe, buying the book, or "friending" the person.

Acquisition v. Integration - However, acquisition is not necessarily the equivalent of integration. The photos and postcards get shoved in a pile of things we plan to scrapbook someday, the recipe gets buried on the kitchen counter, the book sits on a shelf--unread, and our interactions with people turn into "What's up with you?" and "We should really do lunch sometime." What conditions energize us to the action required to make those experiences a permanent part of ourselves--incorporating them into our way of thinking, behaving, and being?

This video offers an interesting perspective on these issues:

At this point, my mind flashes in a variety of different directions. In an attempt to take the same advice I have been giving to some of my graduate students lately, I am going to share the raw, undeveloped thoughts in a telegraphic manner and see where that takes me.

Concrete Examples:

Picasso -

Classical training
Internalized rules of the discipline
Restless
Fought against constraints of the discipline
Integrated daily life, travel experiences, influences, and personal associations into his work (blue period, rose period, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, etc.)
"Copied"/reinterpreted master works
Associated with other "famous" artists
Continuous experimentation ("I have a horror of copying myself")
Cognitive flexibility
Vision
Intense productivity
Epiphanies
Pushed the profession
Transformed the world.

Albert Einstein - Similar story, similar associations with cutting-edge colleagues, different medium

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien - Ditto

Mozart (and other musicians) - Ditto ("too many notes!")

New generation of web 2.0 businessmen, educators, & scholars - Ditto, but association with cutting-edge colleagues is more prevalent

All had to fight for their beliefs, justify their works because they broke the "rules" and threatened the status quo (among other things)

Additional examples - Dalí, Goya, Rivera, Velásquez, or both Old and New Testament prophets - All addressed different problems, but fought similar battles

The general masses are limited by what they can see - "it isn't possible, we don't do things that way, but traditionally . . . ., that wouldn't be the prudent course of action, there's no precedent for that" are common objections. Does writing to an audience of skeptics change the quality of one's work?

Abstraction:

1) Categories of Performance:

Novice
Experienced
Professional
Expert

2) Catalysts for Increasing Levels of Performance:

Information
Experience
Access, time, resources, relationships, & problems
Abstraction

3) Common Types of Performance at Each Level:

Imitation
Integration
Innovation (often in the form of recombination, typically preceded by reinterpretation?)
Improvisation (opposite of "functional fixedness" - requisite conditions do not seem to be the absence of problems but vision, cognitive flexibility, skill, and perseverance to overcome them)

Do exercises like Quickfires facilitate the development of improvisational skills?

A Possible Taxonomy:

When an innovator succeeds, others try to achieve similar results by copying (with varying degrees of success).

Imitators - Copy the appearance of the item, but the imitation lacks the quality, reliability, or substance of the original. (Knock-off watches, handbags, clothing, software, art prints, or books, for example.)

Integrators - Draw on the same elements (books about wizards or vampires, covers that look similar to the original success), some authors try to copy their own success and become formulaic writers in the process.

Innovators - Understand the underlying principles and experiment with recombining them in ways that produce an entirely new, but equally successful product (artists, authors, designers, and scholars who can produce a variety of distinct, but equally good works which often span several genres)

Improvisors - Produce high quality, innovative works that are responsive to the environments in which they find themselves even when their access to time and resources is limited or constrained.

Concrete Application: Fashion

Consider teenagers. Resonance--an emotional, intellectual, and visceral reaction /interaction between who they are (their current identity), who they hope to be (their aspirations), and what clothing styles communicate about those things--seems to motivate them to adopt particular styles.

Imitation - Most simply pick a style that resonates and copy it--typically by buying those same items of clothing (or something as close as they can find that fits within their budgets). When the styles change, they have to start over.

Integration - The fashion-savvy ones are able to analyze the underlying principles, to internalize what "works together" and what doesn't, and to mix and match things well enough that they are able to integrate the style into their lives. They aren't limited by particular items of clothing.

Innovation - A select few of those teens become the trend-setters--those who recognize new possibilities and experiment with them, but without fully abandoning the current styles. And then there are those who can improvise--the teens who can walk into a thrift store and walk out looking like they just stepped off of a fashion runway.

Improvisation - The most skilled become the designers who destroy parts of the existing style, combine it with elements from other trends, and ultimately transform it. The ability to improvise seems to be one true measure of deep expertise, but what makes the shift from innovation to improvisation possible?

Transformation - Grenville Kleiser wrote: "Nothing touches the soul but leaves its impress, and thus, little by little, we are fashioned into the image of all we have seen and heard, known and meditated; and if we learn to live with all that is fairest and purest and best, the love of it all will, in the end, become our very life."

Personal Application - But how do we know the degree to which the things that touch us are changing us, and how might we measure their impact? One way would be to look for traces of them among the physical artifacts that surround us. Did we bother trying to "capture" them (digitally, in a journal entry, or as a souvenir)? If so, did the "captured" experience make it into our living rooms, onto our walls, into our journals, or onto our playlists?

Self-examination: A closer examination might require us to ask questions like, "Has my participation in the experience or my interaction with the person shifted my perspective in any way? Do I use words or expressions frequently associated with the experience or used by the person when I speak? Have I adopted tools or materials from the person or experience into my daily work? Do I approach problems in the way s/he does? Do I think or act differently for having had the experience or for having known the person? These questions seem to apply equally well to professionalism, scholarship, friendship, or discipleship.

A Schizophrenic Scholar

2009-08-26T21:38:00.009-06:00

Student: How can I prepare to be successful in graduate school?

Me: I gave the student a list of things to try, including: Write daily. A blog is a great way to systematically capture your thinking.

Student: I started the blog, but I wouldn't recommend reading it yet as it doesn't seem too professional.

Me: Do NOT (I repeat, DO NOT) worry about trying to make it look or sound professional. That is about the fastest way I know to give yourself writer's block (and to ruin most of the perfectly good thoughts you would be likely to have). Instead, think of it as an informal journal--a place where you jot down your ponderings, your musings, your half-formed thoughts about the things you are reading and experiencing. The rawness of the thoughts is part of what will make it powerful and valuable to you as a source of inspiration for your scholarly work in the future.

Meta-me: I really ought to take my own advice.

Meta-me 2: But my raw thoughts are often random! But aesthetics and design matter! But I'm just a teacher, not a scholar! But now that I have a Ph.D., people will expect more of me! But I'm a perfectionist!

Meta-me: So THAT'S why you don't post more than about once a month!

Meta-me 2: But it won't matter anyway!

Meta-me: And what if it does? You'll never know as long as you leave the rest Unwritten.

************************************************************************************

I am SO irritated with SONY for disabling embedding of their videos!

A Shadow Story

2009-07-26T23:58:00.012-06:00

Have you ever thought about the stories that are hidden? You know, the ones that whisper from deep within the shadows of the books that have already been written? What follows is one such story—two “chapters” long, and stitched together from three different texts. Each paragraph addresses one or more issues I’ve been considering over the last few months in relation to my own life, and offers a nugget of insight worth pondering.

"Mysteries, she realized, had their own laws. No matter how marvelous they appeared to common folk, they still followed their own natural order. As a hound couldn't fly nor an apple tree blossom with roses, so those of the green had their own strictures that they must observe" (de Lindt, 1993, p. 88).

“First, look at people and try to find the truth within them. You need to understand people, really understand them, if you’re going to be a hero . . . . Second, beware of things that shine and glitter and make promises, especially promises that play on your weaknesses . . . . Third, you have to have a strong imagination” (Bode, 2007, p. 43).

"But knowing took the sight, to see beyond the world that is . . . and practical as housey-folk were, they believed only what they could hold and weigh . . ." (de Lindt, 1993, p. 92).

" . . . a good thing, to be sure, but a place of limited joys" (Dunkle, 2008, p. 3).

"The witch wanted him to feel again, but feeling encompassed remembering, and remembering only hurt. What use was the gift of the green if all it brought was pain?" (de Lindt, 1993, p. 136).

"We all carry the dark places inside us . . . ." "'I'm not . . .' Angharad began, but then she thought. Not what? Not a bad person? Perhaps. But had she never known anger? Never held unkind thoughts? The stranger's observation was valid. No one was innocent of darkness" (de Lindt, 1993, p. 85).

"She turned, not sure she could bear another of his sorrows. He might be able to forget them, but she could not. They were a part of her now. She took them willingly--for that was part of a poet's task--regretting only that in taking them, she did not lessen his burden" (de Lindt, 1993, p. 98).

"So Angharad sang to him before she left, a song of the loneliness that wisdom can sometimes bring--when the student won't listen, when the form is bound to the earth by its roots and only the mind ranges free" (de Lindt, 1993, p. 54).

References

Bode, N.E. (2007). The slippery map. NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

de Lindt, Charles. (1993). Into the green. NY: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Dunkle, Clare. (2008). The sky inside. NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

The Freedom to Fly

2009-06-07T22:25:00.016-06:00

I attended the International Association of Language Learning Technology Conference (IALLT) in Atlanta, Georgia last week. (For a synopsis of session content, view the tweets.) The experience of spending time in Georgia provided me with a great deal of clarity about many paradoxes in my life, leaving a residue of overflowing gratitude for what is present in my life, in spite of unfulfilled desires. It is so easy to take life for granted and to misunderstand our place in it.

When my life feels like this

Entrance to Georgia State University Dorms

And the point of each step

Stone Mountain, Georgia

Is invisible to the eye

Cable Car Ride, Stone Mountain, Georgia

The joy in the journey is easily missed

Kite Flyer Atop Stone Mountain, Georgia

As I long for the freedom and strength to fly

Bird near Stone Mountain, Georgia

So I ponder as I stop for a rest

Stone Mountain, Georgia

Those who came before

Granite Carving, Stone Mountain, Georgia

And pray for the light to see how best

Atlanta, Georgia From the Top of Stone Mountain

To help those around me soar.

Birds float on the air currents at Stone Mountain

The Diversification of Social Investments

2009-04-19T23:05:00.006-06:00

During tax time, one can't help but think about finances. However, I find the topic a rather tedious one. It comes as no surprise, then, that I found my mind wandering away from the numbers and into other realms such as social capital--specifically, investments of a social nature. If you were asked to describe your cadre of friends and acquaintances in terms of an investment portfolio, what would you say?

Have you invested your resources into a series of "pre-set mixes"--default groupings determined primarily as a matter of convenience, but somewhat aligned with your prevailing perspective on social investment? After all, it is easy to add the people who occupy the places in which you spend the most time (church members, colleagues from work, neighbors, etc.) to your portfolio of acquaintances. Then again, perhaps you make your social investments based on the degree to which you can comfortably and easily slip into a pre-defined role? The adult world isn't all that different from high school in this regard. There is always some person or organization looking for someone to be their all-star athlete, cheerleader, coach, clown, teacher, techie, etc.

Perhaps you prefer to have a bit more control over your social portfolio, so although you avoid the pre-set mixes, you play it safe--investing in very stable, low-risk, but also low-yield friendships? On the other hand, maybe short-term, high-yield relationships constitute the majority of your social portfolio? This strategy can be risky, and requires constant vigilance and adjustment.

I have also been thinking about the recent credit crisis, market crashes, and ensuing recessions. It seems to me that these events also offer lessons about social relationships. For example, one-sided friendships are not generally sustainable when crisis hits. One cannot live on social credit (i.e., indebtedness) in the long term any more than one can indefinitely live on financial credit. Putting all one's eggs in the same social basket carries its own set of risks and potential consequences. It not only makes us vulnerable when a crisis, emergency, or natural disaster shakes the social group, but also limits our access to information, new perspectives, and ultimately, to growth. And how is a person to recover who has been burned when a "company" in which they have invested everything fails and there is no bailout available to salvage the relationship? And on a larger scale, what about social recession? What happens when people stop participating in the social economy, when they are afraid to invest in the larger social economy, or when they withdraw their social resources from society?

My own musings have led me to the conclusion that it may be time to diversify my social portfolio. This has some pretty interesting implications--in terms of how to identify potentially worthwhile investments, how much to risk, and the degree to which it is possible to protect against catastrophic loss.

Thoughts?

Graveside Games

2009-04-03T22:25:00.000-06:00

Death--seldom convenient,
Still, there's life yet to live
Knowing this
Children wandered away

From the grief to the graves
Where they searched for and saved
49 drowning worms that day.

Had Grandma been there
She would have agreed
The game that they played was worthwhile

For she never liked tears
And throughout all her years
God's creations made her smile.

Cherice Montgomery, 4-19-2009

Cherice on "The Edge"

2009-03-22T08:23:00.000-06:00

25 Random Things

2009-02-22T22:59:00.005-07:00

Well, I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with my blog these days, so perhaps this will serve as penance (and will kill 2 birds with one stone--my blog and Facebook).

1) I have always loved my name, which comes from the song My Cherie Amour.

2) I wanted an easy-bake oven when I was little . . . cooking a cake with a light bulb—so ingenious!

3) I am amazed and grateful that my parents let me spend 2 weeks as an exchange student in Mexico even though I was only 12, had taken just one semester of Spanish, and couldn’t conjugate a verb yet.

4) I can type (in English) almost as fast as most people talk.

5) I know from personal experience that it is possible to intend to go to Kansas City and end up in Nebraska instead. I am hopelessly, perpetually lost—even (especially) in a parking lot.

6) I enjoy thinking—especially on a meta-level (and yes, I suspect that has something to do with #5).

7) I have never been hospitalized, but hospitals fascinate me. I used to want to be a nurse and even volunteered in the blood bank at the Red Cross for awhile, where I quickly determined I didn’t have the stomach to make medicine a career. Still don’t, but I do enjoy helping other people.

8) I like to camp (in a tent), fish, and waterski (slalom), but I don’t like dirt.

9) I tend to be somewhat reserved, very task-oriented, and rather perfectionistic, so people often express surprise when they discover that I can be extremely playful and witty.

10) I have always had an affinity for the aesthetic and enjoy creative pursuits, but I am rather clumsy when it comes to translating what is in my head into something that others can understand. One of the reasons I love technology so much is that it makes it possible for me to be more “myself”—by extending my reach and compensating for my lack of artistic skill.

11) I care deeply, so things hurt deeply.

12) I put myself through college by working as a live-in housekeeper for an incredible woman. My family jokes that it was a private finishing school, with lessons in domesticity, deportment, and social graces. I'm not sure how "finished" I was when I left, but I definitely learned a lot.

13) I love talking about ideas—to be deeply immersed in a scintillating conversation for a long period of time with someone who can make quantum leaps from concept to concept is one of my greatest pleasures in life (although unfortunately a rather rare one).

14) I worked as a customer service/security dispatcher for a mall--it is scary when you call 911 and the phone rings 9 times and no one answers!

15) I really want to begin every reference section in my academic papers with the following epigraph from one of Emily Dickinson’s poems: “How dreary to be somebody, how public like a frog, to tell your name the livelong day to an admiring bog.”

16) Some of my high school friends’ parents used to worry that I had an eating disorder because I have always been very thin, but I have just been blessed with a very high metabolism (a fact I never fully appreciated until I hit graduate school and gained 20 pounds).

17) I love to read and sometimes feel like I’m “Johnny #5”—on a constant quest for input. I am generally full of questions, much to the chagrin of my friends.

18) I absolutely LOVE to sing—especially where harmony is involved--but dropped out of choir in high school because I disliked the teacher.

19) My favorite time of the day is when the world shuts down, funneling my concentration into a single, focused beam.

20) I loved my debate and drama classes in high school because they gave me permission to be myself.

21) Presently, one of the great ironies of my life is that I love to write, but academic writing currently makes me physically ill.

22) Spiritual things have always been important to me, but are also an ongoing source of great personal struggle. My understanding of such things has come at a very high price.

23) Teaching is truly one of my greatest passions and my deepest joys.

24) The mentors who have been most influential in my life taught me simply by being themselves.

25) The things I like best about myself are also the things that most other people don’t understand.

The Understatement of the Year

2009-02-22T00:26:00.005-07:00

"Students who are living and learning with technologies that generate dynamic forms of content may find the current formalism and structure of scholarship and research to be static and “dead” as a way of collecting, analyzing and sharing results" (Johnson, Levine, & Smith, 2009).

References

Johnson, L., Levine, A., & Smith, R. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2009-Horizon-Report.pdf

Random Ruminations

2009-01-31T22:33:00.000-07:00

"Her restlessness was not easily appeased. . . . Everywhere she turned there was a blinding sameness. She could no longer distinguish one moment of her life from another, and the events of each day were forgotten as soon as they had passed" (Graham, 2001, p. 99).

In transition? Clearly. But transition to what? While waiting, I've polished off a number of books, but so far, the nuggets I've encountered in them haven't coalesced into a particularly coherent set of understandings. However, it occurs to me that many may prefer the raw data without the commentary anyhow. Sometimes it is safer that way too. ;-) So, think of what follows as random graffiti that various authors have spray-painted on the walls of my mind. As is the case with graffiti from time to time, at least some of these quotes have artistic qualities that extend beyond the functional purposes they were intended to serve within the context of the books in which they appeared.

"All educational growth is loss ... teachers in higher education are pressured to construe their work in oppositional rather than relational terms, pitting teacher against student, separating knowledge and identity, and describing the world in black and white terms" (Stengel, 1998).

"Living matter and clarity are opposites--they run away from one another" (Gilder, 2008, p. 100).

"John had always been drawn to the invisible: more specifically, the invisible connections between things. As a child he had puzzled over the phenomena ordinary men take for granted in modern life: the connection between a flick of a switch and the sudden appearance of light, or sound, or image. He tore things apart--looking for the connections. But his interest went beyond the engineer's obsession with mechanical cause and effect, with deconstructing and reconstructing physical reality: he searched for things that would leave him awestruck, things residing in mystery and obscurity. Invisible connections" (Graham, 2001, p. 106).

"Co-existence is not the same as communication or connection" (Montgomery, 2009).

"When two particles interact with each other, they exchange energy and/or momentum" (K.C. Cole in Graham, 2001, p. 98).

"It is a gift, you know, to see and to be moved" (Graham, 2001, p. 14).

"Schrodinger nodded . . . 'And matter is like light,' he said, 'and it diffracts'" (Gilder, 2008, p. 89).

"Everything . . . starts with a fall" (Guedj, 2000, p. 17).

"I'm in a constant state of beta...perpetually reinventing myself..." (Adam Schokora)

References

Fleischman, Paul. (2001). Seek. Chicago: Cricket Books.

Gilder, Louisa. (2008). The age of entanglement: When quantum physics was reborn. NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

Graham, Janice. (2001). Sarah's window. NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Guedj, Denis. (2000). The parrot's theorem. NY: Thomas Dunne Books.

Montgomery, Cherice. (2009, January 11). A random thought.

Schokora, Adam. (2008). 56minus1::

Stengel, Barbara S. (1998, Sept. 10). Review of Burbules, Nicholas C. and Hansen, David T. (Eds.). (1997). Teaching and its Predicaments. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. EdRev. Retrieved February 1, 2009, from http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev37.htm<

Practices Makes . . . Daffodils?

2009-01-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

"On this Sunday afternoon I keep playing the notes anyway, running through every piece. Because that's important too, to have each note of each score burned into my mind and my fingers. The physical part of the performance needs to feel as natural as pouring water from a pitcher. Still, with just two days to go, I should be feeling actual music. It should feel real. The composer's ideas ought to be burning the paint off my practice room walls. The emotions should be vaporizing the muscles and the violin and the fingers and the bow, until there's nothing left but pure thought. Because that's what a true performance is, and nothing less will do" (Clements, 2006, p. 100).

As I prepare my mind for the new semester on this Sunday evening, the fact that I have not yet finished the revisions on my dissertation weighs heavily upon me. It seems that after having written 10 chapters (586 pages), "I should be feeling actual music. It should feel real." My ideas ought to be burning SOMETHING up! However, instead of "pure thought" I currently have a muddy, slushy mess that isn't that much different from the winter roads outside. And, just as snow loses its appeal after one has been entrapped by it for several months, I have a terrible case of cabin fever with respect to these ideas. I am SO ready for Spring in every sense of the word! I can only hope that as it draws nearer, the frozen extremities of my mind will also begin to thaw, nurturing mental crocuses and daffodils that will assure me that this wretched winter will not last forever.

References

Clements, Andrew. (2006). Things hoped for. NY: Philomel Books.

Entanglement

2008-12-28T21:54:00.014-07:00

"Any time two entities interact, they entangle. It doesn't matter if they are photons (bits of light), atoms (bits of matter), or bigger things made of atoms like dust motes, microscopes, cats, or people. The entanglement persists no matter how far these entities separate, as long as they don't subsequently interact with anything else--an almost impossibly tall order for a cat or a person, which is why we don't notice the effect. . . . . It starts when they interact; in doing so, they lose their separate existence" (Gilder, 2008, p. 3).

I find the conceptual implications of the above quotation (and the Wikipedia definition of entanglement) captivating. It comes from a book on the history of quantum physics which I am currently (if somewhat guiltily) enjoying. Like most non-fiction books, this one is also organized much too chronologically for my taste. However, the author has done a beautiful job of grounding the development of quantum theory in the daily lives of those through whom it was revealed to the world. She also does a brilliant job of reconstructing conversations from historical documents in a way that highlights the significant influence the scientists' personal and social "entanglements" had on theoretical developments in the field of physics.

It is interesting to consider the degree to which we are consciously aware of our "entanglement" with others, the relative strength of each of those connections, and how intensely the connections persist in the face of prolonged separation (due to death, the decay of a friendship, divorce, or simply increased absence from the realities of one another's normal, daily routines). Have you ever spent time trying to isolate and unravel the "entanglements" that are most persistent in your life? Are there people who are no longer physically part of your daily routine with whom you continue to be deeply entangled (in terms of the influence they exert on your thoughts and actions)? Do you ever wonder why THOSE particular people seem to have such a disproportionate influence within your sphere of existence?

From an alternative perspective, have you ever wondered what noticeable effect your individual existence has on the rest of the world? Do you ever ponder whether the brief comments, insignificant interactions, or trivial activities in which you engage affect anyone else in deep and lasting ways? Have you ever thought about the degree to which the effect of those tiny expressions of self may be magnified by their absence in someone else's life? Have you ever considered the effect that your unspoken musings would have on the world if you were to share "the real" you with more of the world? Conversations about the concept of entanglement merit a much greater investment than the time and space inherent in a midnight blog post. For now, I'll suffice to say that the manner in which we live would surely change if we truly believed and viewed ourselves as connected to others and our environment in physical ways.

References

Friendwheel.

Gilder, Louisa. (2008). The age of entanglement: When quantum physics was reborn. NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

Hearing the Harmonies

2008-12-28T21:29:00.002-07:00

"[But it is clear] that in these muddled notes Wassermann heard the melody that hummed within him but was inaudible to those not involved. He and his co-workers listened and tuned their instruments to the point where these notes became selective and eventually the melody could be heard even by ordinary laymen" (Fleck, 2005, p. 60).

I suppose this is my quest for the coming week--to revise my dissertation until both the melody and the harmonies that support it are unmistakable to even ordinary laymen. One frustration is having to do it in words. As Gilder (2008) notes, "Nothing is better than language for drawing an intricately vague veil over truth" (p. 41). But perhaps the 3 little letters after my name will give me the systemic access I need to begin to change that.

References

Fleck, Ludvig. In Smith, Barbara Herrnstein. (2005). Scandalous knowledge: Science, truth, and the human. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Gilder, Louisa. (2008). The age of entanglement: When quantum physics was reborn. NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

Modulation

2008-12-21T19:49:00.001-07:00

". . . and I feel like my world is changing. Again. And there's nothing subtle about it. Everything has shifted, like when a symphony suddenly modulates to a different key. And I wonder how many times the world can change in one week. I'm beginning to think that it's a large number" (Clements, 2006, p. 92).

There is no question that the harmonies of my life and the tectonic plates of my world have shifted. However, in my case, the chords haven't yet resolved, resulting in an internal dissonance that leaves me feeling just as unsettled as an audience.

References

Clements, Andrew. (2006). Things hoped for. NY: Philomel Books.

My Daily Trek

2008-12-20T19:13:00.003-07:00

I have come to the conclusion that elevators are hazardous to one's health. The elevator in my building is very slow, and heavily used. Consequently, if one wishes to use it, one must plan for at least a 5-minute wait. What that means is that every day I make the choice between learning patience and becoming more physically fit. Although I hate exercise, I hate waiting even more.

So, this is the staircase that I climb every day. The number of flights of stairs depends on whether I am coming from the basement where I teach, the parking garage where I park when I get to the office early enough to get a spot (which is not very often these days), or the main floor.

My office is on the third floor, and there are 2 sets of stairs between each floor (for a total of 6 flights). There are 2 levels of parking between the basement and the first floor (which adds up to an extra 4 flights or so). So my cardiovascular system is getting a much better workout since I moved here!

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

2008-12-20T18:58:00.009-07:00

A very thoughtful colleague who plays in the orchestra for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir gave me two tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert last Saturday night. While the whole experience was an adventure (from taking Trax, to the Christmas lights on Temple Square, to dinner at the Lion House afterwards), what I most appreciated about it were the aesthetics of the experience. The design of the building is beautiful (I especially appreciated the textured walls and the captivating design of the ceiling). The scenery for the performance was nice, and they did a lovely job of using lighting, costuming, dancers, and scenery to contribute to the intimate and festive feel of the evening. My friend, Lucia, added the sparkle of her own personality to the event. The evening was a nice respite from the cares of my everyday world!

Pomp & Circumstance

2008-12-20T18:24:00.018-07:00

After 5 years in a doctoral program, one doesn't have much interest in big words. So, here is a very simple story about a very big day.

Mom and Dad watched me get "hooded." I wish I could say it put me out of my misery, but unfortunately, a little thing called revisions got in the way of that.

Ann & Anny, who ought to open a company called Dissertations R Us with the slogan: "We help you get 'em done!"

Punya Mishra, the professor who changed my perspective and my world (and provided evidence that true scholarship involves plenty of play).

Pomp and circumstance (in non-academese: We walked in while they played music).

The President of the University spoke. The image amuses me, even at commencement, the influence of sports cannot be escaped.

Honorary doctorates were awarded (ummm, I'd like one of those please, as I'm quite certain there are a lot fewer tears associated with them)! Steven Squyres, of the Mars ROVER project, spoke, explaining that "adventures are what happen when you don't know what you are doing." I guess I must have had a LOT of adventures over the last 5 years, then.

I graduated. It was about as anticlimactic as the sentence that I just used to state it.

I defended my dissertation. Do I look like a "real" Dr.?

Reshaping the Mess

2008-12-20T18:13:00.003-07:00

When I first began this blog, I used it primarily as a scrapbook of sorts in which I could collect random thoughts and musings of interest to me. Later, I transferred my "professional" life into another location and started using this space to capture more personal thoughts and feelings to share with family and friends.

My dissertation has left me with little energy to produce anything worth reading. I abandoned my professional blog and although I had great intentions, I haven't managed to post anything on this one in nearly four months.

So, I'm going to reshape this mess. I am going to give myself permission to post in snippets (the 4 people who actually read what I post are probably heaving a collective sigh of relief!).

Utah in November

2008-11-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

"Up the Canyon"

2008-11-15T19:55:00.001-07:00

So here in Utah, you don't "take a trip to the canyon," you "go up the canyon." Here are some photos of the afternoon my Grandmother and I spent there this fall.

Can you find the guy who jumped out of a tree and surprised me?

According to one of my science teacher colleagues, the thick, orange stripe on this little guy's back means that we are going to have a very cold, very long winter!

The Cutest Little Pumpkin Ever

2008-10-31T20:19:00.000-06:00

This is my nephew who came Trick-or-Treating at Halloween this year. Isn't he adorable?! My very creative sister made his costume out of an orange canvas trick-or-treating bag (she cut holes in it for the legs), an orange shirt, black knee-highs, and a piece of green felt!

The Pictures Tell the Story

2008-09-23T21:15:00.003-06:00

Disclaimer: My brother-in-law told my sister that I wouldn't like the idea of a balloon launch because it was bad for the environment. I affirmed that opinion and convinced the kids to agree to each only launch one balloon. However, the joy on their faces was difficult to dismiss and is something I will never forget (so I let them each do 2 more).

From Michigan to Mountains

2008-09-23T17:16:00.019-06:00

So I finally made it to Utah. Unfortunately, my unfinished dissertation came with me. ;-) ABD was good enough for my sister, however, who threw a big family party for me.

This is the building where I work.

It was designed with a big courtyard in the center so that every office would have a large window.

My office is located on the front side of the building. This is the view. Pretty amazing, huh?!

This is my office. You'll notice that my 90 boxes of teaching materials (yes, literally) have not yet arrived. Ohhhh how I miss them! Thank goodness for technology (and the wiki to which I uploaded so many of my files).

However, when things do finally arrive, I'll have my very own ladder with which to reach them all! :-)

The learning curve has been steep, and I've had my fill of "change" and "new" for awhile. Nonetheless, the environment here is amazing. I've felt very welcome, very supported, and have access to tremendous resources. I teach in tech-loaded classrooms.

The classroom where I teach also has an observation booth (should I ever desire to have someone observe)!

I can take my students to spaces like this . . .

Or we can cook in spaces like this!

So far, it has been a very happy place to work! My students are great and there are plenty of interesting things to keep me occupied. Unfortunately, that also makes it hard to invest time and energy in the dissertation. I've made great progress over these last few days, however. I hope I'm closer to being done that it feels!

Alphabet Alleluia

2008-08-15T14:40:00.004-06:00

ABD has a wonderful ring
ABD makes my heart sing
Three little letters that mean at last
My comps exams I finally passed!

Cherice Montgomery, August 15, 2008

The Countdown Has Begun!

2008-08-14T17:38:00.004-06:00

The final countdown has begun
To the day when I can finally have fun!

If I can finish this chapter tonight
The end will truly be in sight

Then the last layer finally begins--
Adding in lit. and polishin'

In less than a month I hope to defend
And bring this miserable task to an end!

Meanwhile as if that weren't enough
Stress to keep my blood pressure up

I move in a week, I'm still trying to pack
One step at a time is the plan of attack

Though I've come a long way, I've still miles to go
But at least in Utah, there's sun when there's snow!

Cherice Montgomery, 8-14-2008

Yeah, it is a lame poem, but at least it is a new post! ;-)

Dumpster Diving

2008-07-20T19:45:00.005-06:00

Who? Cherice

What? Taking out the trash

When? 12:30 a.m.

Where? Dumpster in the parking lot of my apartment complex

Why? Someone stopping by to drop something off the next morning, wanted the stinky trash smell in the apartment to dissipate before then. ;-)

How? Tossed the trash into the dumpster with such gusto that my keys caught in the handles of the bag and dropped right in with the trash!

So what? Everyone was asleep (or at least their lights were out), and although my sliding glass door was open, I couldn't get up onto my balcony to get back into my apartment and retrieve a magnet and a flashlight so I could get the keys out myself.

Then what? By leaning half-way into the dumpster, I managed to fish the trash bag out with the one and only stick I could find (because the grounds are so well-maintained). Unfortunately, the keys had not fallen into the bottom of the bag. I looked back into the dumpster and saw them gleaming at the bottom where I couldn't reach them.

Now what? I thought about standing on the trash bag, which would have given me just enough height to get into the dumpster, but I was worried about getting stuck in the dumpster and not being able to get myself out. (Plus, the thought of getting in there with who knows what trash, mold, or creepy crawlies was NOT appealing!) I considered going into the woods that border the parking lot to find a big stick, but given my recent encounters with skunks, woodchucks, and the likelihood of poison ivy, I quickly abandoned that option. I finally prayed that someone would appear to help me (maybe someone coming home late from an event of some sort), or that I would figure out some way to get them out. I wandered around the parking lot one more time (feeling sorry for myself and thinking about having to spend the night on the porch or something). Suddenly, I saw a long stick that I do not recall seeing before. It was just barely long enough to allow me to reach the keys (if I stood on the trash bag I had just retrieved, which I did). Needless to say, I was very relieved, and offered a silent prayer of gratitude.

Ironically, the lesson I was supposed to give to the 3-year-olds in Nursery today was about prayer. There is something very powerful about teaching from personal experience (along with the help of a finger puppet they named Matilda and a few props--like my keys and a trash can). I don't know if the children got the point of the story or not (I can pray to my Heavenly Father anytime, anywhere, when I need help), but they were quite enthralled by my story!

Skunked

2008-07-11T20:55:00.006-06:00

Birthday candles on Kara's cake,
Blinking fireflies celebrate.
I went to see--to my surprise
A skunk appeared before my eyes!

I ran inside--my camera grabbed.
Then in a flash, this shot I nabbed.
The baby skunk was VERY brave!
He turned to face me--no tail wave!

I slipped away, then read online
I'm lucky that it turned out fine,
For skunks can aim 7 feet away
And hit their target--night or day.

They do not see things very well
But they can hear, and they can smell!
And when they face and follow you
It sometimes means they're rabid too!

But even so, I have to say
I'm glad this skunk came out to play
He looks soooo cute and cuddly.
Move here and you too can see!

Cherice Montgomery, July 11, 2008

When I returned home from a quick birthday celebration at my friend, Kara's house, it was dusk. The fireflies were blinking so beautifully that I decided to wander around the side of my apartment to the vacant field next door to appreciate them for a brief moment before heading inside and back to work. Imagine my surprise when I rounded the bush and saw a tiny little skunk wandering around!

I watched him for a brief moment, then ran inside to grab my camera, certain he would be gone by the time I returned. However, amazingly, he was still there. He didn't seem to appreciate the flash of the camera, and to my surprise, turned to face me. As I moved, he moved toward me a little. That was disconcerting. However, since I was so far away, and his tale wasn't facing me, I assumed I was safe. I did back away from him, but still tried to grab a few more photos before I decided not to trust him any more.

Had I known then that he could aim with perfect accuracy while 7-12 feet away, I might not have been quite so trusting!

Reminds me of a cute little song I learned a long time ago:

The stars at night go twink-a-link-a-link
The moon at night goes blink-a-link-a-link
The skunk at night goes stink-a-link-a-link
I think that I'll just die

Oh, twink-a-link-a-link
Oh, blink-a-link-a-link
Oh, stink-a-link-a-link
Oh my!

(Author unknown)

I think I might have to modify it in honor of this occasion:

Fireflies at night go twink-a-link-a-link
My flash at night goes blink-a-link-a-link
The skunk at night goes stink-a-link-a-link
But grab a photo I'll try

Oh, twink-a-link-a-link
Oh, blink-a-link-a-link
Oh, stink-a-link-a-link
Oh my!

(Adapted from an unknown author by Cherice Montgomery)

Just another installment of what is fast becoming my Michigan Wildlife Tour! For more information on the humane discouragement of skunks visit Coping with Skunks. I found it quite interesting!

The Test

2008-07-11T17:03:00.006-06:00

Standardized
For the fourth time
But it didn’t help
Her make sense

What was
Didn’t matter
She felt

Her meaning
Reduced
Like a fraction
No remainder.

Cherice Montgomery, July 11, 2008

Thanks

2008-07-11T17:02:00.000-06:00

Look what showed up at my house one night this week! My sister and her family surprised me with some encouragement to keep working on this miserable dissertation. Then my sweet friend, Trinette, stopped by with lunch yesterday. I am so grateful to all of you who have listened to me whine and complain, crumble with discouragement, cry floods of tears, and otherwise emote. You are the ONLY reason I have made it this far and I DO appreciate your sacrifices for me and feel your prayers. I don't deserve you, but I'm certainly grateful for you.

Oh Deer!

2008-07-10T21:15:00.000-06:00

I was on the way to my voice lesson today and just as I rounded the corner and looked over toward the busy Speedway (just before the turn onto the freeway), to my shock and surprise, I saw 2 baby deer. I pulled into the Speedway to see if I could sneak a photo. They noticed me . . .

However, they must have been hungry, because they went right back to grazing in the empty field right beside the gas station. I was so focused on the deer that I failed to capture the context--but you can see from the car how close the road was. It is a VERY busy road and a stream of traffic was pouring past these two little guys.

I was able to walk closer and closer. They took turns noticing, but would then go right back to grazing. I think I could have gotten even closer but for the fact that the honk of a big truck's air brakes startled them and they started to move away. Nonetheless, I found it a beautiful metaphor for finding peace in the midst of a world gone mad!

Of course, there are all SORTS of other lessons to be learned. They are clearly very young, very inexperienced, very naive little deer whose perspectives are still so limited that they can't appreciate the very grave danger of their situation--out there in the open, so close to people, and so near the treacherous highway. I'm sure we are all like them from time to time!

However, this does make me think I may be developing an interest in nature photography as a hobby--though I need to make some serious improvements in the composition of my photos first!

Of Cabins, Comps, Colleagues, & Continued Progress

2008-07-10T21:01:00.001-06:00

My friends organized a writing retreat to help me make progress on my dissertation.

Marjorie graciously arranged for us to spend a week in a cabin about 40 minutes away. When I heard there was no air conditioning, I was expecting a dirty, musty shack made out of boards with spiderwebs in the windows and a wooden screen door that slammed every time it opened or closed.

Evidently, so was Ann--as you can see what she thought we might need!

We were quite surprised to discover we were staying in the equivalent of a luxurious bed and breakfast instead! I also found it hysterical that I was sleeping on flannel sheets under a blanket, a down comforter, and a quilt, in a room that was not air conditioned in the middle of July and was QUITE comfortable! Only in Michigan!

It was SOOO beautiful!

Such a comfortable, healing, restful place for our souls!

Anny planned and cooked a healthy, gourmet menu of meals every day. Although I must admit I raised an eyebrow when she was rattling off the names of some of the dishes--everything was absolutely delicious! This photo is of Seven Grain Porridge with Apricots, Fresh Fruit, and Nuts.

Red, White, & Blue Pancakes (in honor of the 4th of July)

Millet Salad, Homemade Whole Wheat Bread (made with white wheat), and Zucchini Squash Medley

Spicy Turkey Meatball & Cabbage Soup with Mediterranean Salad (exceptionally delicious)!

Poached Pears with Toasted Walnuts & Real Maple Syrup

It is amazing what 3, delectable, healthy meals per day does for one's energy level, not to mention one's skin, overall health, etc.! They pleased the eye, gladdened the heart, and filled the soul (not to mention the stomach)! It was truly a gift to be called to the table without having to lift one finger in preparation or clean-up!

Ann also contributed her culinary talents--surprising us with a scrumptious Rosemary Roast Chicken.

Ann's fresh Gazpacho, went very well with Anny's Mediterranean Salad and leftover Chicken Walnut Salad.

It almost makes you want to do a dissertation, doesn't it?! (Ha!) Just to discourage any romanticized notions . . . you might also like to know that Cabin Fever (also known as Dissertation Dementia) can manifest itself in the strangest ways!
Anny's symptoms included a strange affinity for protein powder (underscoring for me that even health should be pursued in moderation)! I can't stand the stuff and fortunately, Anny believes in the value of personal agency, so I was able to keep my cereal free of it!

Once we removed that temptation from her, she took to throwing dice made of marshmallows and chocolate chips on the kitchen counters! (Some of the chocolate chip "numbers" came off the sides--a convenient way to load the dice, don't you think?)

Marjorie's symptoms were no better. She thought the recipe for onion rings on the back of the Fiber One box was a great idea. Anny was quick to agree. Perhaps the dice determined which onion was first into the frying pan? At any rate, it only took one bite for me to know that Fiber One onion rings were NOT going to become a permanent part of my culinary repertoire. Dipping sauce made out of yogurt and some kind of spicy Thai sauce did nothing to improve the flavor.

Although I'm sure it SOUNDS like all we did was eat and sleep all day, everyone worked VERY hard!

Anny worked on revising a paper for publication.

Ann scribed as Marjorie talked through elements of her dissertation.

I spent most of my time analyzing data in this very comfortable chair. How did I ever manage before laptops?!

We did leave our work long enough for a trip to a local bakery for internet access so I could send off my considerably shortened, thoroughly REVISED revised comprehensive examination paper. I love YouConvertIt.com because it makes PDFs for free AND maintains hyperlinks . . . but it sometimes takes a few hours to arrive in your e-mail. So, after all that, I had to wait until I got home to send it off. (I know--about time after over a year! Thanks for your continual prayers--it was truly a trial!)

I celebrated with some emotional fireworks (expectations are so dangerous and data can be SO uncooperative at times!), cooled off with a short walk, then built a real fire capable of roasting marshmallows.

I guess I must have learned something from all those years at Girls Camp after all (except to wear bug spray--I hate it, so I ended up abandoning my friends to eat my S'more in the mosquito-free safety of the cabin). Ann helped me outline the remaining chapters of my dissertation! Hooray!

Oh that I could dispense with my dissertation as easily as Anny used this log to dispense with the trash we didn't want to carry home on our laps! Still, progress is progress!

Wo shi huan 中国

2008-07-08T23:09:00.013-06:00

So, this blog is proving to be an irresistible temptation at the moment--but then, what isn't when one has just finished data analysis and the task of writing the other half of a dissertation looms?!

To make matters worse, I've actually had a few adventures worth writing about this month (I know--the end of the world must be imminent!).

I co-facilitated a summer institute for Chinese teachers at Iowa State. You know you wish YOU could have been learning how to say things like "I love Chinese!", cool tech tips, telling animal stories, doing Jello experiments, flying like dragons, and eating a delectable dinner with chopsticks (to which the leaders were treated by the institute participants)! I even learned enough Chinese to tell some very simple stories! I started to tell one using Voicethread . . . perhaps I'll get back to it after I finish my dissertation (if I don't forget all my Chinese in the meantime)! Meanwhile, you can check out some of the other fun things we did in the Photo Gallery of our wiki.

A Very, Very, VERY Long Road

2008-06-09T22:40:00.014-06:00

Supposedly, I'm on the home stretch of what has been a very long, intensely painful, very miserable four years. It involves finishing a dissertation, prepping a 10-day summer institute for Chinese teachers, and revising a paper required for graduation--all in the next three weeks. (We won't even talk about the cross-country move that awaits me after that.) From my vantage point, the road ahead looks very long, very muddy, and filled with irritating mosquitoes (like IRB renewals)!

I'd rather be writing about the abundant life that fills the rest of the world, like the inch-long ant (seriously!) that came to visit me last night, my favorite tree--perfect in every season, the bird parents that faithfully feed the babies that live above my balcony at 5:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., or the idyllic farmscapes on the way to my friend's houses. I guess "real" life, and its accompanying stories, will have to wait for another day.

For now, here's the Twitter version of my dissertation (plus a few additional characters):

The world has changed. School hasn't. Although learning is inherently joyful, school is absolutely mind-numbing. Most educators lack the vision and the transliteracy skills to create compelling learning environments. High quality professional development shifts perspective through powerful paradigms, playful pedagogy, and the modeling of multiple representations. As teachers view their professional responsibilities through new lenses, changes in their practice follow.

And this is the Twitter version of my current take on graduate school: Dissertations make you dumb!

Drowning in a Dissertation

2008-05-12T18:35:00.003-06:00

In case you were wondering what the whirlpool looks like that is responsible for the drowning, check out this comic. I think someone is spying on me!

Whatever Weather

2008-05-05T16:03:00.013-06:00

AFTER RAIN
(A Response to Ariel Gordon's Rush-light)

It's whatever weather--
A stormy mood
Draws me in
Makes me click.

Google Alert!
Your poem
Pops up on the radar
Unconventional light!

Complex concepts
Rivet me,
Secure my passage
Through tornadic tumbles of words

That rip and rumble;
Wiping scenes that burst
Across the windows of my awareness
Like lightning.

The clock ticks incessantly
Work-to-do, work-to-do!
But I don't dare look.
Eyes grip the road, as this weather demands.

Miles pass with each minute.
I drift with the rain in the rear-view
Mind soon relaxes, soul sighs--
Filled with storm-light's fresh clarity.

Cherice Montgomery, 5-5-08

Postscript:

The thought of diving back into my dissertation proposal after nearly a week of work on it with very few breaks and very little sleep put me in a very stormy mood--a "Fine! Just great! Whatever!" kind of a mood.

A Google Alert on the topic of light drifted across my screen, and my attention drifted along with it. As I scanned the alert, I came across an intriguing little poem by Ariel Gordon called Rush-light. The preview it gave me of a playful juxtaposition and metaphorical integration of two images that are almost binary opposites was too intriguing to resist, so I clicked.

Although it doesn't take much to divert my attention these days, it takes a LOT to hold it for more than a few seconds. This poem managed to capture my mind for over an hour as I pondered it.

Aware of the time, (and the fact that my dissertation proposal wasn't going to magically complete itself), I finally contented myself with dashing off a brief response to the author. However, my words went on strike and refused to work unless I clothed them in language better suited to the occasion. Who knew that words were so fashion conscious?! They finally agreed to behave once I crafted a poetic outfit for them to wear instead. They insisted that it include adornments "just like Ariel Gordon's poem was wearing." When Ariel sees the result, she may determine that some sewing lessons are in order for me, but for now, both my words and I can finally get back to work!

A is for Anny, Ants, & Adventure

2008-04-27T22:43:00.001-06:00

What is really going on in my head . . .

A is for Anny

A is for Anny. What else did a person need to know? It seemed perfectly logical that once you understood that letters corresponded to sounds, that clumps of letters made words, and that words carried meaning . . . your powers were only limited by your own imagination. Her imagination was prolific, so writing had always made her feel powerful, and she had been told that her writing was powerful.

She'd been writing since before she went to Kindergarten. As a three-year-old, she could remember approaching her mother with a pen and a piece of paper and the intense concentration she had poured into making letters, spelling her name, and spelling words. Watching the ink magically appear on the paper and seeing the shape of herself emerge from within it was so satisfying! So she wrote more--which didn't mean she hadn't experienced her share of writer's block, that she hadn't produced work of less than publishable quality, or that such events hadn't frustrated her. Still, somehow, she innately understood that this was not unusual, and accepted it simply as a part of the process. Even when she viewed her writing with her most critical eye (which was often), she was generally quite comfortable with her efforts (a rather unheard of state of affairs from someone afflicted with a rather severe case of Perfectionism). She loved to write.

"Unliiiiiimited . . . unlimiiiiiited!" That is how she thought the song went, until graduate school taught her that she had simply misunderstood the lyrics. She knew better now. The song really began, "I'm liiiiiimited. I'm liiiiiimited!" And she had learned the lesson well. Her powers were limited, and her imagination was nothing more than a distraction at best, and more often, a tremendous liability. As to writing itself, it was definitely a process, but not at all a simple one. And it certainly wasn't natural. Writing words was a powerful act, and therefore, a process to be labored over. It was the writers who understood this who were able to demonstrate that A was for Arduous, or Autoethnography, or Activist Research, or Audience, but certainly not something so trivial as A is for Ants.

A is for Anny's Ants

Part I: The Ants Are Coming! The Ants Are Coming!

Introduction

I just returned from a week-long research conference in Chicago (AERA)--my mind electrified by sparks catalyzed by the unexpected convergence of cognitive load theory, self-efficacy, mirror neurons, motivation, play, and split attention. So, I find it particularly amusing that what captivated my attention today was a simple clan of virtual ants, and that in some ways, I learned more about research from my engagement with them than I did from the conference!

I happened to be chatting on the phone with a friend when she suddenly expressed with dismay that a group of ants had suddenly materialized in her kitchen. Since they weren't in MY kitchen, I wasn't particularly disturbed. Besides, unless they bite, ants don't seem particularly distressing to me.

My friend explained that all of the ants seemed to be focusing their attention on a rather large crumb of bread. Although we continued to chat, as our conversation progressed, she interrupted it periodically with news flashes regarding the progress of the ants (which, upon reflection, makes me wonder how engaged she was in our conversation!)

First Rule of Research: If it disturbs your research partner, it WILL affect your work!

"This is amazing!" she exclaimed. "They are picking up this giant crumb of bread. It would be the equivalent of me and a group of my friends trying to pick up a skyscraper!" The periodic news flashes (I could almost hear the urgent music and the "We interrupt our regular programming to bring you this special news update!") soon turned to play-by-play descriptions of the ants' efforts. (She would make a great sportscaster!)

Second Rule of Research: It is just as important to observe the interaction between the subject and the researcher as it is to observe the subject and/or the interaction between the subject and the context.

I should have pondered why she was so completely enthralled by the ants. I should have posited alternative hypotheses . . . perhaps it was the immediacy of the ant phenomenon by contrast with the more physically remote phenomenon of our disembodied conversation? Perhaps our conversation was boring her, and this was a useful way to divert the course of the conversation?

Third Rule of Research: Sometimes, the most important questions are buried beneath comments that seem to require no interrogation.

Eventually, our conversation turned to the best way to help the ant visitors to understand that they were no longer welcome to remain as guests in her kitchen. After determining that stepping on them was a little harsh, she decided to pick up the crumb of bread, put it on a plate, wait for them to converge on the plate, and then transport them to a new location outside of her apartment. After several minutes, she decided that they weren't very good at recognizing implied invitations, and gave up on that approach.

Literature Review

I explained the manner in which pheromones help ants to create and follow trails to their food sources. I remembered my mom telling me that sprinkling baby powder (or something) on the floor would keep them away (either because they couldn't smell the pheromones to cross it, wouldn't cross it, or because it would make them sick and kill them. However, I couldn't remember exactly what the substance was or what effect it was supposed to have).

Fourth Rule of Research: A thorough literature review must include adequate documentation of the information encountered.

Meanwhile, I did recall a site I'd come across recently about getting rid of stuff (including pests). After reading various potential remedies from the site to my friend over the phone, we decided to conduct our own mini-investigation. :-)

Methodology

We began with cinnamon. (I suppose she thought that would be especially humane and might add to the ambience of her kitchen?) Her exclamations certainly captured my attention, but did not contain sufficient data regarding the results of the experiment for me to make an informed decision regarding the next step in the research.

Fifth Rule of Research: It is important for the researcher to take good field notes and to share them with the other members of the research team. It is also useful to include a descriptive analysis of the data in the write-up of the research, and not just merely the conclusions it supports.

After additional queries on my part, I finally learned that the ants walked right into the cinnamon and didn't seem remotely disturbed. Next came the bay leaf. The experience my colleague had gained during the first intervention positioned her to report much richer data based on the field notes that she "streamed" to me during the course of this second intervention, "They are congregating around it." "One little guy is perched on top of it." "Now they are all flocking to it." Check. Scratch the bay leaf off as a potential remedy. Perhaps baby powder would work?

Sixth Rule of Research: It is much easier to state the Rules of Research than it is to adhere to them.

After a few of the ants coated themselves in it with minimal effects, we decided that perhaps we should move on to other sources. I began reading the comments that other readers had posted on the pest removal page. We spent quite a bit of time giggling at the mental images of little ants trying to cross detergent-filled moats, exploding from eating instant grits or molasses, or being sucked up by the "roomba" vacuum that the descriptions evoked. We finally decided that chili powder made a lot of sense, so it became our last experiment before my friend went to find her shoe and her vacuum.

Data Collection & Analysis

Transcript:

"Ohhhh! The chili powder!" "Well, wait, they're coming toward it." "Hmmm." "Well, one is walking through it." "Hmmm. They don't seem to, well . . . no . . . now that one is acting a little crazy. They are all leaving the cinnamon except the one little guy who seems to like it, but they are all fleeing the chili powder. They seem to like the bay leaf though."

Findings

Ants seem to have an aversion to chili powder that, with sufficient exposure, can become a fatal allergy.

Interpretations/Discussion

Doctoral students who have too much to do, are not getting enough sleep, and are looking for distractions can find "research" quite fascinating if you pick the right topics!

Anny's Ants - Part 2: The Ants Go Marching

Research Journal

I went over to my friend's house for a marathon work session. We were in the middle of a scintillating philosophical conversation when all of a sudden, she exclaimed, "Aggggh! Those ANTS! They're BACK!

"Not the ants again!" I thought to myself as I mentally rolled my eyes in exasperation. What DOES this girl have against philosophy?! Nonetheless, I walked around to the other side of the counter, knelt on the floor, and began observing. I determined that this particular convenience sample was too convenient to pass up.

"Do you have any more of that chili powder left?" I asked, hoping to verify in person the results of the previous experiment I had witnessed only vicariously through the telephone. We quickly identified the opening through which they seemed to be coming and sprinkled it liberally with chili powder.

Field Notes

Do you see them? The first thing I learned is that red, grainy-looking little ants are difficult to distinguish from red, grainy-looking chili powder! Can you find them in this photo?

Ohhhh, they don't LIKE the chili powder. Look at how they are traveling underneath or on top of the carpet strip in order to avoid the chili powder. So now that I'm in the same room with the research participants (a.k.a. the ants), were they REALLY able to move that piece of bread?

Perhaps the cookie fragment is too dense (by comparison with the bread). What will happen if we break it apart for them?

Oh my! Ants alive! They are rallying the troops, and ants really DO go marching one-by-one! (But we couldn't confirm that they actually shout, "Hurrah! Hurrah!")

This particular group of ants has clearly studied with top notch military minds (perhaps Scott Webb?) because their system of supply chain management was quite efficient, as was their decision to attack on multiple flanks.

After completely encrusting the cookie crumb, the ants began pushing it back and forth, eventually dragging it much closer to the opening to their nest.

Preliminary Data Analysis

The researchers were unable to determine the purpose that the ants perched on top of the crumb served, given that it seemed that they must only be adding to its weight for their compatriots. Nonetheless, the cookie did move, and at that point, the researchers became uncomfortable with the possibility that the research subjects might become overly dependent on them, and so, in the interest of ethics, they regretfully terminated the study. The most significant finding was that ants are especially vulnerable to the military tactic often called the Trojan Horse (or, in this case, the Trojan Cookie). We believe that this result carries strong implications for military contexts involving ants.

A is for Anny's Adventure

Her first clue that her friend had descended into the depths of madness should have been the ball point pen lying on the sink in the bathroom. It certainly wouldn't have qualified as one of the "top ten answers on the board" in answer to the prompt, "You have 30 seconds to name as many things that you would expect to find in a bathroom as you can."

How does one stop the madness? Perhaps it isn't possible, but today, we did manage to discover a "pause" button. Strangely, you have to push the "A" button twice to make it work (once for Aversion and then again for Adventure).

Teeter Totter

"I want to try!"

This is pretty fun!

Anny's Treacherous Crossing

Anny's Pole Vault

THIS is the place!

Ahhhhh.

Peekaboo!

Life as Curious George wouldn't be so bad!

Conclusion: Maybe we CAN do this if we do it together, and learn a few more big A words, like allusivity. "Big A, little A, what begins with A? Anny's Amazing Adventures! A, a, a." . . . the rest is still Unwritten. (My new theme song! ;-)

A Very Happy Day

2008-04-27T21:41:00.000-06:00

Friday was graduation day for my student
teachers. (Don't they look like true professionals?! :-) I was so proud of them!

Although it was the very last class session I would teach at MSU before graduating with my Ph.D., it it was still a day filled with little happinesses for me. Dr. Fendler began the morning by giving a nice speech to the class about the importance of developing "generosity of spirit" in our teaching careers. (Hmmm, I think I need to do some serious improving in that area). She then presented me with a bouquet of flowers as a token of appreciation for my service to the world language program at Michigan State.

One of my student teachers created a parody about their internship experience this year that was based on the One Semester of Spanish Love Song. (You have to watch the video first in order to fully appreciate the parody!)

Several other students had prepared "paper plate awards" for everyone in class, including me! Someone captured my reaction when they read it aloud:

Here is the award they gave me:

I was surprised and humbled by the allusion.

In order to fully understand the remainder of this post, you first need to take the True Colors Survey. (It is only 5 questions long. Wait for all the flashing to quit, then drag the numbers into the circles.)

Mouse over the bar graph that will appear at the end in order to see a very basic interpretation of the results. If you want more details, take a few minutes to read through Jennifer Niskanen's True Colors Pages. For those of you who REALLY want the information to be "all about you, and only about you" scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the colors that apply to you.

My student teachers took the True Colors survey at the beginning of the year. It gave us some new perspectives on our relationships with one another (and why our relationships with certain people sometimes break down). It also provided us with quick language we could use to help us describe problems and sketch out potential solutions. It influenced our interactions deeply.

(This is their visual representation of some of the key characteristics of the various colors.)

Consequently, it was incredibly amusing to me to see them appear in my class on the last day wearing these shirts, and, because I am definitely part blue, it was also very touching to be presented with my very own t-shirt. It captured our journey together very poignantly!

My class even gave me a standing ovation when I was introduced as their instructor at Convocation!

(Team Advanced Low refers to the fact that student teachers are now required to demonstrate that they have achieved Advanced Low Proficiency in the language they intended to teach in order to be certified.)

Meanwhile, a student who was not even in my class stopped me in the hallway to express his appreciation for my work on our class wiki, explaining that the materials on the Getting a Job page had been helpful to him in constructing his portfolio and preparing for interviews.

I could go on and on about the surprise e-mails I received from former student teachers, as well as several professional invitations that also coincidentally appeared on that same day . . . not to mention an impromptu invitation to dine with friends that evening.

It was a wonderful day--one that restored a lot of confidence, one that reminded me that it is really true that you grow to love those you serve, one that suggested that the Lord is intervening in my life more than I might suspect, and one that encouraged me to believe that maybe I am making more of a difference than I realize.

Slave Labor

2008-04-26T10:01:00.017-06:00

Isn't it requisite that every person participate in at least one protest on campus before they can legitimately claim the title of "graduate student?" Well, if so, then I now officially qualify!

The Graduate Employees Union (GEU) has been diligently trying to negotiate a reasonable contract for graduate research and teaching assistants for several months. Their efforts have been repeatedly met with what one might call "less than satisfactory" responses from the administration.

Among other things, the administration sent out notices explaining that they had a "responsibility" to MSU students to staff their classes and report their grades in a timely fashion. Therefore, we were expected to provide a report to our immediate supervisors containing a current list of grades for our students, due no later than midnight on the day prior to when a walkout was scheduled to take place.

This was really the last straw for me because it demonstrated such a complete lack of consideration for us. Although we are expected to function as staff, we are seldom recognized, appreciated, or respected for the contributions we make as such. This particular demand demonstrated a complete disregard for our dual role as students who are already staying up into the wee hours of the morning for days on end in order to fulfill our responsibilities to our assistantships while simultaneously attempting to make progress in our programs.

So, although I don't consider myself a particularly political person, I actually dragged myself out of bed BEFORE 8 a.m. on a Friday morning when I did NOT have to be on campus for any other reason in order to participate in an "informational picket" (a job action that is NOT a strike) in protest of the administration's actions. Why? One of the chants we shouted for two hours outside the administration building, on our way up the stairs of the administration building, and into the hallway outside the Board of Trustees meeting pretty much sums it all up:

"Who does the research?" WE do the research.
"Who teaches the classes?" WE teach the classes.
"Who are the students?" WE are the students.

For me, it was less about standard issues like salary and benefits (although those would certainly be nice) and more about the absolute and total LACK of respect and appreciation accorded graduate students for the quantity and quality of service they render. Although it didn't bother me that the administration sent the campus police to keep an eye on things, I was disgusted by the fact that instead of parking in the parking lot through which the picketers had to march in order to make their periodic circles around the building, the car positioned itself in the middle of the grass where no one could miss their presence. We were an orderly group (we didn't even take signs into the building and got quiet immediately when it was explained to us that while it was within our rights to be present, we could not disrupt the meeting in any way). We filtered quietly into the meeting room until the available seats were taken, and when we were told there was no more room, the remaining members of the group stood quietly in the hallway.

The administration's response? To call the campus fire marshal. He and his assistant came and dutifully counted the number of people, but to his credit (and with a kind smile and a twinkle in his eye), he informed one of the administrators that although the room was at capacity, people were leaving and the group was behaving itself so he didn't see any problem. He advised her to simply be prudent about maintaining a balance between those entering the room and those leaving it.

Meanwhile, it was amazing to listen to the Board spend 2 hours approving all kinds of extremely expensive facilities projects, and to conclude the meeting listening to graduate students make requests such as: Pleeeeease don't take away our parking! Unbelievable. (And just to ensure that there is NO confusion, I am applying that adjective to the administration, not to the graduate students!) In then end, it made me suspect that at their very core, few strikes are really about money and more about the degree to which employees feel valued.

It also gave me cause to ponder that there truly is strength in numbers, and yet that it is incredibly difficult to get people to support even those causes that will result in direct, long-term benefits to themselves. (After all, I am ashamed to admit that I didn't do much more than read the bargaining updates with non-committal interest until I was personally contacted by several colleagues and enthusiastically encouraged to participate.) After participating in the informational picket, it was impressive to receive phone calls several days later from two different "picket captains" outlining the plans for the walkout. They indicated the locations that had been identified as picket sites around campus, the procedures for participating in picketing shifts, and explained how important news and other communications would be conveyed. I suddenly realized how much of their very precious (and practically non-existent) personal time they had been investing for months on my behalf.

I thought about how often I have benefited from the committed action and long-term perseverance of very small groups of people whose individual actions and sacrifices improve my circumstances. I hope that as a result of this experience, I will be more willing to blaze trails regarding issues about which I am passionate even when others are slow to follow, recognizing that I have been abundantly blessed because of the similar efforts of others regarding issues I am not particularly passionate about myself. I wonder if there will ever come a day when the contract negotiation process will be approached from the perspective of members of a single community coming together to decide what is best for the community instead of divided factions doing the best they can to ensure that they don't "lose" anything in the process?

In any case, the experience was educative, and a reasonable contract was negotiated on the day the walkout was scheduled to occur, just a few hours before my 8 a.m. shift on the picket lines was supposed to begin. Ironic that a similar scenario seems to play out in a similar way every year . . . just before a walkout is scheduled to begin.

Of Assumptions, Expectations, & Surprises

2008-04-11T17:44:00.004-06:00

I ran across this video on Julies Pictures. I thought it was adorable and that those of you who are parents would get a kick out of it.

On a more philosophical note, it caused me to ponder how deeply our expectations influence our behavior (not to mention what surprises us). It was interesting to note the assumptions that that even small children make about the rationality of others, and to observe the way they view language--as a powerful tool for shaping the behavior of others.

Making Things Better

2008-04-01T22:59:00.009-06:00

"Because I want things to work out the way they do when Bach is in charge. Or Paganini. Or Jane Austen. Or even Yeats. Because I'm desperate for a nice, tidy ending, maybe with a pleasant rhyme or two, or that wonderful last burst of symphonic harmony that makes me want to shout "yes!" But it's not happening that way" (Clements, 2006, p. 153).

Have you ever had a conversation with someone that made whatever you were struggling with feel worse instead of better? I had that experience this week, and it hurt. A lot. Although it was thoroughly unpleasant, as I have reflected on it for the last several days, there are a few salient points that I intend to try to make rules of thumb in my own future interactions with others:

1) ASK for more information about the situation, about what the person has tried so far, and about how the person is feeling (even if you think you already know), then REALLY listen for as long as it takes.

2) ACKNOWLEDGE that the situation is hard/complex.

3) AFFIRM (validate) that the situation hurts/feels bad. (Don't try to talk the person out of their feelings. Instead, give the person permission to feel.)

4) ENCOURAGE by reminding the person of the unique qualities you see in them that indicate to you they have the capacity to manage the situation.

5) EXPAND the person's vision by helping them to see the answers within themselves, asking them to think about next steps, and pointing out that they do not have to endure it alone because you, others, and Christ will help.

6) AVOID giving "answers." If you cannot contain yourself, then at least offer them as questions instead of statements.

7) REMEMBER that the nice things the person does for others may very well be an indication of the things that most help them feel loved, served, and encouraged.

Note to audience: Feel free to print this on cardstock, laminate it, and whip it out when you need a handy reference for what to do with me (or your two-year-old) the next time either one of us are upset about something! ;-) For those of you who prefer more authoritative sources than self-appointed psychologists like me, read Gary & Joy Lundberg's excellent book, "I Don't Have to Make Everything All Better." When I first read it, I thought, "Duh." However, applying the principles is not as easy as it might first appear, and they really do work on people ages 1 to 101.

Note to self: Remember not to choose to take offense when you are having a conversation with a well-intentioned person who is obviously a bit behind on their blog reading and didn't get this handy-dandy reference card printed!

Brainteaser: Can you turn those E words in #4 and #5 into A words! (I love alliteration!)

References

Clements, Andrew. (2006). Things hoped for. NY: Philomel Books.

My Easter Birthday

2008-03-25T16:29:00.011-06:00

It started early when Jessie dropped by
To leave a birthday lasagna surprise.

Orange rolls, fruit salad, asparagus souffle
Were part of the way Anny started my day.

Tulips brought sunshine in spite of the snow,
And Easter eggs filled with things I didn't know

Anny believed she had learned from me--
Things that perhaps I didn't see.

Lunch at the Owens was such a treat!
Then time with the Bartletts--always sweet!

Pie at the Steeds, I just couldn't resist!
Their great conversations--not to be missed!

Family and friends also joined in the day
With phone calls and cards from far, far away.

On this Easter birthday I'm grateful, it's true
That my life is so full of people like you!

Cherice Montgomery, March 25, 2008

A Dangerous Presumption

2008-03-11T14:32:00.002-06:00

I know a five-year-old who is intrigued by the way things work. He can tell you all about the mechanics of any number of things and is especially enamored of trains. Although he prefers to explore the history of their development and their technical specifications, the extent of the train offerings in the children’s section of local libraries tend to be limited to Thomas the Tank Engine. I know another child who has developed an interest in astronomy. Of course, the only information his mother can find in the local library insists that Pluto is still a planet. I am also acquainted with an eight-year-old who can engage political science professors in discussions of political theory . . . in Asia. That same eight-year-old is fascinated by string theory and fractals. However, after perusing the shelves of the children’s section of the local bookstore in search of high quality, conceptually rich, factually accurate materials that would provide him with a solid foundation in the key ideas behind the theory (such as the String Ducky video from Discover Magazine’s String Theory in 2 Minutes or Less Contest), I discovered that they don’t exist.

Meanwhile, books ostensibly written for the “average” non-scientist adult are so full of text and mathematical equations and so lacking in pictures that they are basically incomprehensible–even to a highly educated adults, unless they happen to be physicists, of course!

My point is three-fold. The first is that the proliferation of information and the speed with which it can be disseminated has resulted in an increasingly acute need for students to leave schools equipped with the cognitive flexibility to adapt to rapid change, the creativity to generate innovative solutions to complex problems, and the transliteracy to create and interpret meaning across cultures, genres, and platforms. Yet, there is little in the children’s sections of our local libraries and bookstores that would build the interest, understandings, or skills from which future innovations in traditional fields could be leveraged, much less in fields like design, environmental sustainability, photonics, or quantum computing. The second is that the majority of teachers lack even basic digital literacies (which might explain why so many of the tools critical to developing them are banned or blocked in most schools) and are therefore ill-equipped to guide students toward suitable alternative resources online. The third is that the presumption that children’s interests are narrow and that their capacity for understanding is limited is a very dangerous one. What’s more, it is often untrue.

In The Little Prince, St. Exupéry lamented the inability of grownups to understand anything of real consequence. I suspect that many of the children I know would heartily agree!

Oh, the learning that went into THESE layers!

2008-02-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

I have a theory that learning, and life, is in the layers. But that, of course, raises the question, layers of what? I have my own opinions on that, but I'll be interested to hear yours.

What follows is a little experiment with layers. It will quickly become clear that I desperately needed a metronome, among other things, and that I still have a lot to learn about Audacity, but it was fun to do nonetheless. How many layers can YOU identify?! ;-) (Note: If you click the play button and nothing happens, try clicking on the volume control on the right-hand end of the bar.)

- An earlier attempt--more successful in some ways, less so in others

P.S. Well, I obviously haven't yet learned ENOUGH because some friends and family just tried to listen and are telling me that the files I've included here aren't working. So, try THIS link instead.

Stanford Silliness

2008-01-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

I've been captivated by the concept of layers lately, particularly as it intersects with principles of design. I just returned from a trip to Stanford, where I gave two presentations to foreign language teachers from the San Francisco Bay area centered on these ideas. One was called The Learning is in the Layers, and another extended ideas from that presentation to address issues of leadership and advocacy.

I stayed at the Stanford Guest House, which is located on the grounds of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The people watching was quite interesting because a number of visiting scientists were staying there. I chatted with a German PhD student who was visiting the U.S. for the first time. He had just come from Berkeley and was waiting for time in the labs at Stanford to see if he could calibrate the measurements he took at Berkeley. Rather than send him back to Germany and then fly him back to Stanford, they told him to hang out at Stanford for 10 days. Trusting (or desperate) soul that he was, he asked for help with the ATM (that multiples of 20 thing confused me at first too), and when I didn't rob him of the $200 he extracted, I expect he figured it was safe to continue chatting. ;-)

It was interesting to hear his perspectives on the U.S.--everything is so big, there is so much space, and we have so many choices everywhere we go. From my own travels abroad, I thought I knew exactly what he meant with respect to grocery stores, size, and space. However, I quickly discovered that I hadn't thought carefully enough about it. Consider this abbreviated version of his description of a typical restaurant experience in the U.S.:

Meal - "Which meal do you want?" (From a very thick menu of choices)
Appetizers - "Do you want an appetizer with that?"
Soup or Salad - "Do you want soup or salad?"
Salad - "Do you want a caesar salad or the house salad?"
Dressing - "Bleu Cheese, French, Ranch, Thousand Island, or Vinagrette?"
Timing - "Do you want that brought out right away or with the meal?"
Sides - "Beans, rice, or potato?"
Potato - "Baked potato, fries, or mashed potatoes?"
Steak - "Rare, medium, medium well, or well done?"
Drink - "Coffee, juice, milk, pop, tea, or water?"
Pop #1- "Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, Sprite, etc."
Pop #2 - "Caffeine free, diet, or regular?"

He explained that he was exhausted and overwhelmed before he ever even picked up his fork!
It reminded me of a fabulous book I've been reading called The Paradox of Choice. The author explains how too many choices just make us ambivalent and grumpy. I only got about half-way through it before my work drew me into other things, but I'm looking forward to dipping back into it.

Meanwhile, I came to question how Mr. German Guy ever formed his perspectives on the American restaurant experience because I quickly discovered that Stanford doesn't believe in feeding its visiting scientists! ;-) There is no restaurant in the guest house, and the nearby cafeteria is closed on weekends (and has pretty limited hours during on the weekdays). While my hosts provided meals, my tummy wasn't on CA time, so I ended up walking about 2 miles to a nearby strip mall with a little grocery store and stocking up on midnight snacks.

While I was there, a colleague of mine who was in a doctoral program at MSU and has since transferred to Stanford picked me up and took me to campus town for an exquisite dinner of lamb in yogurt sauce with pomegranate. (I haven't been able to duplicate it yet, although I found that I still make a mean lambchop!)

When he found out I hadn't yet toured the campus and would not have the opportunity to do so before leaving town, he kindly drove me into campus and we walked a good chunk of it at 10:30 at night! It was . . . imposing. It is one place where the photos don't even begin to do it justice (and, unfortunately, I didn't take my camera with me that evening).

Legend has it that the Stanford Family tried to donate money to Harvard, were snubbed, and decided to start their own university. The university's website offers a much longer, and much more sanitized version. It was great fun to be hearing such tales as we walked under the giant columns and admired the grandeur of the buildings that had so many features of Spanish architecture. What struck me most about it is that although every building is large and majestic, the entrances to the buildings are very close to one another--just a short walk across small plazas, and every plaza and every building seemed connected to every other by the stone plazas and covered walkways. So, unlike a large university like MSU where all the buildings seem to proclaim the importance of individual schools within the university, at Stanford, no matter where you are, you feel like you are a part of something larger than any individual college--you are a part of something that has been around for a long time, something important. You feel like you are a part of Stanford. It was a very cool feeling, and interesting to feel how much architecture could play such a strong role in making one feel connected to an existing community.

It is not without its quirks, though. The funniest thing ever were Jim's stories about the new bicycle roundabouts that have been recently installed on campus. Evidently, bicyclists were crashing into each other and pedestrians at various high density areas on campus so regularly that roundabouts have now been installed in an attempt to address the problem. I'll post photos as soon as he sends me some.

My 2007 Christmas Card

2008-01-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

So, I like to think that the fact that I'm two months behind with my blog posts is evidence of incredible self-control and phenomenal self-discipline! I am trying to stay focused on the task of finishing up my graduate work, and when one is in that mode, it is amazing to see how the generally inconsequential magnetism of many things is suddenly magnified, transforming them into powerful distractions!

I don't suppose anyone will buy that argument with respect to the fact that this is now the fourth year that I have not sent Christmas cards to anyone! The worst part of that is that I enjoy putting them together and sending them out. Typically, I do something creative--a poem, a newspaper, or whatever, and I usually try to include a personal note as well. The first year I moved here, I started putting together a very cool CD that I was very excited about sending out to everyone. You've heard of unfinished symphonies? Well, that remains my "unfinished CD." (If you say it really fast, it almost sounds like "unfinished symphony!" Gotta love that assonance!) Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to finish it and send it out NEXT Christmas! Sadly, though, it is true that you get taken off of most people's Christmas card lists if you don't send cards out every year. So, I officially have almost no friends now. I suppose one could view that as an interesting test! Who still writes after 4 years?! ;-)

All of that to say that I think the two photos below will have to suffice as my Christmas card.

The Pathetic Christmas Letter

I have now traveled enough to have favorite airports. I love Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis, for example (and absolutely detest Cincinnati and Kansas City). That wasn't such a big surprise, but I was shocked to realize during the trips I made in December that I have favorite attractions and restaurants in particular terminals of each of those airports! Here is one of them:

I took this first shot during a layover in the Detroit airport. As usual, on that particular day, I was entranced by the geometry of it (and, anyone who knows me professionally will be amused by the prominent multiplicity of triangles in the photo). It is a beautiful, concrete representation of much of my thinking about cognition, culture, perspective, and the ways in which the secular and the spiritual interact.

This second shot is the actual Christmas card. For those of you who haven't ever been through the Detroit airport, there is a large fountain that sits in the center of a busy plaza-like area. The fountain is basically a large black circle that drops right to the floor. Unlike most fountains, there is no retaining wall or pool around it. The water just slides right over the edge and, presumably, down into drains underneath it. The other thing that makes the fountain so glorious is the way it works. After a period of complete stillness, it begins to shoot little rods of water out in random little patterns (yes, I know randomness is not usually a characteristic that one associates with patterns--although if you've read any chaos theory . . . ). The little rods of water are of varying sizes and they literally leap from one side of the pool, shoot through the air, float there, suspended, and land gracefully on the other side of the pool. It is incredible to see water in its liquid state appear to have such a discernible, solid form and shape. In fact, in some other photos I took, you cannot tell that they aren't solid rods coming directly out of the fountain.

Not only are the flexible little rods gorgeous, but every time I pass the fountain, I have the thought, "Now THAT is what joy feels like." It is a visual representation of joy--simple, elegant, yet full of richly complex layers that are indescribably meaningful and profound.

And THAT is what I wish for each of you this new year--that you'll feel inside the way this fountain makes me feel . . . full of joy!

You know you've been at MSU too long when you realize . . .

2007-12-05T22:09:00.001-07:00

. . . you forgot the sky could be blue until you went to California to give a presentation!

(This is the color of the sky here close to 80% of the time and those little flecks happen to be snowflakes from our first real snowfall of the year.)

. . . you forgot the grass doesn't stay green in the winter in the rest of the United States!

. . . you forgot that there was a time when you read something besides non-fiction!

. . . you forgot that you've invested so much money in Post-Its!

. . . you forgot that you made that investment more than once!

. . . you forgot that the rest of the world isn't particularly fascinated by the geometry of an airport, much less the profound meaning represented by a reflected triangle!

. . . you forgot that most people go to bed before midnight!

Ooops!

2007-11-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

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!

Did you know . . .?

2007-11-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

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

2007-11-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

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)?!

Shadowed Soul

2007-11-21T20:49:00.003-07:00

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

2007-11-21T20:33:00.001-07:00

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!

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

2007-11-14T09:35:00.002-07:00

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!

Michigan the Magnificent

2007-11-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

Photo Collage by Dundoo

A Spider Story

2007-11-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

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

2007-11-05T15:05:00.001-07:00

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.

Misery

2007-11-01T23:29:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-01T23:28:00.000-06:00

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

Cherice Montgomery, August 2007

How's Your Math These Days?

2007-11-01T21:32:00.002-06:00

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

2007-11-01T19:37:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-01T17:52:00.001-06:00

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.

Quintessential Quantum Quips

2007-10-30T21:59:00.000-06:00

As some of you may know, I have developed an interest in the principles of quantum physics over the last few years, so it will come as no surprise to you that I was completely delighted by the latest series of panels from PhDComics this week:

Slave Part-Equal Duality (An Introduction to Quantum Gradnamics) (On Comps)

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (An Introduction to Quantum Gradnamics) (On the Prospect of Graduation)

Schroedinger's Cat (An Introduction to Quantum Gradnamics) (On Productivity)

These REALLY amused me . . . in part because they are SO true of me, in part because they draw the parallels between doctoral work and quantum physics so substantively, in part because they do such a beautiful job of layering meaning via allusions, concepts, images, and text, and in part just because laughs come so few and far between these days that I'm thrilled for a REAL excuse to smile . . . let alone actually giggle!

The comics perfectly capture my present "location" in the developmental trajectory of tasks and experiences that comprise doctoral work. They also encapsulate my current thoughts, feelings, and frustrations beautifully, but in a much more witty and sophisticated way than I am capable of at the moment.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Frogs & Snakes

2007-10-22T00:08:00.000-06:00

She walked through the woods, enjoying the warmth of the unseasonably sunny October day. Peep! Peep! Peeeeep! Now what could that be, she wondered? She continued along the path, eagerly anticipating the little creature that must be just around the corner. Would it be a little bird, or a frog, or some kind of rodent? She was horrified when she rounded the corner and a striped snake darted across her path with a pale green frog dangling helplessly from its mouth.

She wasn't afraid. (After all, the snake's mouth was already full, so she was in no particular danger.) Suddenly, Emily Dickinson's poem, I'm Nobody, Who Are You took on a whole new meaning. Perhaps the little frog she accused of being so "public" and "telling his name . . . to an admiring bog" was a bit of a misinterpretation! He was probably shouting, "Help me! Help me! A snake is trying to eat me!"

She stood there, contemplating the poor little fellow's misery, and debated whether she should try to rescue him or let nature take its course? She decided that even if she were to manage to successfully rescue the frog, he would probably die because he was already full of venom. So, she sent up a quick little prayer that the frog wouldn't suffer too much and then continued along the path, wishing she had her camera with her so she could have posted a picture of the whole adventure on her blog. (Ironically, the reason she had come to the woods was to take pictures, but she had forgotten that she had removed her camera from the trunk of her car.)

Lost in her thoughts, she was quite startled when a second snake skittered across her path. Well, clearly snakes lived in the woods. She'd better watch where she was walking. She noticed a forked stick lying next to the path and decided it would be a good idea to carry it with her just in case . . .

She almost stepped on the third one. He was hard to see atop the multicolored leaves so littered with twigs. He had draped himself completely across the sunniest part of the path and moved away only after she stood there for a few moments.

She was far enough into the woods to make the possibility of encountering more snakes ahead preferable to the certainty of the three snakes she knew were awaiting her if she retraced her steps, so she continued. She couldn't help but think about Eve's encounter with the snake . . . and what this little experience was teaching her about the possible meanings and symbols inherent in it.

By the time she encountered Snake #5, she couldn't concentrate on such theoretical issues because she was devoting all of her attention to walking as quickly and carefully as she could, praying all the while that she wouldn't be bitten. Her relief upon reaching the bridge leading out of the woods would have been palpable to the snakes (which she later learned had good smell and sight, were extremely sensitive to vibration, and whose tongues could taste the chemicals in the air).

Evidently, there are 18 different species of snakes native to Michigan, but only one is poisonous. "Her" snakes appeared to have been garter snakes who were likely to have been born with their 6 (or possibly 45) other brothers and sisters in the late spring or summer and were probably preparing to hibernate together for warmth (hence their abundance).

For those of you who prefer the lighter side of such things, consider reading Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs to your children. It is a darling little picture book that discusses the characteristics and behaviors of all sorts of amphibians and reptiles in extremely amusing poems that are beautifully illustrated (and often contain accurate information).

Do you hear that hollow, whooshing noise?

2007-10-08T19:32:00.000-06:00

Words can be weapons that pop balloons of happiness, sucking the joy out of everything!

Something More

2007-09-25T20:14:00.000-06:00

So, it's 10:15 p.m., I've been working on stuff for my comprehensive exams most of the day, haven't had dinner yet, and still have tons of work left to do before tomorrow. I don't dare even think about the rest of the week!

The phrase There's Gotta be Something More pretty much encapsulates my feelings about my present activities and life in general so well (with the exception of the coffee, the hitchhiking, and the wine), that I decided to take a few minutes to post it.

The song makes me happy, even though my circumstances don't. I'm soooo ready for a change, but it looks like that is going to be at least another 6 months in coming (at which point, of course, I'll be overwhelmed with it).

Comics as Ethnography

2007-09-18T20:10:00.001-06:00

Well, they say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So, since I'm not dead yet, I guess that qualifies me for the title of Ms. Muscles! Grad school seems to have appointed itself as my personal trainer, and I think it has seriously overestimated my abilities! I've just managed to graduate from "bench pressing" 2 gigantic research projects in the last 2 weeks to whatever you do after that (free weights?). So, I'm not really a sports fan.

I did take time to celebrate, but not for long, as I still have 3 or 4 more big projects to go before October 1 (and that's before I even get to the dissertation proposal). I now understand what the Spanish proverb re: unrested fields turning sterile, and the phrase, "The bow must not always be drawn" mean. I'm definitely ready for some rest!

If I ever do manage to get the PhD, the world had better watch out, because the first thing I'm going to do after sleeping for a million years and doing nothing for a week is to completely reform our educational system. If this is an education, I'd hate to see what the school of hard knocks has to offer!

My most interesting idea today was that perhaps we should think about making comic books as a valid form of ethnographic work. (Yeah, I'm not entirely sure I'm using the term correctly, but it sounds like I know what I'm talking about, doesn't it?!) I've been struck by how well PhD Comics captures the overt issues and underlying dynamics of the culture of graduate school. I mean, you really have to understand the underlying cultural perspectives as well as the daily practices and valued products of institutions of higher ed to achieve a comic that is actually funny to people living that life for real. Humor is grounded in truth. And you'll find a lot of truths about graduate school by skimming the archives of PhDComics.com! Some of my favorites can be found by clicking here and scrolling down toward the bottom of the page.

Well, on that note, I'm off to bed after pulling an all nighter to try to finish one of my comprehensive exam papers. One down, 2 more to go. At least the worst one is over!
Sigh of relief!

Surprise

2007-09-05T22:32:00.000-06:00

"Men are that they might have joy." Today, that seems true.

Of Motivation, Meaning, Method, & Madness

2007-09-03T21:19:00.000-06:00

The work sucks me in--

Pushes my thinking,

Changes my mind--

Synthesizes substance,

Sculpts shape,

In a del.icio.us Flickr of time

That lasts for hours

And passes in seconds.

But prevailing paradigms

Pull . . . ideas, teeth, fingernails,

Imprison . . . change

Force . . . fearful flickers of thought

Smother . . . creativity

In tomes--

Filled with dead words

That pass in seconds

But linger a lifetime.

Epitaph (or epilogue, depending on which meaning, method, and/or madness you prefer!)

Cherice Montgomery, September 4, 2007

Goodbye

2007-08-24T20:25:00.000-06:00

A lifetime of living
And loving
Just doesn't fit
In the package.

The heart, too full.
The tears, too small.
The words, too few
To contain it all.

The loss, too great.
The grief, too new.
The wait, too long.
Dee, I'll miss you.

Cherice Montgomery, August 24, 2007

Progress?

2007-08-24T20:20:00.000-06:00

The Passing, peaceful.
The eyes, blind--
Full of grief,
Left behind.

Cherice Montgomery, August 24, 2007

The Passing

2007-08-24T20:12:00.000-06:00

The Passing, peaceful
The Ache, remains
The Heart, breaks
And Grief, stains.

Hindsight

2007-07-08T16:26:00.000-06:00

Why is it that we sometimes have to look backward in order to move forward?

More of My Photography

2007-07-07T12:09:00.001-06:00

Who needs grad school when you've got a digital camera?! My camera gives me the opportunity to try on new perspectives, think in new ways about familiar things, discover new ideas, explore intellectual insights, share that understanding with others, and express the "real" me in new ways--all things a PhD is supposed to do for you (or so I'm told). Click here to see more of my photography (which is a lot more fun to produce than the writing I'm supposed to be doing right now)!

Why can't they?

2007-07-07T09:12:00.000-06:00

(Note: The poem will make much more sense if you click on each individual photo--or save yourself the trouble and view the slide show.)

It started with half-formed thoughts.

Celestial scribbles . . .

. . . smeared with cosmic paint on the canvas of her mind.

Until, with a sudden flash of inspiration,

powerful ideas

ignited possibility.

A concept exploded into existence,

producing cosmic confetti

that filled her soul

with light.

Why can't THEY?

Why CAN'T they?

WHY can't they?

Feel the fire?

See the exquisite entities emerging from the flames?

Hear the harmonies?!

Perhaps it is a question of perception?

Maybe her scintillating conversations . . .

. . . are inconsequential specks to them?

Maybe her galaxies . . .

Are their fuzzy poodles?

A post that ends with a poodle doesn't impact the reader with much of a bang, does it?!

Or even a sizzle, really! :-(

More like a fizzle, if you ask me!

Poem & Photos by Cherice Montgomery - July 7, 2007

Vital Statistics

2007-07-03T01:22:00.001-06:00

Can I just say my stats class is going to kill me?! It is nearly 3:30 a.m. and I am sitting here waiting for my take-home quiz to print so that I can go to bed. How many hours does a person have to invest to understand the stuff?! I sit in class for 6 hours a week (and actually pay attention and take good notes for the entire 6 hours), do about 3 hours of homework for each class, plus 2 hours of work with a homework group, plus the additional hours on the quizzes. AGGGH! This one, 3-credit class has become the equivalent of about a part-time job! Literally!

What is SO incredibly frustrating is that I am starting to "feel" how the numbers work together. I can see that the equations are all related and that they build on one another (which tells me that they are just describing different facets of what the numbers are doing/representing--like saying the same thing in different words so that you end up emphasizing different aspects of the thing). Unfortunately, the class moves at close to the speed of light (gotta cover everything, after all) and the relationships among the concepts are NOT clear.

The instructor does a great job given the institutional constraints on the course/her teaching. It is just so frustrating to realize that I am actually at a point in my relationship with mathematics where I could actually understand and BENEFIT from it, and can't because something gets lost in the translation between the words and the symbols. I soooo need a good translator. I may just sit down and make myself (and all the other poor students who have to endure this torture that SHOULDN'T be torturous) a chart . . . if I can ever get enough sleep to think through it clearly.

As I hear parents say, "Use your words" to their 2-year-olds, I think of mathematicians who haven't yet learned to use THEIR words to explain their symbols to me.

I did have to chuckle when I realized that the symbols really are all Greek (at least, so far)! The phrase, "It's all Greek to me" has a totally new meaning to me now! I'll have to ask my colleague from Greece tomorrow if the symbols mean something else in Greek, or if math is just naturally easy for him!

What happened to the hoops?

2007-05-19T23:23:00.000-06:00

So I had a conversation with a friend today that caused me to look for some more information on Dabrowski's overexcitabilities. I came across this site on the "metagifted" in the process. The site seems a little bit "out there," and I can't really attest to its value because I didn't make it beyond the first article, where I was captured by these 2 sentences. They describe my present circumstances perfectly:

"My projects were always started the night before they were due, and finished sometime around noon the next day. Nobody really knew what to say, think, or do in response; I took an assignment, said "nah, this is boring" and did something totally different. And nobody knew, at the time, how to handle exceptions."

For much of my life, I've started my projects the night before they are due (I actually work on them for weeks, but don't get much "real" work done on them before the night before they are due). Contrary to what you might think, this is not because I'm lazy, but because I have SO many ideas for them that narrowing down to a single selection is difficult. I also have such grand visions of what the final products will look like that the projects sometimes feel overwhelming and are difficult to start.

Nonetheless, it was so validating to hear someone else say that they take assignments that are "boring" and do something totally different instead! I've spent the last 3 years in graduate school doing just that (much to the dismay of my professors). However, as I think back to my high school projects, I suddenly realize that I did the same thing in high school. I don't know that I consciously judged the assignments as being boring at that time. I think they were just springboards to opportunity for me.

I saw "other" possibilities in them that I don't think my teachers necessarily intended [such as the day we were supposed to deliver a commercial for an imaginary product in speech class and I invented a product that was completely abstract (as opposed to the latest household cleaner or something) and then performed a jingle I wrote myself based on a song I had learned as a child in church, or the day we were supposed to give a book report on a biography we had read, and I performed what I now know to be a dramatic interpretation where I took on the roles of multiple characters at once and used voices, positioning, and audience participation to make it all work.]

I just thought that the reason the assignments I turned in were different from everyone else's was because I was inherently "creative." I didn't realize at the time that actually, I was probably just bored. It would be a relief not to realize it now. However, in my present circumstances, I've been painfully aware of that fact for a long time, and that awareness has severely impeded the very creativity that has always sustained me.

Over the last 3 years, I have also become well-acquainted with the phenomenon of people who really don't know what to say, think, or do in response to such "products." Silence is generally the reaction. It can be pretty disconcerting and after awhile, you start to wonder if you are completely crazy--what it is that everyone else gets that you clearly don't?!

That isn't as bad, though, as the condescending tone most experts assume when explaining something to me because they presume that I couldn't possibly understand the answer to the question I have just asked about an engineering design, a mathematical theory, a scientific phenomenon, or a philosophical argument. They respond as adults often do to children who ask seemingly simple questions with highly complex answers. That isn't nearly as bad, though, as being nonverbally (and verbally) dismissed by people who will not engage in a conversation because I am female and/or because they assume that I couldn't possibly know anything (much less have anything of interest to say) regarding a "technical" topic.

It is a strange place to be--different enough that most people aren't interested in talking about the things you care about, but not different "enough" that those who CAN talk about the things you care about will allow you to participate in the conversation.

So it was quite refreshing to talk with several people today about such topics and to realize that for once, I hadn't felt as though I had to overcome large quantities of resistance--attempting to "convince" those involved in the conversation that I could manage it. The conversation just flowed and I didn't really even notice the lack of resistance until I reflected on it later. It was very odd. I wonder what happened to the hoops today? Why WEREN'T they present? Or were they present and I just didn't notice them?

Of Design & Dragons

2007-05-19T10:30:00.000-06:00

I have always been a cartoon-lover. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because of the possibility inherent in cartoons--the chance to bend the rules of reality in worlds that combines dreams and fantasies, happiness and humor, the best of the imagination . . . .

The other day, I stumbled across a cartoon that has absolutely captivated me: Jane and the Dragon. There is something romantic about castles and dragons and princesses, and the content of this show is fun and uplifting, but more than anything, I'm entranced by the aesthetics of it. The breathtaking, artistic rendering of the characters and the way that the static expectations created by the colored pencils are broken by the animation are intriguing.

Who needs the P or the D anyway?

2007-04-29T00:08:00.000-06:00

In the car on the way home, one of my friends volunteered to give me one of her letters when she graduates with her PhD because she didn't think she'd really need all three of them anyway.

First she offered me her H because she said I was helpful. I told her I would be quite happy to take my H and go use it to help the world because I really didn't want to finish this stupid degree anyway.

However, I think that worried her, so she offered me her D as an alternative. I decided I didn't want that because "D" is for depressing, desperate, destruction, disasterous, destitute, etc. I already have plenty of D words in my life. It could stand for "diligent," but I haven't really been all that diligent. Down with the D words!

So, she agreed to keep the D. Finally, she got around to offering me the P. I was very happy with that. I decided that if I WERE ever to finish this silly degree, I would plaster my office with purple Ps . . . for words like possibility, plethora, purposeful, pedagogy, practical, perspectives, perspicacious, etc.

At the end of the conversation, I decided that the university that just hired me probably wouldn't let me keep my job with only an H, and she decided that all she really wanted was her H . . . for "hungry!"?!?!

I dare you to find sense or meaning in THAT!