Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
Jane Howard
(1935-1996)
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
100 Free Ivy League Literature Courses
http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2009/100-ivy-league-literature-courses-you-can-take-for-free-at-home/
Once an English major, always an English major. The great thing about studying English is that perfection doesn't make a good story. Heroes have flaws - sometimes fatal flaws. All good stories contain conflict and crisis and never knowing exactly where the story is heading and the expectation that the ending will most likely be a bit of a surprise.
I laugh when I hear young guys talking. They'll say, "She's caught my eye but I don't need any more drama in my life. So how crazy do you think she is?" They never ask "How crazy do you think I am. Do you think she's up to the drama I'm going to bring to her life?" And the real interest is what's the chemistry going to be when these two crazy, flawed people get together. Let's face it - if there's no chemistry, no craziness, no drama - well it sounds pretty boring to me.
Once an English major, always an English major. The great thing about studying English is that perfection doesn't make a good story. Heroes have flaws - sometimes fatal flaws. All good stories contain conflict and crisis and never knowing exactly where the story is heading and the expectation that the ending will most likely be a bit of a surprise.
I laugh when I hear young guys talking. They'll say, "She's caught my eye but I don't need any more drama in my life. So how crazy do you think she is?" They never ask "How crazy do you think I am. Do you think she's up to the drama I'm going to bring to her life?" And the real interest is what's the chemistry going to be when these two crazy, flawed people get together. Let's face it - if there's no chemistry, no craziness, no drama - well it sounds pretty boring to me.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
My Biggest Obstacle
CCK09 challenges its participants to find out what web tools are available and to plunge in and start using them. I'm more of a reader, an observer, an introvert. So that's the goal - to experiment, to produce, to move beyond my comfort zone.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Organizational Skills
Have you noticed how much more complexity is added to life with the passage of time? When it comes to tools for staying organized, well I'm just not using them. When I go into houses, I'm always curious about how people store their stuff. And when I see people with packed schedules, I can't help wondering how they stay on top of things. So how do you do it? Share a habit that really makes a difference in your productivity. How were you able to carve out the time required to take this course? Did you drop an activity to add an activity or did you become more skilled in accomplishing your responsibilities more efficiently?
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Blogs to Facebook to Twitter and Back
The online world moved from blogs to facebook to twitter in order to increase connections while decreasing the amount of time and energy required. Who even knew the world contained so many online marketers wanting to follow thousands of us? Call me corny but I liked it better when people were publishing their ideas. I suppose it's the difference between watching a movie and reading a million customer ratings of a movie. One great movie has the potential to change a person's whole world view in a way that a million two-sentence reviews of a movie can't.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Reasons to take CCK09
I've initiated a google alert for CCK09 because it's easier to read a trickle of new blogs as opposed to the avalanche of new blogs on the first week of classes. Mike Bogle created a list of his aims and objections http://techticker.net/2009/07/07/cck09-aims-and-objectives/ which seemed like a pretty good idea to me. I'm following suit because it's an efficient way of recommending the course.
List of Aims and Objectives
1. Intellectual Honesty. Self-learning is deceptive. It becomes crystal clear quickly that dilettantes like myself are a totally different animal than full-time, committed academics. In CCK08, I picked Lisa Lane as the person to measure myself against and it was definitely humbling. As far as Computer Geek skills - well I was definitely the weakest link in that chain.
2. Personal Learning Network. I have an amazing group of facebook friends in a wide variety of fields. Not only do I receive a continual flow of interesting urls to explore but sometimes there's a question that you can't find the answer to on the web. I've found that I am now 2 degrees of separation at most from an expert in anything imaginable.
3. A Calculation of Mental Age. It's easy to know one's grown physically flabby and not so easy to turn things around. Mental flabbiness also creeps up but it's not so obvious. At the beginning CCK08 was exhausting. I still have no idea how people took the course, carried a full workload, traveled, did research/publishing, attended conferences and raised kids. I certainly stopped wondering what I was going to do when I grew up and started seeing myself more as a retiree who skipped the whole career thing.
4. Remaining Current. The course has given me a multiplicity of connections across various generational divides. At a stage where people begin to lose their social confidence, I'm broadening my interests and tastes because it's so easy to further explore whatever people are discussing.
5. In CCK08, I had a lot of firsts but there were also a lot of things I didn't get around to trying. The second time around will be an opportunity to build on what I have already learned and explore new ways of putting information out on the web.
List of Aims and Objectives
1. Intellectual Honesty. Self-learning is deceptive. It becomes crystal clear quickly that dilettantes like myself are a totally different animal than full-time, committed academics. In CCK08, I picked Lisa Lane as the person to measure myself against and it was definitely humbling. As far as Computer Geek skills - well I was definitely the weakest link in that chain.
2. Personal Learning Network. I have an amazing group of facebook friends in a wide variety of fields. Not only do I receive a continual flow of interesting urls to explore but sometimes there's a question that you can't find the answer to on the web. I've found that I am now 2 degrees of separation at most from an expert in anything imaginable.
3. A Calculation of Mental Age. It's easy to know one's grown physically flabby and not so easy to turn things around. Mental flabbiness also creeps up but it's not so obvious. At the beginning CCK08 was exhausting. I still have no idea how people took the course, carried a full workload, traveled, did research/publishing, attended conferences and raised kids. I certainly stopped wondering what I was going to do when I grew up and started seeing myself more as a retiree who skipped the whole career thing.
4. Remaining Current. The course has given me a multiplicity of connections across various generational divides. At a stage where people begin to lose their social confidence, I'm broadening my interests and tastes because it's so easy to further explore whatever people are discussing.
5. In CCK08, I had a lot of firsts but there were also a lot of things I didn't get around to trying. The second time around will be an opportunity to build on what I have already learned and explore new ways of putting information out on the web.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Loose Change Jar
This post is inspired by http://paperbackjack.net/2009/05/20/the-loose-change-jar/
Jack Weaver suggests that random writing ideas should be regarded like the change that disappears from pockets into the recesses of the sofa.
I've been on the receiving end of more loose change than the average kid. My American uncle would bring up a mason jar full of pennies whenever he came to visit. Every night he dumped the change from his pocket onto a tray on his dresser - the pennies eventually were mine. I also learned very young that just about everyone in my family was prepared to part with at least a dime (usually a quarter) if I promised to get lost for awhile. And then there's the laundry. The one that washes the clothes gets the loose change left in the pockets or at least gets to dump the loose change into a jar that no one else bothers with. You'd think with all the loose change flowing my way that I would have developed a plan for it - spent in on something I really wanted. But if truth be told, I have no idea what eventually became of any of it.
The same no doubt is true of ideas - lots of input but not much output. Maybe tomorrow I'll design an idea catcher reminiscent of dream catchers. And maybe the next day, I'll start thinking about having a plan for the ideas that get caught. Perhaps I can create gossamer wings, attach them to the ideas and set them free to fly into the moonlight.
Jack Weaver suggests that random writing ideas should be regarded like the change that disappears from pockets into the recesses of the sofa.
I've been on the receiving end of more loose change than the average kid. My American uncle would bring up a mason jar full of pennies whenever he came to visit. Every night he dumped the change from his pocket onto a tray on his dresser - the pennies eventually were mine. I also learned very young that just about everyone in my family was prepared to part with at least a dime (usually a quarter) if I promised to get lost for awhile. And then there's the laundry. The one that washes the clothes gets the loose change left in the pockets or at least gets to dump the loose change into a jar that no one else bothers with. You'd think with all the loose change flowing my way that I would have developed a plan for it - spent in on something I really wanted. But if truth be told, I have no idea what eventually became of any of it.
The same no doubt is true of ideas - lots of input but not much output. Maybe tomorrow I'll design an idea catcher reminiscent of dream catchers. And maybe the next day, I'll start thinking about having a plan for the ideas that get caught. Perhaps I can create gossamer wings, attach them to the ideas and set them free to fly into the moonlight.
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