ThoughtsOnLiving

Spawning Sprawl

Oh, so THAT'S what felt so wrong last year when I used to drive around the edges of Visalia....

Heart and Mind

We arrive at truth not by reason alone, but also by the heart.

    - Blaise Pascal

Inside Looking Out

Seeing this quoted lately in various places.  I like it:

At 20 I worried what everyone thought of me. At 40, I didn’t care what anyone thought of me. At 60 I realized no one was ever thinking of me.

Traffic

We sit encased in mobile tombstones, sealed off from each other. The doors are locked from the inside. We do it to ourselves. We limit our own ability to reach out to each other. Taillights blink on, shouting, "Don't touch me. Leave me alone."

          - Tim Hansel, in Dancing Toward the Dawn

Tee Vee Time Trading

Jake Shimabukuro

Saw this guy last night.    What this guy can do with four strings is: A. May. Zing.

If you ever get the chance to see him live, do it.

Fire-Learning

"The original classroom model’s three driving factors—student decisions directing the process, using the local community as a resource for learning, and providing an audience beyond the classroom for the students’ work—were explored and expanded over time by practicing educators and Foxfire staff, resulting in the eleven Core Practices that are the basis of the Foxfire Approach to Teaching and Learning. Successful Foxfire-trained teachers in 38 states have discovered the enriching classroom experiences that can be had when students are empowered and truly invested in their work."

Core Practices:

    1 • The work teachers and learners do together is infused from the beginning with learner choice, design, and revision.

2 • The academic integrity of the work teachers and learners do together is clear.

    3 • The role of the teacher is that of facilitator and collaborator.

    4 • The work is characterized by active learning.

    5 • Peer teaching, small group work, and teamwork are all consistent features of classroom activities.

    6 • There is an audience beyond the teacher for learner work.

    7 • New activities spiral gracefully out of the old, incorporating lessons learned from past experiences, building on skills and understandings that can now be amplified.

    8 • Reflection is an essential activity that takes place at key points throughout the work.

    9 • Connections between the classroom work, the surrounding communities, and the world beyond the community are clear.

    10 • Imagination and creativity are encouraged in the completion of learning activities.

    11 • The work teachers and learners do together includes rigorous, ongoing assessment and evaluation.    

   

   

Natural Beauty

"No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted."

Thoughts On Community

The other day I was driving through town, and passed a couple gated communities.  They seem to be on the increase in this town, and less "neighborly" to me in some ways than many of the smaller enclave-like ones I remember going up twenty years ago. 

A little later, while in a common "merchant area" part of town, I thought about what these folks are erecting fences against, and why gated communities are built in the first place.  As I sat there, I imagined the hammered lowrider in front of me -- clearly still a project-in-progress -- cruising from the barrio it likely came from to the streets of two of the newer gated communities I'd seen.  What would be the reaction, if that man and his car were just driving down the street... in a neighborhood filled with rolled-out turf, faux stone construction, and shiny, dirtless SUV's?  In my mind, I could sense and imagine the unspoken tension.

A phrase came to me during that thought, and I imagined it on little yard signs, like people put out during election time.  The phrase was this: "Gated communities aren't communities."

I'm not sure it's entirely accurate, because I think in some cases gated communities are communities -- but they are communities unto themselves.  To me they feel Isolated, cutoff, a walled-off patch from the greater community-at-large.  It doesn't feel like they add to the vibrancy of a town.

Maybe we could singularize it, to change the emphasis: "Gated communities aren't community."   

Hmmm....

Anyway, this morning I read Rich Hansen's intro to an article on a local project here in Visalia.  It reminded me of my thoughts the other day as I was driving through various parts of town:

 

What is the role of a faith-based organization in a secular, pluralistic culture? Can our society move beyond people withdrawing into polarized, ideological camps and then applauding those who say extreme, outlandish or hateful things about the other side? Is it possible to carry deep personal convictions and still cooperate with those who hold different convictions?

He has some interesting thoughts.  Worth reading, in my opinion.

What do you think?

Wildflowers

It's a spectacular year for wildflowers in California -- amazing displays like we've not had in years.  My wife and I drove to the Bay Area recently via Highways 198 and 25; we not only had the road practically to ourselves, but we were also treated to some of the most beautiful views of wildflower-covered hills I've seen in a long time.  Here are some photos of wildflowers in California if you're interested.

For those here in Tulare County, the drive up the dry Creek Road is quite beautiful as well right now.  Actually saw a Bald Eagle up there a few weeks back, and my parents drove up there yesterday and had the chance to talk to a rancher who lives in the vicinity.  He said he hadn't seen the flowers look like this since the 1970s.  So, if you appreciate such things and you'd like to take a look, let me encourage you: now is the time.