Commonplace Book:
Wiki describing what a commonplace book is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book
Example of a writer's commonplace book with ideas for stories:
http://www.lapetiteclaudine.com/archives/011196.html
Sunday, September 27, 2009
When Planning My Day
Collecting place for things I'd enjoy doing daily:
playing piano
doing tai chi
taking a photograph
publishing something online
playing piano
doing tai chi
taking a photograph
publishing something online
Quotes to Illustrate
A place to store quotes that I'd like to use to create inspirational posters for myself:
"Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves -
slowly,
evenly,
without rushing toward the future." ~Thich Nat Hahn
"There are some things you can't learn from others.
You have to pass through the fire" Norman Douglas, writer
"At the end of every road you meet yourself."
S.N. Behrman, playwright
"To be a star,
you must shine your own light,
follow your own path,
and don't worry about the darkness,
for that is when the stars shine brightest."
-unknown
"Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves -
slowly,
evenly,
without rushing toward the future." ~Thich Nat Hahn
"There are some things you can't learn from others.
You have to pass through the fire" Norman Douglas, writer
"At the end of every road you meet yourself."
S.N. Behrman, playwright
"To be a star,
you must shine your own light,
follow your own path,
and don't worry about the darkness,
for that is when the stars shine brightest."
-unknown
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Clergy Wife Funeral
I've never been to a funeral for a clergy wife - partly because of the moves and partly because the majority of clergy wives die long after their husband's retirement. The difficulty is the coat rack syndrome. "Clergy Spouse Bonnie Studdiford vividly recalls one clergy meeting at her home in Maine. A clergy member entered, hugged the person behind Studdiford, then removed a neck brace and raincoat and handed them to Studdiford without a word. 'We call that the `coat-rack syndrome,' Studdiford said." It's described as being visible enough to be of service but preferably as voiceless and inobtrusive as a well-trained butler.
So I've never been able to imagine what the Bishop would say at the funeral. Well actually I could and that's the problem. In my imagination it goes something like this, "We're gathered here today to support Rev. John Doe and his adult children with our presence and our prayers. John Doe has had a long and faithful service in the following communities and Dioceses. He'll be going through a difficult time for a few months but with a little extra effort on everyone's part, I'm confident that the parish will pull together and give John some space to mourn his loss."
While I'm not a big fan of eulogies, in the case of clergy wives I secretly hope that one of the kids stands up and is true to the life of their mother like Gweneth Paltrow did for her schizophrenic father in the movie "Proof". I want my kids to share the things they reminesce about at 2 a.m. in the morning when the wine loosens their tongues and they try to outdo each other on how crazy things were having parents who were in the world but not of the world.
So I've never been able to imagine what the Bishop would say at the funeral. Well actually I could and that's the problem. In my imagination it goes something like this, "We're gathered here today to support Rev. John Doe and his adult children with our presence and our prayers. John Doe has had a long and faithful service in the following communities and Dioceses. He'll be going through a difficult time for a few months but with a little extra effort on everyone's part, I'm confident that the parish will pull together and give John some space to mourn his loss."
While I'm not a big fan of eulogies, in the case of clergy wives I secretly hope that one of the kids stands up and is true to the life of their mother like Gweneth Paltrow did for her schizophrenic father in the movie "Proof". I want my kids to share the things they reminesce about at 2 a.m. in the morning when the wine loosens their tongues and they try to outdo each other on how crazy things were having parents who were in the world but not of the world.
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
Running Two Blogs
When I took CCK08, we were supposed to create a blog specifically for the course. At the time, I didn't see the point in having two blogs and just added the course material to my personal blog http://ruthdemitroff.blogspot.com It eventually got confusing and I did begin a blog without the personal, family stuff. When CCK08 ended, I didn't realize that I would go on to do CCK09, and my designated blog for Connectivism started crossing the line into the personal. Guess I have a bit of cleanup work to do here.
Monday, April 20, 2009
The Susan Boyle, etc. phenomenon
Yoni has put embedded all three videos in one blog post http://bmimedical.blogspot.com/2009/04/if-these-clips-dont-give-you-goose.html - Susan Boyle, Paul Potts and Andrew.
Ozzie Osbourne says we need entertainers to get us through the tough times like the blitz and SARS, etc. At the moment, we have people losing their houses, their jobs, their retirement savings. Since the never-trust-anyone-under-thirty days in the '60s, the message is that if you haven't made your mark by 30, it's just not going to happen. So where does it leave all the people who have found themselves out in the cold? Everyone knows people who have lost a job at 50 and stopped dead in their tracks. It takes courage to go for a job interview. Interview decisions can be made at first glance and there's only a few precious minutes to change someone's first impression. So how do you convince people to get back into the game? Why should they spend the money on the clothes, the hair, transportation if the experience is going to be depressingly hopeless? It certainly isn't a time when we can afford having talented people pulling back and self-eliminating themselves from the marketplace. So what's to be done?
You send in the wounded warriors. What's your excuse? Surely you have as much self confidence as Andrew? You're probably at least as buff as Paul. And you can probably find as much fight inside yourself as Susan has if you just look deeply enough. This is a rally call of the troops. This is essential for the recovery of the suffering and the recovery of the economy.
You probably don't know this but clergy are the one group of professionals that are not chosen based on grades. If theology schools are doing what theology schools are supposed to do, they are looking for healed scars. To be a priest, one is supposed to have experienced woundedness. Who seeks out a priest? Usually not superstars at the top of their game and loving every minute of it. People seek out a priest when they're hurting, when their world is about to collapse. They want someone who understands, who has felt their pain - they want the wounded healer.
In our society, most young people have no experience with the church. Their religion is their music. Who is going to reach them - help through this tough time? Probably not the super-successful, super-beautiful, living-the-good life guys and dolls. They don't have much to offer people feeling like losers. So we're rolling out a new group of entertainers. Yesterday they were a joke but look at them today - they're wowing people. The rules seem to be a changing. Give it another shot. If you have talent, step out of the darkness and put yourself forward.
Ozzie Osbourne says we need entertainers to get us through the tough times like the blitz and SARS, etc. At the moment, we have people losing their houses, their jobs, their retirement savings. Since the never-trust-anyone-under-thirty days in the '60s, the message is that if you haven't made your mark by 30, it's just not going to happen. So where does it leave all the people who have found themselves out in the cold? Everyone knows people who have lost a job at 50 and stopped dead in their tracks. It takes courage to go for a job interview. Interview decisions can be made at first glance and there's only a few precious minutes to change someone's first impression. So how do you convince people to get back into the game? Why should they spend the money on the clothes, the hair, transportation if the experience is going to be depressingly hopeless? It certainly isn't a time when we can afford having talented people pulling back and self-eliminating themselves from the marketplace. So what's to be done?
You send in the wounded warriors. What's your excuse? Surely you have as much self confidence as Andrew? You're probably at least as buff as Paul. And you can probably find as much fight inside yourself as Susan has if you just look deeply enough. This is a rally call of the troops. This is essential for the recovery of the suffering and the recovery of the economy.
You probably don't know this but clergy are the one group of professionals that are not chosen based on grades. If theology schools are doing what theology schools are supposed to do, they are looking for healed scars. To be a priest, one is supposed to have experienced woundedness. Who seeks out a priest? Usually not superstars at the top of their game and loving every minute of it. People seek out a priest when they're hurting, when their world is about to collapse. They want someone who understands, who has felt their pain - they want the wounded healer.
In our society, most young people have no experience with the church. Their religion is their music. Who is going to reach them - help through this tough time? Probably not the super-successful, super-beautiful, living-the-good life guys and dolls. They don't have much to offer people feeling like losers. So we're rolling out a new group of entertainers. Yesterday they were a joke but look at them today - they're wowing people. The rules seem to be a changing. Give it another shot. If you have talent, step out of the darkness and put yourself forward.
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