Communing Around Creativity: Let's Play

I feel compelled to start a creativity workshop series, to find a community of people who are willing to invest in the development of their most precious asset: their divine ability to create.

Are you out there? You, who often say to yourself, "I wish I would stop vacuuming in my spare time and start making some new art." Or you...you, who hasn't written anything in months because you're too busy looking for a job or too tired out at the end of the day from the job you have. Or you...who are working at your home office and needs to get out, commune and create with others.

Let's create a community of creators -- and practice coming up with fresh new ideas, play with new forms of working and thinking, pull out the paper and scissors and glue and start piecing together the space for new forms and functions. Let's get together and DO!

We can meet weekly at a coffee shop. I'll put together assignments and bring the materials needed to get your mind, hands and heart working in new ways. You bring $10 to each meeting.

Call me if you're interested. 612-423-4342

Holiday Spending

I think one of my greatest financial successes is due to my decisions about gift-giving, which include buying only items that are:

• Consumable, meaning you can eat or use them up, like foods, candles, soap
• Locally Produced, say from a local farmer or artist
  
• Used, from thrift stores, garage and estate sales.
• Homemade, like treats, artwork or gift baskets I assemble myself with items above
  

...and by buying these gifts throughout the year instead of in one lump during the Thanksgiving / Christmas season. Most gifts can easily be purchased for $5 or less. I have prepared my friends, family and clients (yes, clients get gifts that fall into these realms also) for this and all seem to be very open-minded about it. I find that I am thinking about the desires of loved ones all year round vs. just at the holiday season, too. So it's a great exercise in spirit.

I used to participate in the extended-family gift exchange, but I found that to be both expensive and contrived. The agreed upon amount was $40-50 for one gift. Everyone would call up grandma who kept a list of everyone's name and 2-3 items that person wants. So essentially, we are all going shopping for each other! Many times, items need to be returned because it's not the right color, fit, style -- whatever -- which means more time at the mall.

I admit that it's fun to exchange gifts, to get a little something in a little package all carefully wrapped. Plus, I felt a little left-out while everyone was unwrapping. To change this, I started a green elephant gift exchange in my extended family.

Like the white elephant gift exchange, the green elephant gift exchange involves getting rid of an unwanted item. Unlike the white elephant gift exchange, the green elephant gift exchange promotes the giving of something that someone might actually want. This means that there are no 5-year old fruitcakes, shriveled apple head dolls, an old shoe or any other obnoxious, truly unwanted object. We have a lot of fun with this.

This is my second holiday season not setting foot into a shopping mall or typical retail outlet. (Come to think of it, I haven't been to one all year, since I buy most of my items at the grocery store, online or from the thrift store.)

I attribute this change in my financial lifestyle to my dear friend, Linda French, who showed me that used gifts are no less delightful from brand new -- in fact they can be more delightful because more thought tends to go into it.

Here's more on the subject...

• Family Cuts Down Dramatically on Holiday Spending -- Video
• Holiday Spending or Spending Holiday? -- How to Cut Back
• Have a tightwad's Christmas -- More on how to cut back.
• It's OK to be a tightwad for the holidays -- Feeling better about it and why you should

Seen & Unseen

'Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, but do not be disheartened. The source they come from is eternal, growing, branching out, giving new life and new joy. Why do you weep? The source is within you and this whole world is springing up from it.'

- Jelauddin Rumi

Anonymous

I remember (deeply) when my laptop was stolen from a client's facility where I was working. Not knowing who had betrayed me carried an undertow that it could be anybody -- and that current of "anybody" flows quickly into "everybody." It's awful.

I had an experience today of receiving an anonymous gift: a Snicker's bar with a note that says "I appreciate you." Not knowing who had send this lovely affirmation carries an undertow that it could be anybody -- and the current of "anybody" flows quickly into "everybody." It's awesome.

The mysterious is so powerful, so all-encompassing.

Quote

I found this compelling quote on my friend Laraaji's web site.

Look at all the blind men bashing one another with the stick of intellect! LOVE is the sea where intellect drowns! — Jala al-Din Rumi

Project Agility

I'm learning all about Agile projects in software development.

Video 1: Seminar

Video 2: Interview

More

DIY: How to Make a Fireball

How To Make a Fireball. GreenerTea Productions has created a fireball making video. Attempt at your own risk! Summary as follows:

You Need:
100% cotton cloth (from old T-shirt works well),
Scissors,
Cotton String & Needle,
Lighter fluid,
Lighter.

Instructions for Making a Fireball:

1. Cut strip pf cloth and roll into ball.
2. Thread needle with 5 feet of string
3. Poke needle through the cotton ball
   
4. Wrap the string around to secure the form in it's ball shape.
   
5. Poke needle through the cotton ball again to secure and remove extra
6. Soak ball with lighter fluid, which will absorb easily. Do not overfill! If you overfill it will get on your hands and will burn them!
7. Use lighter to light ball. They will burn for a long while.
8. Hold the ball in your open palm. While holding, take care not to touch orange flame on top where it is very hot.
   
9. Turn off by closing your fingers over the top of the ball.

Watch the Video!

Pivotal Mind-Body-Spirit Books

Here are two books that were pivotal for me in seeing and understanding the mind-body-spirit connection:


Love, Medicine & Miracles by Bernie Siegel, M.D.
Bernie Siegel, founder of ECAP (Exceptional Cancer Patients), shares his experience working with his cancer patients. He has observed how "exceptional patients," patients who have learned to embrace life, to use visualization techniques and to take control of their own wellness, have maximized their success of recovery, healed completely or have lived longer than patients who have not. BUY THE BOOK


You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
Louise Hay emphasises the power of the mind in creating physical health. A helpful chart in the back connects unwell body parts (the "symbol" of the problem) to the emotional-spiritual challenges they represent. By each, she suggests a new belief or "prayer" to help cure the ailment. BUY THE BOOK

The Magic of Math

When I was in school learning my multiplication tables, we learned via the traditional algorithmic method to solve problems.

I discovered that there are more ways than this one to solve mathematic problems. YouTube.com contains streaming videos that demonstrate how these same kinds of problems can be solved differently. Each method covers a different kinds of learning strengths: spacial, visual, estimation, grouping, and so on.

In the first video, Do the Math, there is no sound. This is particularly powerful because it requires that you pay attention to what is happening. Dr. Richard Feynman, Quantum Physicist, developed this technique to graphically approximate and solve quantum field theory equations that could not be solved in any other fashion. He got Nobel Price in physics for these diagrams.

Feynman's Multiplication Diagram
Feynman's Multiplication Diagram asks
you to represent the place values of integers
with lines representing their numerical value.
The points where the lines cross assist
in finding the final value.

In the second video, Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth, M.J. McDermott explains and criticizes the current state of math education in 4th and 5th grades. She opposes the rigor with which alternative methods of solving math equations are being taught in the classroom. These alternative methods include:

The Cluster Method

The Cluster Method involves dividing
the problem into smaller parts iteratively
which then can be easily calculated.

The Lattice Method The Lattice Method asks learners to fill in a grid
which resembles a lattice (fence) taking 3 steps:
multiply, carry and add. (In this way, it is very
similar to our Traditional Algorithmic Method.)

The Partial Products Method The Partial Placement Method emphasizes
place value and requires a fluency
of multiplying by powers of ten.

Because the traditional algorithmic method tends to produce more accurate results and is definitely more efficient than any one of the other methods shown, I agree that students should be learning this method as the foundation of their studies -- but not as the only way.

Not introducing alternative methods of understanding math -- or anything else for that matter -- impedes some learners from grasping concepts that would otherwise be easily accessible to them. Teaching only one way of doing things, in this sense, is stifling -- even discriminatory of other learning styles. It also keeps us from the creativity of solving new problems that our current methods have caused. Moreover, I don't believe one way of doing something is always the most practical, the most accessible, the most efficient, etc. etc. Drawing from a variety of tools gives people the ability to visualize, understand and solve problems in multiple ways.


Meaningful threads and articles about this video:

• Instructivist: A critical look at the progressive education cult.
• Patrick Stahlberg's Blog: The blog of a computer scientist and software/electrical engineer. See the Sat Mar 31st entry on Math Education.
  
• Parents Question Math Program: by Rebekah Schilperoort of the Ballad News Tribune.
• The Declining Quality of Mathematics Education in the US by Jedidiah of Technocrat.
• Everyday Mathematcis Parent Handbook Ann Arbor Schools
• Looking Further at Multiplication on the RathionalMathEd Blog by Michael Paul Goldenberg
• The Math Forum at Drexel
• Partial Products Method - Why Use this Method