A Taj, Tiger and Camel, with Giga Sexy Picture
June 13th, 2008
…that I haven’t taken yet, but patience! (I do have well over two thousand images on my flickr account. Check it out by just clicking on any of my photos.) India is three weeks away and the destination is just as thrilling and revealing as the voyage. I’ll be in Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Pushkar on a friggin’ camel! In the meantime, let me catch you up.
In the news:
I don’t know if to hang my head down in shame as one of the most advanced nations only graduates 70.5% of its students. Although Houston has done great job in increasing its numbers above the national average, as a whole, Texas is having serious issues with this.
On the professional horizon: Can your boss ever get dooced? (Dooced meaning fired for blogging.) Well, not if they never keep one. Considering just about every teacher is being forced to head that direction, already there with a personal blog, built one for their class’ e-portfolios district mandate…well shouldn’t the boss blog too? My take is that being an administrator is not easy and dealing with a small school of 500 students really means that the administrator affects the lives of 2,000 people or more. A blog can only increase sensitivity and liability for that person. However, as a teacher, I really have no respect for a someone who has no idea the amount of work a blog requires and will therefor not compensate accordingly or have realistic expectations. Via Education & Tech
FREE: You gotta love it, and not just for educators only! Ever wanted to go to college for free, yes I said FREE, well check this out Universities with the Best Free On-line Courses. While it wont give you your degree or prepare you for the massive amounts of writing you’ll happily do, it will remove much of the anticipation, give you a good heads up on the class and make learning a reward onto itself.
FOR EDUCATORS: Giga pixels is here, hurray! Remember those really cool pictures from Mars? Well the people who made the camera at Carnegie Mellon University are hoping to preserve the images of the world’s heritage sites by partnering with schools to take pictures of them. They hope the technology will be available for the public on a later date and at a far less cost than your mega pixel camera. Check out the giga sexy visuals from learning.com. Can you imagine movies with this technology? While you’re there peek in on the Grock It debate of the overhaul of the educational system. I both like and dislike the idea of peer learning because it changes class sizes but even now as a graduate student, I feel like the instructor is copping out when I get this kind of work. The educational experience then depends on the students if they are able to contribute to the class and make it worth while…so why am I paying the university to teach? It has worked for the people at Carnegie Mellon’s IT and education department but that’s a very extraordinary example. The jury is still out on this one.
Spiritually:
Has your mind on your money got nothing but money on your mind? Then you’re missing out on 6 important things in your life, according to Dumb Little Man, like self-esteem, self awareness, and happiness. Talk about a heated debate on this one! Although I’m leaning toward the “money is great start to happiness” camp, a lower paycheck may not mean less when additional fees for things like a good health care package go away. Health care….that’s another post.
Well folks, love to hear your input! Remember, you’re never lost, you just don’t know where you’re going yet.
Siddhartha
June 1st, 2008
Private journal: Having been foretold that his son will become a monk, the king took all precautions to shelter his son from things that would make him think too deeply. The baby grew up with luscious mango gardens, given a beautiful wife and all of his servants were told to smile and replaced when age showed. At the age of 30, the prince saw for the first time in his life an old beggar. I wonder how the prince felt and what his thoughts were seeing someone so frail.
Connections that run through my mind: If 30% of the English language in compromised of the Anglo-Saxon warrior tribes and 60% of the Greek/Latin philosophers, does it mean it takes less words to fight than to farm in any language? One of the worst punishments on a human psyche is to want something they cannot have but be so close to touch. Sisyphus knew this pushing his rock up a hill. Legend has it that so did the Shah Jahan, the king who built the Taj as a testament of love for his wife. The Shah was legendary for his guardianship of the structure making contractors and workers alike swear to never work on a similar project and beheading those who wished to replicate it. Yet, when one of his sons desired the same, he was was placed under house arrest on the top of one of the minarets with a window over looking the Taj. Years later, that same son killed his brothers, claimed the throne and placed his father under house arrest, except this time the window to the Taj was sealed shut.
I’ve chosen to celebrate my birthday this year by visiting the Taj Mahal and the Rajastan region for my friend’s wedding. I contemplate on the reality of the situation and how my thoughts reflect so easily in this country. India in mid July is not something I can predict. I doubt that she ever predicted out of all her friends, I would be the one attending. She tells me not even her family will make it, and it makes me wonder if I’m the only one who views “family” without the prerequisite of blood, time and/or location. The warnings from previous visitors are plenty: beware of the lice, the dung, the heat, the smell, the water, the crowds, the air, the pickpocket children, and more. I think about Colombia and the kidnappings, drug wars and the roofies to render a person unconscious. I wonder if the visible filth is worse than the implication of filth.
Truth is, I don’t get it. I don’t get how people speak of pride for a place/culture/nation and turn around to use violence against it. I don’t get how politicians in countries so rich with resources like Colombia and India can engage in corruption, sacrificing many for their own gain. I don’t get many things but among it all, I remember my friend who spent many years quiet and alone without dating. I thought it was unhealthy treating herself this way…soon, she’ll be getting married. Thinking of the Taj Mahal, I finally get that she put herself in the minaret for safety and not for punishment. It’s not that we see what we want to see, sometimes. It’s that we remember what we understand and choose the direction of that which we don’t.
The prince left his town at 30 to find answers for the suffering he saw for the first time at 30. His name was Siddhartha, but later he came to be known as Buddha.
