Categories
politics

Nugget of Truth

It is not often that I agree with Maureen Dowd more than grudgingly, but in her article about female interrogators torturing detainees in Iraq I found myself agreeing with her without reservation. She put the perfect perspective in one sentence: “However the Bush White House is redefining torture these days, the point is this: Such behavior degrades the women who are doing it, the men they are doing it to, and the country they are doing it for.”

There is no other point that could be made. It would be better in the long run to not have the intelligence gotten by such deplorable means then to stoop to such a level of depravity.

Categories
life

Mortality

I have been riding an interesting emotional roller-coaster in the last few days. My grandmother – who has had her share of health problems in the last few years but is really very healthy considering her age – was diagnosed with a type of pneumonia. She has been in the hospital, and while she will probably recover, it was looking questionable for a time.

For the first time, I had to seriously consider the imminent death of someone close to me. I have had people die that I was related to, but none that I knew really well. The emotional reaction was strong. Laura tried to comfort me, expressing her sorrow for my pain, but that only forced me to consider what I was feeling. As a pragmatist, I accept death as a natural part of live. It is not truly a tragedy for a good person to die after a long and full life – especially if the death also brings a cessation of pain to that person. I was not feeling fear, despite the fact that I have never experienced the death of someone so close to me before. I discovered how natural and unstoppable the sorrow and pain of loss is when death approaches (even before it arrives in cases like this). The thing that I realized is that the pain is healthy, and spurs the healing process, so long as we let the pain pass through us, rather than holding on to it as if it was all that was left of our loved one.

Part of my sorrow was that I have just moved far from my grandmother, so I feel a little more helpless and out of touch that I had previously. I guess that’s okay too. I am living my life just as she would wish me to do. She certainly would not want me to be paralyzed by her health.

Categories
politics

Courage of the Iraqis

To all appearances, today was a success in Iraq. As reported in the New York Times, the turnout in the Iraqi elections was solid – even exceeding expectations in some Sunni areas. David Anderson (another dead link from ISOU – archives/2005/01/bravery_and_det.html) also has a good commentary (as usual) on the elections.

It makes no difference if you supported or opposed the invasion of Iraq, unless you support anarchy you must hail the Iraqis for turning out to vote despite the vocal threats against voters.

Time will tell how successfully Iraq turns the corner towards democracy and freedom, but the turnout at the polls today is one positive indicator.

Categories
Education

META

As a longtime fan of recursion (from my computer science days) I love observing the meta-cognition that is so prevalent when studying in this field. We learn about learning, teach about teaching and think about thinking.

It was fun to begin to see the book taking shape as Strauss illustrates the interaction of ideas and people that lead to this book about a theory of action and interaction. (Mostly in the introduction of Strauss)

Categories
Education

Connection

I was suffering from a deplorable lack of interest in the text until I finally connected with the author as he described himself as a “graduate student, terribly naive about most of the world and its happenings, but resonating in [his favorite theories of his field].” (Strauss p. 6) Suddenly I knew how he felt and I have been much more interested in his narrative since then.

Categories
Education life

Social Computing Class

I get to take a doc seminar on Social Computing this semester to give me fodder for this blog. I am excited to share my insights on the readings and class discussions here. I hope to see a good number of my classmates commenting on these postings.

Categories
Education life

Back to Work

I have completed the degree/move that took me away from blogging back in November. I am excited to come back to sharing my ideas as I tackle a new degree at a new institution with a new perspective.

I will be hoping to get a few regular readers who will keep me on my toes as I post my thoughts, ideas and insights about instructional design, assessment and education.

Categories
life

The Power of Direction

I have often floundered in my life when I did not feel that I had a direction in my mind for where I was heading with my current situation. I found myself in one of those doldrums last year – in about March.

I was in the middle of a very difficult second semester of my masters program and I was feeling very separated from my department and fellow students as a result of living over 100 miles from campus. I began to look forward to where I was headed and I realized that I was unsure. I wanted to get a PhD, but I did not know where and I was not even fully committed to that course of action. I had considered the programs at Brigham Young University and Utah State University, but I was leaning towards the program at the University of Georgia.

I made the question a matter of prayer and late in the month of March while I was deep in contemplation I felt the impression that I should have a look at the University of Missouri. I had applied and been accepted there among the many universities that I had considered for my Masters degree, but had never thought of it after I had chosen to do my Masters degree at Utah State University. I got very excited once I began looking at their program because many of the faculty were working in areas that I was interested in and they accepted new PhD students in the Winter semester which would allow me to continue directly after finishing my Masters degree in December.

From the time I decided to aim for the University of Missouri I did better in my classes and was more focused on my program and my long-term goals. I got in contact with faculty at MU and I knew what I needed in the way of grades etc. for applying to their program. I had deadlines to meet and all my uncertainty was gone. I guess I live for the future.

Categories
National politics

The Power of the Minority

I am very interested in the moves that the democrats will make as they try to get back to their winning ways. I found an interesting perspective by David Brooks in the New York times.

I really expect that American Politics are largely going to be determined – for better or worse – by what the Democrats end up doing in their efforts to start winning majorities at the national level.

Categories
National politics

The Fastest Way Out

I drive around the city and see a smattering of yard signs saying “Bring the troops home now.” I feel that those who post the signs do not care about the welfare of the Iraqis. No matter how bad their lives are now with insurgents, the worst course of action we could take would be to walk away right now. After reading Friedman’s “Pop-Tarts or Freedom?” I had an interesting thought about those who display those signs. Undoubtedly those who post the signs disagree with the Bush administration regarding the war in Iraq. Friedman suggests that the fastest way to get the troops home is to hold elections. If people believe that then these people who don’t support the administration would have to support the stance of the administration in not postponing the Iraqi elections.