The truth is . . .

The truth is Patti Digh always speaks the truth, honestly, brutally, lovingly, with clairvoyance and seer-like clarity.  I've never known her NOT speaking the truth, for herself, and for so many of us.  On her post today, What one thing-- she did it again.  Truth, storytelling truth.  And some days when I read her posts on 37 days.com, I'm there right along with her - connecting with everything she says! 


 What spoke most to me today was her suggestion that we lower the bar, and not set goals that are so unattainable given our life, our schedule, our needs, our family needs and yes, the whole world's needs.  In our, er, my scope of life - no matter how fast I move, it may be just a bit over-ambitious to try to accomplish everything in the next couple of hours, or in the day.


Lower the bar!  Seems counter-intuitive doesn't it?  Something in my DNA starts me backpedaling as if this was a terrible strategy.  Given that I rarely accomplish the long list of things that I must finish before the setting sun - and some things, yes, that next 25 lbs, just hasn't melted off these past weeks!  So, lowering the bar maybe a sane thing to do.


On my first excursion with the women's cycling group the other day, I had a great epiphany.  There were only five of us meeting early in the morning to beat the heat of the day.  Each bicycle and bicyclist different from the next.  I was nervous wondering if I could keep up with the group for this roundtrip 18-mile ride.  We started slowly, easily into the west wind.  I hate riding in the wind but I have learned to deal with it.  It's hard riding into the wind, and you really know if you're in good enough shape or not.  The wind is the equalizer to fitness.


When I cycle on my own, I'm checking speed, how many revolutions clicking off, form, position, and staying at my highest cruising speed.  Today, with the strong head wind, we just took it easy and kept talking, chatting across the group!  Steady, leisurely.  I realized that I could lower the bar - this was a different ride and so pleasurable.  Each ride did not have to be about training, endurance and speed!  A few miles in, I realized that I could probably ride like this all day!  Chatting, getting to know these wonderful ladies, no hurry at all.  Lower the intensity, lower the bar!  


We stopped half-way into our ride and pulled up to a coffee cafe.   We all had a beverage and some even snacked on the cafe's homemade giant-sized cookies.  After more great conversation, we finally decided to start the journey home hoping to take advantage of the tailwind.  We all knew sometimes the wind does change and we might be heading back into a head wind.  But nature was on our side that day, and we had a great tailwind on the return.  I'm sure we made great time on the way back, but who's counting?!


I realized that lowering the bar doesn't mean that you're doing less, or not performing up to your standards or side-stepping goals.  I'm not giving up any of my true goals. What I'm learning is that I can plan realistically and get the important things done - a new perspective, maybe even a broader vision.  Patti already knows this too.  


I'll do my training rides on different days, and meanwhile, I'm so looking forward to more friendship rides.

Obituary

This was a writing assignment during the 37 days.com "Verb Tribe Too" master online-writing class.  We were limited to 200 words to write our own obituary, and this is what I wrote:

Esther Louie, Pure Jade, grew up in the year of the Tiger in the heart of Chinatown, San Francisco, in this melting pot of Chinese traditional roles, mixed with TV Westerns, and Catholic, French, Irish and Italian influences.  She embodied the wild west, feisty, tough and cultured cowgirl feminism with Asian sensitivity. 

As she searched for the perfect red cowgirl boots to match her cheongsam red satin dress, she dreamed of being the Asian Cowgirl living out the Code of the West – “No One Rides Alone”.  She feared no entry, and hoped that she left the world better for her presence.

She dedicated her life to her students.  She cajoled, mentored, supported and encouraged many during her time.  She challenged, pushed, even shoved and sometimes even yelled at a few but always stayed by their side- loyal, believing in every one of them.  Wanting them to define their own success and live at their highest and best.  She believed strongly that they were our hope for a more just and peaceful world.  Her family and friends enveloped her with unconditional love and support, and were the inspiration of her life.  She left this life with no regrets; she gave us everything she had.    

4 am . . .

4 am 

is a great time to awake.  

For decades I have been up at this time 

when all is quiet, 

when I can think, wonder and ponder  

about so many things.  

Time seems to be longer and fuller at 4 am 

Things come to me then and only then.  

New patterns, new ideas, 

new perspectives, clarity 

and 

solutions present themselves. 

Dwelling in possibilities, creating, expressing 

Never tired or confused it seems.  

I can hear myself breathe.

I am in gratitude for my body,

and I stretch and relax  

There is room to imagine and

 all seems possible at

4 am 

It comes down to this . . .

It comes down to this - it is good to make time and to spend time with friends.  The older I get the more that I know that this is true.  You can't be friends, good friends to each other if you don't spend some time together.  Even those friends that live close by need time, your time, to grow and deepen.  The kind of friends that you can drop in on after months, years of distance and space, and you can pick up the conversations, challenge each other, forgive each other if needed, it all goes along to add to the life stories and experiences.  


It's like putting on a comfy old sweatshirt, where the sleeves fit just right, the shoulders drape without binding, there are no tight places, and the body of the shirt is generous and covers all the flaws that may be there.  Over time, the shirt fits better and better and you never throw this one away.  You know you look good in it, and you'll be alright.  


And though it may be inconvenient, it may take extra planning, it may take driving long distances, or figuring out schedules, you know you will do it.  Or it may be that you just have to track down their phone number, or google the map and remind yourself where it is they live and how to get there, you know you will be better for making the effort.  And when you get there or get them on the phone, you instantly know that you will receive more than you have given.  And so it comes down to this -friends are for life, and once you have made that choice, once they have made that choice, put in the work, put in the time, and make time to spend some of it with your friends.

Mike Helbling and Wayne on the Green Belt Cycling Path, Clarkston, WA

Snake River - North America's Deepest Gorge!
Deeper than the Grand Canyon!

Cathy and Al Rouyer took us to the Vietnamese Memorial,
West Seattle, WA

Cathy Rouyer and Mr. Lee explaining about the memorial site.

Future site at the Chinese Gardens, West Seattle, WA

Sometimes you just. . .

Sometimes you just have to go and take a trip even on the spur of the moment.  We received an invitation some time back and though I didn't forget about it, I had not responded.  So when the reminder showed up in my mailbox, I thought we should go.  


There is a feeling that I get that seems inexplicable and yet so familiar.  That feeling of contentment and happiness in helping to make someone happy, contributing to something larger and greater.  The draw of the gathering for someone important and knowing that we wanted to be there.  


That feeling, that level of joyousness floated gently when we arrived at the retirement for our friend, and crescendoed and lasted all through the evening's kind, friendly, gentle, funny and good cheer, and deeply warming celebration.  Over 100 friends gathered to honor Donna with stories of shared escapades, funny and unexpected outcomes from traveling or training sessions, stories of support and encouragement, and stories of mutual gratitude.  A song to honor Donna in the same manner of love and kindness and humor.  They ("Diversity Donnettes") designed the song for a sing-along, and we all sang loudly and joyously.  


As the stories were told, we realized that we only knew Donna in one context, one facet of her life and her profession.  There were so many stories about her life and work that we did not know about her!  We learned more about this amazing woman - about what was not only important to her, but also what was important to us as her friends and colleagues - the many lessons that she taught us about inclusion, about culture, about protocol, about hotel soaps and about showing up to do the right thing!  We know they were not lessons that she planned out, but by her own fierce belief in humanity and equality and justice, and her generous giving, we learned from her life and her living.    


In that, we shared a common unity.  I believe we are all an important part of her life too.  In that we basked in her glow of inclusiveness and love, an evening to mark her accomplishments, recognize her life-long contributions, and her passions,  her commitment and advocacy for so many personal and professional causes.


And so we were glad that we drove across the state to join this celebration and her many friends and family.  Sometimes you just have to show up.  Sometimes you just have to take that trip, and we are all richer for the journey.

Nevertheless . . .

Nevertheless I called her knowing I was a day late.  I somehow missed her birthday and so I called her the first thing in the morning.  She said, No, today is her birthday-it's on June 21 - I wasn't a day behind!  After years of remembering her birthday, how does it happen?  And I had felt so bad when I woke up thinking that I was a day off!  Nevertheless I was able to wish her a Happy Birthday on her birthday!


She said, ever since they declared that Uranus was not a real planet, the whole universe is turned upside down!  I agreed with her - didn't the summer solstice used to be on June 21, and not on June 20?  That's right she said, the summer solstice used to be on her birthday and now the solstice is on June 20.  Solstice = birthday making it easy to remember.  But that didn't explain my lack of memory and getting confused all the same.  Happy Birthday Carolyn!

This was the only sign about a planet alongside the Chipman Bike Trail, Moscow, ID.

Correction:  June 29, 2012.  There are other signs on the trail - I just rode by them and never saw them! 

What happens next . . .

What happens next is anyone's guess.  This is the Summer Solstice and we turn to a new phase starting with the longest day.  Anything can happen and so I decide to write each day and see what comes.  We often will never know and that can be unsettling.  I've been on my sabbatical and I have left this time for seeing what may come.  Trying really hard not to schedule and plan.  Allowing the day to dawn and watch the sky change from darkness to light.  I forget how gradual the evening turns to morning.  Watching each night for the moon to appear from the waning to the waxing of the moon. My favorite is the sliver moon, the Cheshire cat grinning moon in the sky.

What happens next is filled with contemplation, just allowing, and something always emerges like the dawning of the sky-- the darkness lingers while the light breathes forth.  Most times new thoughts come mixed with the familiarity of old thoughts returning - the remembrance of threading a needle and working on an embroidery piece that has been forgotten and bagged away.  Undoing the embroidery hoop and repositioning the muslin square, picking out the blood red floss and threading the needle, and the prick of the needle into the fabric.  Hands remembering the ancient practice.

What happens next is anyone's guess.

What I Forgot to Tell You

What I forgot to tell you is I had no expectations when I joined you on Tuesday.  I came with little expectation for creativity, inspiration and learning.   I came because I like to be in a learning mode, and sometimes I just have to push myself into new and unknown zones to get at that learning.  I also did not know who else would be there and that is another way of learning for me - to be in a group of people who don’t know me and I don’t know them.  To take a risk, a fairly safe risk, and just jump in. 

What I forgot to tell you was that I do have technology phobia, and sometimes I don’t think I’m smart at all.  Would I embarrass myself in front of you? And the first thing – not even a welcome, not even introductions, we were to start and build a blog, followed by building a wiki.  Omigosh!  Fear is the warm-up exercise he said!  And that was how we started – facing my fear, and yes, it was a great warm-up exercise.  I asked my seat partner, and she asked me too – how do you  . . . neither one of us knew how, but we figured it out.

What I forgot to tell you was how much I like to learn.  I’d almost forgot about my own learning having been on the other side of the classroom for these past years.  It was great to be a student and givenpermission to have fear, to try something new – go ahead and jump in, to be given permission to make mistakes, and to explore and play, to dream big and share and hear what others were thinking and doing.  I loved that we talked about removing fear, fostering imagination, take charge of your own learning, and the value of making mistakes.  You created a thoughtful, encouraging, environment for us to think beyond the ordinary.  To think about how to learn for ourselves as well as for our students, to think about how will this learning serve us after the classroom and after the academy, and what pathways to different learning and what may be needed for our world of learning.

What I forgot to tell you was that I needed this time and place to work, to play, to explore, and to dream with all of you.  This doesn’t happen often for me, and perhaps it doesn’t happen often for you.  I believe we often work on our own, and forget the power of coming together to learn, to share, to work and to dream big.

What I forgot to tell you is that what you helped to create in these few days, has given me hope and inspiration for how we can work.  That in a few days we have created more than a way of knowing how to work together, how to build a course with technology, but that we have started a community that cares about the highest order of learning and teaching.   


For that I will not forget.

Reflections 2, 6/13/12, Concepts

Ok, let's just get this out of the way-I was intimidated by Jenny's post, I appreciated it-deep, thoughtful, and full of ideas. I am always intimidated when I am around faculty perhaps due to past experiences. I'll get over it. The time spent in small group discussing the concepts was useful. To give time to thinking through, discussing perspectives on how we can foster imagination was mind-boggling, how can we foster imagination? Do we build that into our courses? Should wwe build that into our courses? And Why? How do we foster imagination in the various disciplines, and what are the considerations for math and sciences and how might that be different for the arts and humanities? We noted the differences in different age groups (freshman or senior for example). *more to follow, needing to change to coffee shop

Reflections 6/13/12

Today's session was a great start.  Thank you Fred for saying that 'fear is the warm-up'.  I will use that again!  I'm always excited to see Fred's ppt as they are so full of things that I have no idea how he has built such an interesting presentation.  They are succinct and visually very interesting and conveys the information and makes it all fun.  I particularly appreciated his message of "give them a treasure map", help them across resources and skills, give yourself time, and give space along the way.  I will definitely incorporate these ideas and probably many more in my classes.

I also liked his differentiating between just cramming more works and more papers as a way of building an honors course, but what if we did the above and more.  I will definitely go back to Ball State's website to get ideas for course projects.

I really have liked reading Palmer's book and like most, I connected with many of the points in the first four chapters.  It's exciting to me that this training group have all read this book and to feel that there are colleagues that may be of like mind, and certainly there may be things we disagree with, and that is exciting too for the possibility of the richness of discussion.

Thanks for listing out the main themes/concepts.  Good job!  Great way of getting a "temperature" of where everyone is at.  You're demonstrating connectivity and how we can facilitate this in our own class, yes?  Well done!  And certainly demonstrates that we can direct our own efforts by allowing each of us to go after the key concepts that we are interested in.

I also realize that the my experience via Student Life is somewhat different than those of the faculty evidenced by the concerns voiced in class.  Josh's need to be focused on student evaluations, and how that impacts his career.  I care about doing a good job with my classes, hopefully a great job with my classes and students, but the focus on student evaluations is not on my radar to the extent that it is for new faculty. 

Honors training, Heart and Soul

Haiku for the Honors Training

Mission is to start a new

learning together

integrating heart and soul

Assignment:  Create a blog and insert a video