"I was never like, 'Let me hold your baby!"

http://podcasts.dreamhosters.com/pcr/DiamondDave/DiamondDave-20100514.mp3

Listen to me on Pirate Cat Radio in May 2010! http://www.piratecatradio.com

@ 56 minutes and 55 seconds my interview comes on. Then sometime later, when the Open Mic portion of the show begins, I share a "poem" entitled "I Am From an Island."

I gush about Early Childhood Education being an exciting field to work in presently, due to the interdisciplinary nature of the emerging pedagogy and the real social-emotional application education has, especially in the first five years and partnering up with families, on society, culture (not the wine-and-cheese kind of culture) and its potential capacities. The title is also verbatim.



Lastly, here is a pic of a sensory-science booth at NAEYC's 2010 Professional Development Institute that I attended in June. A chemist and a teacher partnered up to make science products for children, like powder that turns into a polymer-based snow. There definitely needs to be more sensory-oriented tables, especially at conferences.

Note the woman dressed patriotically (White cardigan, red, white and blue plaid sundress, blue nails, red glitter flip flops) who I previously complimented when I was in the "Sexual Behavior in Young Children: When to Worry" workshop that day. She said, "Compliments of Wally World!"

God bless America.

"The Numbers Don't Lie"

Wow, just read my old entries in "here". Was moved by the entry on October 24, 2006-"the sun feels like the pearly gates of heaven on my face" or some shit (whoops trying to balance my irreverence). Ahem...

In a numinous state, the older I get, the more patterns appear to me.

In Child Development theory, a child 0-5 is engaged in pre-math when they are able to recognize patterns-whether they be, shapes, colors, rhythms, etc. In all the different K-6 schools I attended growing up around Oahu, I received check minuses, S minuses and straight up, minuses in mathematics. I definitely noticed that pattern early on! My inadequacies in fundamental math caught up to me at San Francisco State University (SFSU), so I decided to take a break from school to work as a live-in caregiver at a home for adults with developmental disabilities until I left in pursuit of an uber-brain quenching. Had I not left SFSU, I may have never affirmed my passion for television and film, critical thinking, experiential learning, post-colonial anthropology, grassroots post-modernism, learned more about myself through using my body (creatively & fitness-wise) and most importantly my fucking dedication to the Early Childhood Education field and its expansion, neurobiology, understanding children through neurobiology and essentially understanding myself for the first time in my then 21 years.

Back to my initial sentiment, I love math, with its patterns, variables, what if's, symmetry, exponents/fractals, etc. Technically, I still operate at a pre-algebraic level (A in high school Geometry) but I feel confident that one day I will find a nurturing and creative teacher or approach that can help me to understand these abstract numerals and signs, especially through nature and day-to-day relationships. & after I am competent in that area, I look forward to creating a developmentally appropriate and comprehensive mathematical Early Childhood Education curriculum using symmetry in nature and the social-emotional experience to connect to the abstractions of math. I mean, really, do K-College teachers have to conduct the process of learning in the most sensory-deprived and compartmentalized environments devoid of any concrete experiences and relationships?

(Jump cut)

To address my title, no, it's not original. A teacher once told me that I should avoid using cliches. Ha ha. Because we are in these post-modern times, I re-appropriated the cynical connotation of cliches! They remind us of "something familiar" and this feeling of familiarity-really just a neuro-axon super myelinated through repetition-is rooted in the social-emotional realm. Something familiar feels good-less energy expended on an already established path ways-therefore, cliches=less energy=good! Since cliches capture so much in so little, they are also the quickest and most convenient way to get to one's feelings. This is valuable knowledge to people in advertising who understand this psychology. Cutting-edge neuroscience uncovers human's emotional rudders that subconsciously guide ALL of our decisions. This is also valuable knowledge for teachers who can increase learning effectiveness by following the child's interest-what the child wants (and is ready) to learn. I wonder who else this knowledge would be valuable to?...Cliches are also a reminder that the literal words are meaningless and its the comprehension of ideas behind the abstract units of shapes, rhythms, phonemes, etc. that give life to the written and spoken word. That was directed towards you, sassy grammarwhores. On the flip-side, anti-cliches! The first one that came to mind was the album title Punk in Drublic. What fun!

On a more day-to-day frame, one of my past-times is educating myself through Wikipedia. Yes, I understand the nature of Wikipedia, but I mean I look up stuff like cliche, Mali, the etymology of dildo. I doubt someone is going to go out of their way to give biased facts on those subjects. It's a trip to me! Try pronouncing synecdoche. It's a fun word! I saw a link to reification and gasped when I saw the word fallacy in parenthesis. I want to take another English Class or self-teach/start a zine collab?? I'm glad I have the ideas behind the words, but what good are the ideas if I can't communicate them to anyone, let alone in a self-expressive kinda way. I really need to work on refining my interpretations and strengthening my transitions in between my ideas, especially because many of my ideas are interdisciplinary...Uggghh, takes so long though and there are no designated margins to write in.

Ever since I have somewhat settled and live in a more routine and predictable way, I can recognize the patterns around me, which is crucial to mental and spiritual health.


Anyway, I retire, velvet robe and scotch in hand.

Solitaire-The Notwist

Essentially, humans need guidance.

What I have found with Jehovah's god is that we are given many rules, things to hate, what is "dirty", the misuse of blood, things that will be approved of, etc. However, it advocates that your thoughts are heard by the universe at any given moment. Even though it clearly states that pagan rituals are satanic, paganism distinctly lives through acts such as saying "amen" at the end of your prayer or meditation, a symbol which seals intention. Is that so bad?

Because I am in the field of child development, not psychology, we approach individuals in early childhood open-endedly. Though discipline is not developmentally appropriate for children, developmentalists fiercely abide by firm, but kind guidance, pre-emptively and creatively providing the environment which decreases opportunities for "BAD BEHAVIOR". Of course this is for those with a predetermined temperament and no sensory disorders. Time spent working with children is rich with intention and the responsiveness needed to develop the central nervous system up to the highest part of your brain, the neo cortex, of an individual.

Some people find their guidance through religion or ritual. If you are fortunate, you can find it within yourself. If you are blessed, you will find hope, too.