"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.

Precipice

(Museum of Play http://www.museumofplay.org/)



















I am so grateful to be alive today. This year is unfolding my ravenous hunger for knowledge. I hope my (almost mature!!) prefrontal cortex can keep up ;)




















While gathering my thoughts for an interview I will be doing for Pirate Cat Radio in two days, I looked up the National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC) future conferences and found this description for workshops.

I am so glad there is interest in the connection of learning and the social-emotional aspect of the brain. Also, that I am not the only one has learned more about myself through the knowledge of Child Development.

"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.

Extracurricular

Active
--------

San Francisco Gem and Mineral Society (http://www.sfgms.org)
Next dig is in Nevada for turquoise (perhaps some rare white buffalo turquoise) and variscite.

CALPIRG (www.calpirg.org)

The Brain and Learning Society (http://www.edupr.com/):
Applying cutting-edge neuroscience research to educational practices.

The Long Now Foundation (http://www.longnow.org):
Going to their museum in the Presido and learning about their Rosetta Stone Language project is what began my process of thinking about language, as portrayed in my "Late Night on Gems TV" post a year or so ago.

Asian Art Museum in San Francisco (http://www.asianart.org):
The AsiaAlive program is interactive! Hands-on needs to happen more often in museums.

Other Avenues Co-op Food Store (http://otheravenues.coop):
Co-op run bulk goods, local products, etc. in the Sunset neighborhood.

Early Childhood Education Leaders of Today and Tomorrow:
A San Francisco grassroots society of professionals in the ECE field seeking to advocate for the work force of ECE professionals and to be involved in the process of early childhood educational practices and policies.

Connect Early Club for early childhood education professionals:
Professionals in the ECE field seeking resources for work opportunities and networking among other professionals. Meets one 1-2 days a month on the main campus of City College of San Francisco

Literacy for Environmental Justice (http://www.lej.org):
Originally focued on environmental issues in the industrial Bayview/Hunter's Point LEJ's approach expanded into a vital community supporter by empowering local youth into advocating for their community and being involved in issues concerning the BVHP neighborhood, especially for the current "redevelopment" plans looming over the community. 1-2-3 DISPLACE!

San Francisco Public Library System (reppin Ortega Branch in the Sunset, shakaaaas!)

Sloat Garden-A local garden center that I visited because I wanted to take care of my cyclamen that was given to me upon my welcome into the Early Childhood Education Leaders of Today and Tomorrow. I never had a green thumb before, but ever since this plant entered my home, it helps to remind me of my connection to the ECE field. Relationships/emotion really help with the learning!

_____________
I find it loads of fun to learn/do something new everyday, especially if it challenges my proprioceptive sensory modality.

But then it gets challenging keeping track of all the new things i've done/am doing/will do.

Play is practice-"The process of doing will get you there"

I took the Creavity Workshop at California Institute of Integral Studies and wanted to share the written processes/products that I had previously shared with the individuals in my class in order to reflect on the level of vulnerability that I usually do not display in front of colleagues or otherwise. Being between half strangers, half friends, I felt a wonderful balance of risk and safety.

--------------------------->

A sensory experience- Five surprise bags were passed around the room, ready to open and be engaged in some olfactory-to-hippocampus goodness. Guess what was in the bag that I chose to write about!:

Drowning on my bed
Familiar angel sends me
Vapor lifesaver

--------------------->

Context-Professor/facilitator asks us to start our process with, "I am from an island":

I am from an island,
from turnkey apartments and lonely TV's
I am from plumeria trees
welcoming young climbers
From, "Mr. Mayor, this is Sol's daughter,"
and, "Honey, you should get in touch with your father."
I am from school to school, 1-3 times a year
From ti leaves to redwoods
From 2nd place tiaras and singing different languages on a cruise ship
I am from the cafeteria waiting to go home and a graveyard of Hawaiian royalty turn perfect waiting/playing spot
From 20 pairs of slippahs near the doorway
From 20 cocoons of monarchs to guard
I am from ordinarily warm waters and dime-a-dozen waterfalls
From hot cookies and enriched bread
I am from, "I thought we were going to have a new boy in class."
From the smell of cardboard and sticky vinyl
From, "Hey blackjack, poker, like the card game right?"
I am from a single diamond in the rough.

--------------------------------------------------------------->

She-Who-Facilitates-One's-Creativity asked us to pick a line from a poem, to begin our process with, again, (can't remember title and author off the top of my head and citing resources is important to me!) and I picked, "There's a big stranger in town called the sun":

There's a big stranger in town called the sun.
They say he is a star, but I don't see it.
On bad days, he looks crazy
Out of control, brandishing a flame-thrower?
But on good days, he is like a father to all, being welcomed with picnic baskets and BIKINIS.

I see him all the time, even in pictures.
I like him when he wears sunglasses.

Sometimes he goes out of town, but I know he'll be back
Because I see his friend who waits around for him in the same place.
I hope someone will wait around for me like that.
It's probably just his drug dealer anyway.

Have~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Do~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Be
<------------------------------------------------------->
Which way do you go?

My intentions after the workshop:

1. Act more on my creativity
2. Take risks OR feel safer
3. Lessen the dichotomy between artist and audience
4. Hope to spark creativity in others
5. Rid my perception of "art"
6. Continue to notice creativity in everyone, everywhere and in everything (yay i'm hella spiritual!)
7. Play more!
8. Start anywhere
9. Appreciate self more, respect (acceptance with no agenda to change) self more
10. Implement different approaches to test levels of participation in audience/artists/class dynamics.

In addition, the word "daughter" was a choice in a wordpile and after three intelligent, warm, strong, etc. women connected beautiful imagery, ideas and experiences in deeply moving ways about their love and awe of their daughters (intense), I decided to hold off on "the author's" interpretation:

What do you do when you are lonely?
Have a baby!
And if you have a daughter you can dress her up in cute dresses or a DIY style (if that's your cup of tea)
While you brush her long hair, you may find yourself dreaming about her becoming a doctor!
For the working mums, when she is still small, but big enough to know it is bad to not do everything her mum tells her to, you can tuck her in some corner of your cubicle where she can play with scraps of printouts and paper clips, all for free!
But wait, there's more!
When she is of age, she can drive you around while you make important phone calls and run important errands.
When she gets too old to be cute,
DOUBLE your fun by playing matchmaker and find her a nice professional man
So that when you are,
now old and lonely, you can
Have a baby!

I never said my shadow side wouldn't manifest itself. Of course it's equally proportional to my light side.

Sometimes I find it intense that I'm going to be ME for like, 70 more years.

Crying deep tiers

I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Dwayne Jones of Communities for Opportunity. He seeks to erradicate poverty and change the mindset of generations who were taught to embrace poverty. There are three major tiers of poverty:

"fragile families":

units that receive government aid, experience substance abuse, children placed in foster home, shelter inadequate

"crisis families":

the aspects of "fragile families" cut in half, marginally engaged

"working poor":

making ends meet, low skill level

lack of education=crime
Every 29 seconds one person drops out of high school

Developments in the Bayview and Visitacion Valley districts (San Francisco)are pioneering the "mixed income" framework instead of commonplace gentrification. Mayor Newsom is investing $95 million into this project. The federal budget for projects such as this is $92 million for the entire nation.

Industrial age---------------------->Information age

"Children should not be learning how to survive poverty, but to thrive in it"
-Dwayne Jones

http://www.coosf.org/

Think about:

Harlem Children Zone
http://www.hcz.org/

Social equity

Legacy (the documentary)

Proactively solving a problem before it becomes costly to fix in the future and/or before it is too late.

But it is never too late. Time is objective ;-p