It's Already Happening

I came across Paul Hawken's synthesis in an article by David Loy on Huffington Post.  This is something I've thought about for a long time - How to define a counter-culture movement in order to inspire and educate others that change is happening, and there are so many ways to be involved. Paul seems to do that.

How will you contribute?

Looking for a comic/graphic novel version of the Buddha's life story

Here are some good finds, but not exactly what I am looking for.  My target audiences are high school, gap year, and university students who are hearing about/learning about the story of the Buddha's life for the first time.  The aim is to help the students understand from an historical/mythological perspective who the Buddha was and why he is so important to the structure of South Asian history.

As Mary said today, "He must have been a cool dude if we are still talking about him 2600 years after he died."  The same could be said for all the prophets of all religions.  It is the same myth that is perpetuated, though Buddhists differentiate by clarifying the Buddha's teachings did not have the same focus of eternalism that the messianic religions had, or developed.  Nor did the complete opposite nihilistic view encompass what the Buddha said he discovered.  But the myth remains - the story of a prince who gives it all up to find a way out of suffering.

I asked a good buddy who knows comics to help me find what I am looking for.  These were some sites he found:

www.buddhanet.net has great teaching tools for primary and secondary students - I need to do some more digging to find out who these guys are and from where they are pulling their information.  This coloring book of the life story of the Buddha is quite detailed and cleared up a few of my questions and confused other facts I thought I knew e.g. in this book, it says that the first person to give the Buddha food after he fainted during his six years living and practicing as an aesthetic was a young nameless boy.  I had understood that Sudhana gave him rice and milk and this was enough to realize that the way of denial of physical needs was the opposite spectrum and there needed to be a balance to that.  Hm.

Deepak Chopra also has an illustrated book of the life of the Buddha - here's the cover.  I am not sure about this one.  I didn't know that Deepak Chopra was a Buddhist ? ?

Then, there is a famous Japanese graphic novel called Buddha by Osamu Tezuka in eight volumes.  People I talked with seem to know this one best.  I endeavor to read this as soon as possible.  Here's a review of the series.

Other suggestions are most welcome.  I leave you with this found here.

Outline Maps

Outline maps of different regions of the world - good for teaching, training, testing knowledge.

I'll use this in the fall to help students understand the context of south asia and central asia - we all need to understanding the interconnectedness of the region in order to see from where the influences have emerged.  For example, the silk road involved trade on myriad levels and involved invaders and cultural appropriators from all sides.  To start to understand and unpack motivations of these merchants, we need to know what understanding they function under.

This site is the best one I've found for blank maps for testing current political boundary knowledge.

The Jewel in the Crown is India

Often, when we, from the United States, begin to talk about colonial imperialism, the topic presents a conundrum not easily sorted out.  Examples from Franciphone Africa, China and its occupied territories, the mess left in South Africa, Brits in India, and (if we are brave enough to talk about it honestly) British in the US resulting in the genocide of Native Americans.  The topic overflows with examples of brutality, racism, oppression, servantry, power, control, and economic development.  If we're lucky, the discussion doesn't stop at the floodgates of guilt that quickly bubble up depending on how much one has thought about the topic of one's social identity and come to terms with these dynamics.  Isn't it?

One of the books (or sets of books) the students can choose to read before coming to India is the Raj Quartet by Paul M. Scott.  Jewel in the Crown is the first, but also the title of the miniseries that has been called the best miniseries of its time. 

Literary works of art - novels of the best storytelling and intrigue.  What makes a good story?  Lots of characters that you can identify with - characters with tragic flaws, ones that you fall in love with along with the storyline, ones that you hate because you see them one dimensionally until the secret behind them is revealed, and even then, you hate them a little bit for their cruelty.  Historical fiction works in this way - giving context of the time period (In JITC's case, 1942 - 1947 in India) by following characters along their journeys.  Characters that may or may not have actually existed at the time, but it doesn't matter.  The characters are telling the story of the history. 

Themes: Social commentary - Brits in India, or the history of Brits in India juxtaposed with India's own history, or the powerlessness to interact with it - power dynmaics and how they play out - WWII - Independence - Muslim/Hindu conflict -privilege - 'home' - graciousness/manners - drinking - love and how quickly or slowly the interaction takes place - taboos of sexuality -trust -...

I noticed how the characters never call each other out on their shit.  They just kind of bear it, sometimes to 'vent' to someone else about the behavior or decide what to do about it, but never to their faces.  (Example, Merrick, Susan's insanity)  Misunderstandings frustrate the viewer.

Colonialism is like a bad marriage - filled with frustration, angst, abuse, exploitation, joy, and sometimes love. 
Most of the Indians portrayed in the series are servants, sometimes cunning and stealing, sometimes supporting their Memsahibs perfectly.  Lady Chatterjee, Nawab and his family, and Hari Kumar have substantial roles.  It is quite skillful of the writer/director to spend such a time with Hari and Daphne creating an intense connection with them, then tragedy strikes.  They are not in the series physically for the rest of the episodes, but they hover in the storyline as a reminder of the ambiguity of disaster, unfortunate events, questions of identity and love; they ARE the main storyline, even though we finish with the Laytons and Ahmed's fate.  Hari and Daphne are the ominous bookends to the story, reminding the viewer that complications and dissapointment are the themes of the work.

Each episode includes actual wartime footage from WWII telling the story from the Indian/British perspective of the time.  Sarah, Merrick, Guy, and other characters are fully engaged in the security forces at different levels.  The footage brings reality to the stories of the characters and helps the viewer understand what the context is for their lives during each episode.  Another technique used is the ambiguity of the ending of each episode, sometimes in flames, sometimes just quietly ending without fanfare sneaking up on the viewer creating a feeling in me of expectation, tragic anticipation, or frustration at times.  There is no happy ending.  This solidifies the view that colonialism is like a bad marriage.

Pandit Baba, Gandhi/Nehru,

First Draft.

Using Metaphor as a teaching tool...

As an observation of the students that I am working with this semester, my boss and I have have many chats about the fact that the students don't understand metaphor.  Makes it quite difficult to understand poetry, art, and interpretations of history for that matter.  The students seem to be constantly staring at us with blank looks when we use metaphors to explain concepts in music, dance, and history.

One way I have addressed this in the past is to see it from their shoes - what metaphors make sense in their lives?  There is flat understanding when a teacher uses a metaphor from his/her own life that the students just haven't experienced yet.  Example - having kids, being married, graduating, turning 30, spending 5 years working on a degree that you never end up using in your work.  Is it the teacher's responsibility to come up with the metaphors that work for the students?  Can the teacher know the students' experience well enough to do that?  As the teacher gets older and the students stay the same age, does this process become more and more difficult?

I am looking for some research that my old boss told me about sometime that I always use as an example but can never remember who did the research - that our brains develop fully by the age of 25.  Something about the corpus callosum being the last part of the brain to fully develop?  So juniors and seniors in college still have a difficult time navigating things outside of their worldview - i.e. they process things through their own lens and have a difficult time empathising with others' experiences because some part of the brain is not developed fully yet.  It is a difficult world for them because at the same moment, they are expected to understand how to manage their time, be socially savvy, excellent writers and processors of information, build their resumes with heartfelt humanitarian work, and mind their manners.  That's a lot when you are doing it from one perspective.

That's not to say that holding them to committments and expectations isn't important - if you've been aware of a paper that is due on Friday at 5 pm for three weeks (and it is one of those papers that you have to do a lot of work on for three weeks rather than something you can write in two hours), don't ask for an extension at 2 pm on Friday afternoon!  And teachers, it's our responsibility to say NO to the extension.  Of course, in a skillful way that builds your relationship to the student - asking the right questions (rather than telling them, or putting them on the defensive) to help the student understand how they have been managing their time.

OI - so this come back to metaphor?  somehow.  Nuance.  More than taxonomic understanding.  making connections.  I've always been a visual learner - I notice myself, when a lecturer or facilitator is presenting a metaphor to help me understand some concept, I visualize it in my mind.  I draw the picture in my mind of a cave, a fire, a huge wall, and people looking at the wall and feeling fearful of what they see when someone is describing Plato's allegory.

I do my best when I am the one presenting the metaphor to actually picture it in my head while I describe, or tell stories in hopes that the image comes across through my words. Would the Matrix (Morpheus explaining the matrix to a newly awakened Neo) work better for these guys?

Bringing it Home:
Buddhism is filled with allegory and seemingly mythical stories that one can interpret at many levels - stories and hagiographies telling of powerful beings, manifestations of the compassionate mind, legendary diligence, and boundless wisdom.  These stories serve to inspire us to engage - to search for our own relationship to meaning.  It's our responsibility to figure this out.  (Here are some examples in a recent IDP blog...) The point that these metaphors serve is to wake us up.  To shake us from our habit.  To help us recognize our nature through identifying and then detaching from that identification, for we can see that way how strongly we identify, if we pay attention.

I need a metaphor to explain it.  :)

Good Russian Words

Pochemuschka: someone who talks too much. 

As in...
"Stop being such a pochemuschka and mind your own business."

Global Tiger Initiative

In this year 2010, the Year of the Tiger, the Global Tiger Initiative launched with a conference including the 13 countries that govern tiger habitat.  The conference was in Kathmandu... (neutral ground? Or where the best facilitators are?) in late October.  During the four days, aims and objectives were established to protect tiger habitat which has reached 10% of the historical range, and make efforts for valuing live tigers rather than dead ones.

This HT article talks about Nepal's initiative to count their tigers starting next week.  Only full grown tigers will be counted.  Estimates were at 121 tigers in Nepal two years ago.

World Bank is involved: this is their tiger website.

Youtube has a page for GTI.



(read some of the reports on the gti website to see if any are appropriate for the Chitwan reader... final report summary?  other academic papers?  how can we link this in with lectures the students will hear?  ask anil and watch youtube pieces to see if any are appropriate for viewing with the students)

The Slowest Horse

I don't think I've ever heard a better explanation of myself - horse #4.  There is no Question at all.  I bet there are many ways I can use this analogy for teaching... connected with EN's xeroxed world analogy - that experiencing things first person rather than second or third person is the only way we learn, and also the only way we are able to speak honesty and authentically about anything.  Experience is essential.

"The Buddha's compassion is the basis for the parable of the four horses that he preached when he resided at the Kalandaka Grove. The first horse, he explained, runs swiftly the instant he sees the shadow of a whip. The next horse will run fast the moment his skin feels the whip. The third horse runs when the whip cuts into his flesh. The slowest horse will run only after repeated lashings.

The scripture uses the parable of the four horses in order to describe four kinds of people on the path of Buddhism. The first kind awakens and moves forward on the path of the Four Noble Truths the instant they hear about the sufferings caused by old age, illness, and death. The second kind moves when they actually see sufferings with their own eyes. The third kind is not affected by the sufferings of others, but when a family member experiences sufferings, they move forward on the path. And the fourth kind is not distressed at all by seeing old age, illness, and death in others or even among family members, but they are pushed forward on the path when they personally experience these sufferings.

The sympathy of the Buddha identifies with the slowest horse, this last group of people that includes most of us."

- Taitetsu Unno, "Number One Fool," (Spring 2008)

Life Lessons from Stargate: Atlantis

I've always been a fan of scifi novels, fantasy novels, and movies that push the boundaries of technological advancement including elements of apocalyptic themes.  Watching/reading this genre causes me to consider two things: 1. my own mortality and 2. the possibility of limitless human creativity, resourcefulness, and spirit.

Mortality shows itself as the viewer/reader follows the characters along their adventures - identifying with their struggles, challenges, victories, wrestling with trust, individuality, resourcefulness, and courage as they face unending threats on their lives.  I see myself in the stories - or at least, can put myself in the preverbial 'shoes' of the characters quite easily.  I ask myself questions as I'm reading/watching Would I make that decision? Would I have trusted that person?  Could I be that strong and vibrant?  Could I kick someone's ass so efficiently?  How long would it take me to recover from such an ass-kicking?  How are MY leadership skills?  I think this is the reason humans like movies, novels, tv shows.  They are (in their brilliant entertaining way) alternate realities we can identify with that help us cling less fiercely to the reality we identify as our own.

Considering, or believing in, limitless human potential is another point.  Maybe MY limitless human potential (Be all you can be - or how much science can one truly understand in one's lifetime) is on the table and considering it motivates me to be less lazy, but to think about the potential of humans to create protective force fields, teleportation devices, magical potions, medical miracles, identify and utilize psychic abilities, storytelling gifts, and (brace yourselves) create a functioning community of trusting individuals gives me a lot of hope.  Yes, these communities I watch/read are imaginary, but it does leave me with the feeling that even if we are idealizing how humans live and work together, it must be possible to do so on some level.  We wouldn't be imagining these scenarios if we didn't have it in us, right?  (See Future Post about my Will Smith Theory).

So with Death and Hope as my overarching themes, this post is just one big justification for spending time watching an entire tv series from first episode to the last one.  A good/new friend let me borrow the entire discography of the scifi drama Stargate: Atlantis.

I'm not a big tv fan - don't own one, never want to.  But laptops work for tv on my own time.  (I fumble with that justification from time to time - what is it I really *like* about the experience of watching movies and tv episodes... the ability to watch when I want, what I want commercial free? or is this just a big fat time waster.  Most probably, the second.)  But here goes, anyway!

Here are some themes from the show that I want to keep track of for future teaching purposes (like my Tuckman's stages of group development through Fellowship of the Ring):

• building trust - how, why, it takes time, how you benefit from it, teamwork and relying on your teammates.  Does everyone need to be in a life threatening situation to learn to trust people? Is it true that everyone has their special place in the team - like a comic book? 
  
• Specialization - being a doctor, fighter pilot, weapons master, diplomat.   It's the ideal that if a team of specialists are brought together, many parts make a whole.  Reinforces importance of specialization rather than being a jack-of-all-trades.
• drawing/maintaining lines - not being pushed around, not dating the people you work with
• making decisions and taking responsibility for them - leadership, ethics, guilt?
• commitment to ideals and to others you trust are working toward those ideals
• working hard - what exactly does this mean?  Not taking care of yourself?
  
• unachievable perfection = perfect humanity
• authority (John subverting it, Elizabeth holding on to it by her teeth, Sam being even, interested, clear, capable, and nondramatic - I don't question her like I questioned Elizabeth's confidence)
  
• diplomacy (Elizabeth) - negotiations vs. destruction - there's always an ideal for 'peace' and trade relations to exist between civilizations, but do not stand idly by while the other agresses.  Not sure I agree with this one... peace as in 'mutual benefit' on both sides, yes.  And the negotiators are responsible identify the needs of each society and have an agreed-upon treaty or limit to the exchange.  What if one or the other feels they are being taken advantage of?  What if they don't?  What if one needs help and the other has the means to help?  
• development (Explorer teams) - teams explore the galaxy looking for viable trade partners.  They have yet to set up a peaceful treaty in almost 60 episodes (end of season three).  When the teams arrive on a new planet, they always assume the people are 'underdeveloped' living in 'simpler times' with no technology. Their assumption is that technology + warfare capability = developed nation.  (#55 "The Game" where 'Sim City' goes horribly wrong)  
  
• speaking your mind vs. holding your tongue: TACT (Rodney vs. Carson) Making excuses - sometimes it's better just to do it rather than make excuses about things.  It can take too much time.  (Rodney)
  
• Never look away from your enemy - it shows weakness. 
• power/energy/resources are limited and need to be utilized efficiently
  
• Small acts of self-protection can be viewed as aggression toward others, even when it's not meant as that.  You might have a war on your hands in a few episodes.
  
• Canadians say "sorry" and "out" differently than US Americans
• If you find a person-sized slimy cocoon/pod/egg thing, don't go looking for the thing that used to be in it.

Things that don't make sense:
everyone speaking english - even the 'alien' human races.  only the 'bad guys' don't speak english.  The ancients used to speak ancient, but they speak english now. 

Good Quotes: 
"Draw from your past, but do not let your past draw from you."

The Known Universe

A little humility with bedtime.  Will give me sweet dreams.  

Homonyms

What's a homonym?

They're, Their, There.
You're, your
Pair, pear
layed, laid --?
rose, rose
holy, holey

like that.  can you think of any more?

"To Boldly Go..."

So, it's okay to split infinitives?  Star Trek and Grammar Girl say so...

Amid vs. Amidst and Among

I found a great grammar blog.  Maybe I'll learn how to stop splitting my infinitives. 


Here are the comments about Amid vs. Amidst.

Seems it's better to use "amid" or "amidst" when talking about things.  For example, "Amid her academic inquiries..."   "Among" is used for people, i think.  For example, "While he was among his peers..."

I'm still not understanding why to use "amid" rather than "amidst" - seems like, in scholarly language, those folks go with 'amid.'

Joel?  Have any thoughts?

Words to Support by - Obama's moral war

"Our actions matter and can bend history in the direction of justice." - President Obama

War came with the first man - what is a 'just war' - last result? Self defense? Civilians spared from violence? Use of 'little force'?  WWII saw more civilians killed than army. What does that say? Was it a 'just' war?

Woodrow Wilson received the NPP for architecting the League of Nations which was voted down. But America did lead the world into figuring out how to prevent wars... Marshall Plan, UN.

Wars between countries have given away to wars within countries - ethnic conflicts, failed states, secessionist movements (but what is this really an indication of? - citizens jockeying for their individual rights - the right to self governance? isn't this a good thing?) - trapped civilians in unending chaos. Refugees, children scarred, civilians lives torn asunder.

'Just' War vs. 'Just' Peace - is it possible to eradicate armed conflict in our lifetimes? If not, then what are we doing?

"Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem, it only brings new and more complicated ones." - MLK Jr. in his NPP acceptance speech.

NV not as passive or naive. Cannot stand idle "evil does exist," There are limits to reason. There is a deep ambivalence to military action.

(has democracy taken hold in the Balkans?)

"No matter how justified, war promises human tragedy."
"War is an expression of human folley. War is never itself glorious, we much never trumpet it as such."

All nations much adhere to standards governing use of force.

Three ways that we can build a 'just' and 'lasting' peace:

1. Develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to actually change behavior.  The words of the international community must mean something.  Those that break the rules must be held accountable.  Accountability only when the world stands together as one.  Example - seeking a world without nuclear weapons.

2. Nature of the peace we seek: Peace is not nearly the absence of visible conflict, only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual that can truly be lasting.  Human rights need to be protected or peace is a hollow promise.  (are these foreign to local cultures? or stages of development?)  Is this just a campaign to impose our values on cultures from around the world?  The suppression of identity can lead to violence.  We've never fought a war with another democracy.  Hm.  They are our closest friends.  This must be coupled with painstaking diplomacy.  Condemnation without discussion will only move forward with the status quo.  Example - Nixon and Mao.  But taking the long view, look at how China is doing today.  maybe it worked.  Human rights and dignity advanced over time.

3.  Economic security and opportunity - true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.  (can we do away with want?)  Addressing climate change - more conflict will come if we can't balance this issue.  It's not just environmental activists and scientists.

None of this will work without understanding basic human needs and similarities of those.  Fear of loss of identity leads to conflict.  No holy war can be a just war.

Okay, so powerful speech.  I particularly like that, as a leader, Obama is moving away from morally justified nonviolence and toward justification of human rights for all at any cost.  This is a messy situation. I think there is particular possibility in his first point - standards of alternatives to violence.  Putting something like that together on an international scale, and then actually holding folks accountable for that sounds great.  Practical application?  We shall see.  I would have also liked to hear more about his plan for economic stability and opportunity - I immediately think of competition.  I think the US may suffer from a superiority complex and as competition in the global economy increases (rather than being controlled by the US) freak-outs are going to happen.

Seems to me that Obama is committed to the "long view" of diplomacy, policy, and procedure.  "Long view" meaning not just 30 or 40 years, but generations.  I think it is difficult for the citizens of the world to look beyond the next three years and whether they like Obama or not better than Bush.  I think THAT's the paradigm shift that needs to be ushered along... 'long view' does not mean this decade.  Is there any hope in shifting that perspective?  Even in our own lives?  

How are the different levels of conflict connected? - International, national, ethnic, state, interpersonal, intrapersonal, moral dilemmas...  where's the root?  How do we sort this out?    

Indian Federalism

The Economist talks about the different separatist movements here happening in India, most notable the Gorkhas living in West Bengal who have been "at" the Gorkhaland movement since the 70's (check facts)

With states created as recently as 2000, Indian government seems to pay attention to the needs of disenfranchised ethnic groups and listen to their struggles presuming that creating a separate states does indeed address the needs of these communities.

At what cost? What is the goal of Indian nationalism? How does this impact the region economically?

How does India's bent toward balkanization of the country show an example for Nepal who's government is trying to address the same issues?

Three Day Bandh

December 20, 21, 22 in Kathmandu, Unified Communist Party Nepal - Maoist (UCPN-M) held a strike that disrupted the valley for three days.  There were some violent clashes that took place quite near to the school house and my flat.  L and I decided to stay at one of the major hotels in town for the three days (coinciding with my birthday celebration) to stay informed and be sure that she was able to get to the airport this afternoon.  All went well, and the strike was even called off at noon today.

Many say that Maoists have broken the comprehensive peace accord signed in 2006 made with the government and that force must be taken to keep them in line.  Yesterday, L read an article in the Kathmandu Post saying that China and India have publicly given their support to the government of Nepal to contain and pacify the Maoists sending in ammunition if needed.

Al Jazeera article (among others) states that OHCHR says the police used 'excessive force' to deal with the 'peaceful' protesters. The NYT gives an informative perspective here (along with the evocative photo I linked above).  Comments from Democracy Underground about the three day strike.  An Indian paper "The Hindu" reports on the 'peaceful-turned-aggressive' strike here. Dailyindia.com here mentions that the Maoists accuse the government for aggressing first.  Here, and Here, Bloomberg.com insinuates personal tensions between Prachanda and President Nepal are the source of the conflict.  This short article talks about a law recently signed into affect that puts a condition on any aid Nepal recieves from the US - human rights violations must not happen.    

More than One Story

Power, stereotypes, and seeing them and others as more than one dimension.

What other examples are there - personal?

Good for - FSS session about perspectives, facilitation (in English) about stereotypes, unpacking assumptions, looking at others in a new light.

Elinor Ostrom

The first woman to win the Nobel Prize - CNN Article

Elinor Ostrom's research on how humans interact with ecosystems, unpacking the concept of the "commons," seems to prove that local communities managing resources from the inside seems to work more efficiently than when an outside authority tries to manage resources for the community. 

I can think of so many examples of the truth to this statement - anyone who is living, working, interacting, engaging with one's own community will not only have knowledge, but experience, of how things will work to serve one's own community.  Someone outside of that dynamic will NOT.  Thus, (logical conclusion) the people who are living, working, struggling, rejoicing, in that community are the most well-informed decisionmakers about that particular community. 

Particular relevance: Her work in western Nepal looking at conflict and resource management. 

Resources:
Governing the Commons (book)
Rules, Games, and common-pool resources (book)
Polycentric Games and Institutions: Chapter 16

There's much more, but I need some online research training.  (I just don't get these online databases, yet.  Back in my day.....        we went to the card catologue.  I don't feel that old :/)