On Education

As I have continued reading Whitman, I have been a little pulled this way and that, to a point where I am not wholly sure where I stand in my opinion of him. There are times when I really agree with what he is seeking to teach, and others where I feel he is completely off the mark, or perhaps I stand at a point where I don’t quite see it from his point of view, but in the end, that is what makes him human. It was his intention to be understood and read as a real person, and nobody completely agrees with anyone all of the time. I really like his ideas on note taking and education. There is a unique quality to the organic growth of self-education, and I feel that I could learn and alter my own learning to accommodate some of the ideas that I have drawn from Whitman. It says that Whitman was exclusively self-educated from the time that he was 11 years old. In all honesty, shouldn’t we all be self-educated? If we are not, we fall victim to the system, and go through the public education system with some growth, but not actualizing our potential in becoming responsive and thoughtful beings. We are creatures of circumstances as opposed to creators of circumstance. Self-education is not something that happens to us. It is a state of being and a method of living. We should all be seeking knowledge in all of its forms, and supplement our self-education with the advent of structured formal education. We should develop a desire for acquiring knowledge and understanding the world on a uniquely personal basis. It is all a question of how we choose to fragment and assign our time. Each of us is doled 24 hours each day, and there is no roll over for time that is not used each day. Sometimes I feel like Emerson as he described in “Days” when he said that the daughters of time come bearing their diadems and offer gift to each person, and how sometimes he only has time to gather a few simple herbs and spices from among the most valuable gifts, and watches them depart at the end of the day, silent and full of scorn. It is a pretty intense vision of how I even use my own time. So, as Whitman instructs, it must be an actual change in the fundamental way that I view and interact with life. Learning must be an active and organic thing. Growing from the very way that I live, and as previously stated, supplemented by my formal education.

Feeling the Spirit of Whitman

Walt Whitman. Now there was a man for all seasons. The guy pretty much died from being himself, much like William Morris of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The thing about Whitman was that he wanted readers to really know WHO he was, or at least the version that he made himself out to be. He was the original blogger, coming out with his hard blog, Leaves of Grass back in the mid-1850's. One of his greatest fears was that one of his books would ever be shelved and left to gather dust. You take his writing outdoors, and it takes an enormous breath and begins to relate volumes of thought to you. Take a look for yourself, but make sure you are doing it outdoors. :)

SHUA IS GOING TO BE AN UNCLE!!!

Well, the vow of secrecy has been broken! I can finally announce that I am going to be an uncle! My older Sister, Jessica, is 9-weeks pregnant. She is due late september, and that means I will pass into a new family role!!! UNCLE!!! HOORAY!!!