A friend and I have been texting a lot over the last month. In fact, I've been texting with most everyone I know. Its been so convenient, more so than actual phone calls, emails and myspace. So I've just been sticking with it and believing it was a necessity. In fact, lately, I've actually been choosing friends and acquaintances based on how easy it is to communicate with them.
After receiving so many texts from a friend, I believed everything was OK. The text messages were fun: sometimes jokes, sometimes random thoughts, nothing too major. But after hearing his voice today on my voicemail, I really had no idea what he was going through right now. He was sick, bronchitis I think. He mentioned that he was on his way to visit his grand mother, and if there was a chance, maybe we'd meet up and go climbing or something later today. That could be fun, I’d never climbed Texas rock before.
Well, he did see his grandmother. What I didn't know, was that he attended her funeral yesterday. When he called and left the message, just the "Hi Rosie" was an instant indication that something was very wrong.
I'll admit it was good to hear his voice. I never wished anything but the best for this person, yet my heart totally fell when I heard his voice. Not because his grandmother died, but because its a fact of life that we, as the living, have to accept. Its not in our power to change this part of reality and its not an easy concept to grasp. I knew I was a true friend when he said, "I know you'd understand." For the most part, I do. And its not something that I can easily talk about either, but I guess within our tribe, I'm honored that a friend can find solace with me during a time that is so difficult to understand.
I'm also embarrassed to admit that through the text messages, in fact most every text message to almost everyone I write, I'd been under the belief that everything was OK. How could I be so insensitive and ignorant? That was so not true in this case. The sounds that a person's voice can make can really evoke an emotion. I'm glad I had the time to grieve his loss.
It certainly put my goals into perspective. How I wish I had this life figured out. But I think I need to be aware, just a little bit more, of who I call my friends. A random phone call every now and then is so nice. Its not easy to do, shit, I can tell you that. Its just something a friend has to do for a friend from time to time.
Gees, I hardly ever call my family. The emails, I thought, were enough. That's so horrible of me.
Its time for me to pick up the phone and make some calls.
Perhaps I’ll call my out of state friends on Sundays. I’d also like to make an effort to call my mom and dad every day. We had something to say to each other every day when I was there. I sort of miss that.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
I'm a waterfall
I've been getting ready for the move and making sure my little Chickles is going to be happy and cozy here on the beach. Today was her day in the spa!
I brought her to the groomers where she got a mani/pedi and a pretty haircut. The vet gave a her a clean bill of health, a prescription for her super dog food and a preventative medicine that will keep the fleas away AND it will remain potent even if she decides to jump in the ocean water. YAY! She can catch waves in the Gulf while I'm catching waves in the Pacific! My toes and her paws will be joined in the water no matter where we are!
As my mom and I paid for the bill, I realized she needed a new dog tag with her new address on it. Thisby and I walked up to the machine and I began to type her name, the new city and state on a shiney blue tag shaped like a bone. I put both my mom and my brother's cel phone numbers on it in the unlikely event she's found by strangers (God forbid!). I asked Mom, "Should I put her email address on here too?"
"No," she said seeming bothered. I guess this wasn't the right time to ask Mom if she's seen Thisby's myspace page. I was done, so I clicked print.
As the machine engraved the new tag, my little girl just stared at me with her big brown eyes. I thought she looked so cute with her new du and the pink bandana, yet she remained stoic and she didn't even budge as she stared at me from the floor.
I think I now know why she's been sitting on my feet while I've been reading at my desk. In the mornings, she's been walking close to me even without her leash on and her fur keeps tickling my shins. While we were waiting for the vet, she slowly crawled into my lap and burried her face in my armpit. She's even been sleeping in my dirty laundry rather than her own bed the last few nights too. When I wake up, I'd been tripping over her toys that she's been leaving at my bedroom door.
Thisbers and I paced the aisles of Petsmart with long faces as the name tag finished engraving. I wish I didn't have to buy that tag. My mom patiently waited for us at the door with the blue tag in her hand. I looked at it and seemed a little empty without my name on it. We all got into my Civic and drove home.
When we arrived at the condo, mom cleared out the kitchen table to make room for her sewing machine. I thought she was going to work on Joey's fourteen black capes for him and his friends. On Saturday, Joey will have a Star Wars birthday party and Darth Vader is going to make a guest appearance. I remembered that I was going to set up a corner with my computer and speakers. I needed to download the Yoda widget and test it out first as well as get a few of the theme songs off iTunes.
Yoda is going to wish Joey a happy birthday. And when Darth Vader arrives, the Imperial March song is going to make this beach house shake. I'm searching for the sound bite to play when the kids are practicing their light saber technique. Not sure yet how I'm going to operate my computer, make Yoda speak and take action shots with my camera while I'm throwing asteroids at everybody.
As I was doing that, my mom says, "Look Rose, I repaired Thisby's bed!" She certainly did. Earlier, the washing machine tore a few weak seams in the cushions of Chicklette's bed. My mom repaired that first before working on Darth Vader's and the thirteen young Jedi capes.
I know when I see my brother tomorrow the first thing he'll ask before saying hello will be, "Where's my dog?!?!!!"
"You'll get her on Tuesday bro." That's when I'll start my journey West as Thisby becomes someone else's dog.
I'm gonna miss tripping over her toys in the morning.
My mom just finished all the capes now too. I had to dry my tears for a bit so we ran up and down the hallway to test the flowing motion of the capes. They work! The up collars filled with foam are a great touch too.
My dad was wondering what kind of ruckus was going on, he hollered from his room in a sing song voice, "Ceila....Ceila Ceila!" He sings that song at 6 o'clock in the morning sometimes too. I don't really know why.
"Try this on Rose." Mom just made me a skirt. "I had a little extra fabric left over so I made this for you too."
Thisby is already asleep in the living room on her repaired bed. Mom is on a roll making a skirt for my sister in California that I'm going to deliver. I guess I'm free to go.
I brought her to the groomers where she got a mani/pedi and a pretty haircut. The vet gave a her a clean bill of health, a prescription for her super dog food and a preventative medicine that will keep the fleas away AND it will remain potent even if she decides to jump in the ocean water. YAY! She can catch waves in the Gulf while I'm catching waves in the Pacific! My toes and her paws will be joined in the water no matter where we are!
As my mom and I paid for the bill, I realized she needed a new dog tag with her new address on it. Thisby and I walked up to the machine and I began to type her name, the new city and state on a shiney blue tag shaped like a bone. I put both my mom and my brother's cel phone numbers on it in the unlikely event she's found by strangers (God forbid!). I asked Mom, "Should I put her email address on here too?"
"No," she said seeming bothered. I guess this wasn't the right time to ask Mom if she's seen Thisby's myspace page. I was done, so I clicked print.
As the machine engraved the new tag, my little girl just stared at me with her big brown eyes. I thought she looked so cute with her new du and the pink bandana, yet she remained stoic and she didn't even budge as she stared at me from the floor.
I think I now know why she's been sitting on my feet while I've been reading at my desk. In the mornings, she's been walking close to me even without her leash on and her fur keeps tickling my shins. While we were waiting for the vet, she slowly crawled into my lap and burried her face in my armpit. She's even been sleeping in my dirty laundry rather than her own bed the last few nights too. When I wake up, I'd been tripping over her toys that she's been leaving at my bedroom door.
Thisbers and I paced the aisles of Petsmart with long faces as the name tag finished engraving. I wish I didn't have to buy that tag. My mom patiently waited for us at the door with the blue tag in her hand. I looked at it and seemed a little empty without my name on it. We all got into my Civic and drove home.
When we arrived at the condo, mom cleared out the kitchen table to make room for her sewing machine. I thought she was going to work on Joey's fourteen black capes for him and his friends. On Saturday, Joey will have a Star Wars birthday party and Darth Vader is going to make a guest appearance. I remembered that I was going to set up a corner with my computer and speakers. I needed to download the Yoda widget and test it out first as well as get a few of the theme songs off iTunes.
Yoda is going to wish Joey a happy birthday. And when Darth Vader arrives, the Imperial March song is going to make this beach house shake. I'm searching for the sound bite to play when the kids are practicing their light saber technique. Not sure yet how I'm going to operate my computer, make Yoda speak and take action shots with my camera while I'm throwing asteroids at everybody.
As I was doing that, my mom says, "Look Rose, I repaired Thisby's bed!" She certainly did. Earlier, the washing machine tore a few weak seams in the cushions of Chicklette's bed. My mom repaired that first before working on Darth Vader's and the thirteen young Jedi capes.
I know when I see my brother tomorrow the first thing he'll ask before saying hello will be, "Where's my dog?!?!!!"
"You'll get her on Tuesday bro." That's when I'll start my journey West as Thisby becomes someone else's dog.
I'm gonna miss tripping over her toys in the morning.
My mom just finished all the capes now too. I had to dry my tears for a bit so we ran up and down the hallway to test the flowing motion of the capes. They work! The up collars filled with foam are a great touch too.
My dad was wondering what kind of ruckus was going on, he hollered from his room in a sing song voice, "Ceila....Ceila Ceila!" He sings that song at 6 o'clock in the morning sometimes too. I don't really know why.
"Try this on Rose." Mom just made me a skirt. "I had a little extra fabric left over so I made this for you too."
Thisby is already asleep in the living room on her repaired bed. Mom is on a roll making a skirt for my sister in California that I'm going to deliver. I guess I'm free to go.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
(Ronald Gross) 5 Ways to Enhance your Learning
Your Learning and Your Brain
From Ronald Gross
Five Ways to Enhance Your Learning
As adult learners and teachers, we can ride the crest of the current revolution in brain research. We can learn easier, faster, better, and more enjoyably!
The new scientific understanding of our most vital organ can help us improve everything about our learning -- from choosing our best times and places to learn, to setting grander goals for how much we can grow.
Based on the work of the world’s leading brain researchers over the past twenty years, here are the top five ways to enhance your learning:
1. Your brain is unique.
Structural brain “mapping” as well as functional MRIs, reveal that our brains differ markedly, both physically and in the way they work. If our faces were as different on the outside, as our brains are inside, some of us would have noses as long as an elephant’s trunk. As a result, some of us are visual learners, others learn auditorially, still others must sense the learning in our bodies.
Understanding this, we can approach any subject in our preferred style. And teachers should strive to make everyone in the class comfortable by teaching around the brain incorporating appeals to each of the different styles in the course of every class session.
Tip: Sharpen your awareness of your brain- preferences by taking some of the enjoyable exercises at Learning Style and Self-Assessment Tests
2. Your brain thrives on challenge and flow.
If we’re learning at too slow and too low a level, we feel we’re in the “drone zone.” Unchallenged, our brains turn off. But a stimulating environment not only turns your brain on, it can make it grow -- as Professor Marion Diamond has demonstrated with by nurturing Smart Rats.
On the other hand, if we’re grappling with learning that is too much of a stretch, we feel frustrated -- I call that the “groan zone.”
So we need to find that optimal state of bracing challenge, in which our brains are stretched but we can do it, if we give it all we’ve got. The result is “flow” -- that wonderful state where time seems to pass swiftly, and we are exhilarated by the sense of accomplishment.
Tip: Find the right level of challenge in what you are currently learning -- in terms of pace, level, and precision -- and shift gears to get into the “flow” zone.
3. Your brain is a physical organ.
Therefore, it is crucially affected by your physical condition and surroundings.
To enhance your learning, take control of conditions such as Lighting, Temperature, Posture and Seating, Tiredness, Air Quality, Time of day (Are you an Owl or a Lark?), and what you’re eating and drinking.
“Double the wattage of every bulb in your house!” was B. F. Skinner’s advice to older learners who complained of their difficulties in reading.
Tip: Ask yourself: what would make my study more comfortable or exciting? Then, take some simple steps to adjust your learning environment accordingly.
4. Your brain deals in emotions as well as thoughts.
Each of us still carries, deep in the back of our heads, our “limbic system” and “reptilean brain” -- legacies of our evolutionary past. These centers of emotion, fear, anxiety, and passion, can strengthen -- or undermine -- our learning. This is the great contribution to our field by the exponents of Emotional Intelligence, like Daniel Goleman in his book with that title.
So activate your feelings to fuel and bolster your learning. Use visualization, free association, and personalization in your learning. For example, list ALL of the reasons you want or need to learn something -- not just the first few which come to mind. Imagine the benefits and powers which will reward your success. Visualize yourself as a master of the subject, and begin to enjoy the gratification. This can turn resistance into attraction.
Tip: Ask yourself what feelings are sapping your motivation to learn, write them down, and consider objectively how you might cope with them better.
5. You have multiple intelligences.
Forget about IQ – it’s bogus. If you’re like most people, you have four to six other kinds of intelligence at which you are especially gifted -- athletic, musical, poetic, practical. Harold Gardner of Harvard has pioneered in this aspect of brain research.
Identify your own special mental strengths and choose your subjects of study with them in mind. When compelled to study a subject which does not seem to relate to your strengths, be creative about how it might relate.
For example, let’s say you’re struggling with Calculus but you are gifted in Music. I just googled that unlikely combination and discovered the following site, among 40 others that explore that odd nexus: Calculus Songs
Tip: Decide to enliven your study by approaching it from the direction of one of your favorite intelligences.
Even if this doesn’t directly help you prepare for tests, it will give you a boost in morale and motivation.
My own favorite way of enlisting my brain in my learning is with this invocation:
Old friend, companion, comrade,
partner, muse and guide:
please join me on my journey –
shine brightly from inside!
From Ronald Gross
Five Ways to Enhance Your Learning
As adult learners and teachers, we can ride the crest of the current revolution in brain research. We can learn easier, faster, better, and more enjoyably!
The new scientific understanding of our most vital organ can help us improve everything about our learning -- from choosing our best times and places to learn, to setting grander goals for how much we can grow.
Based on the work of the world’s leading brain researchers over the past twenty years, here are the top five ways to enhance your learning:
1. Your brain is unique.
Structural brain “mapping” as well as functional MRIs, reveal that our brains differ markedly, both physically and in the way they work. If our faces were as different on the outside, as our brains are inside, some of us would have noses as long as an elephant’s trunk. As a result, some of us are visual learners, others learn auditorially, still others must sense the learning in our bodies.
Understanding this, we can approach any subject in our preferred style. And teachers should strive to make everyone in the class comfortable by teaching around the brain incorporating appeals to each of the different styles in the course of every class session.
Tip: Sharpen your awareness of your brain- preferences by taking some of the enjoyable exercises at Learning Style and Self-Assessment Tests
2. Your brain thrives on challenge and flow.
If we’re learning at too slow and too low a level, we feel we’re in the “drone zone.” Unchallenged, our brains turn off. But a stimulating environment not only turns your brain on, it can make it grow -- as Professor Marion Diamond has demonstrated with by nurturing Smart Rats.
On the other hand, if we’re grappling with learning that is too much of a stretch, we feel frustrated -- I call that the “groan zone.”
So we need to find that optimal state of bracing challenge, in which our brains are stretched but we can do it, if we give it all we’ve got. The result is “flow” -- that wonderful state where time seems to pass swiftly, and we are exhilarated by the sense of accomplishment.
Tip: Find the right level of challenge in what you are currently learning -- in terms of pace, level, and precision -- and shift gears to get into the “flow” zone.
3. Your brain is a physical organ.
Therefore, it is crucially affected by your physical condition and surroundings.
To enhance your learning, take control of conditions such as Lighting, Temperature, Posture and Seating, Tiredness, Air Quality, Time of day (Are you an Owl or a Lark?), and what you’re eating and drinking.
“Double the wattage of every bulb in your house!” was B. F. Skinner’s advice to older learners who complained of their difficulties in reading.
Tip: Ask yourself: what would make my study more comfortable or exciting? Then, take some simple steps to adjust your learning environment accordingly.
4. Your brain deals in emotions as well as thoughts.
Each of us still carries, deep in the back of our heads, our “limbic system” and “reptilean brain” -- legacies of our evolutionary past. These centers of emotion, fear, anxiety, and passion, can strengthen -- or undermine -- our learning. This is the great contribution to our field by the exponents of Emotional Intelligence, like Daniel Goleman in his book with that title.
So activate your feelings to fuel and bolster your learning. Use visualization, free association, and personalization in your learning. For example, list ALL of the reasons you want or need to learn something -- not just the first few which come to mind. Imagine the benefits and powers which will reward your success. Visualize yourself as a master of the subject, and begin to enjoy the gratification. This can turn resistance into attraction.
Tip: Ask yourself what feelings are sapping your motivation to learn, write them down, and consider objectively how you might cope with them better.
5. You have multiple intelligences.
Forget about IQ – it’s bogus. If you’re like most people, you have four to six other kinds of intelligence at which you are especially gifted -- athletic, musical, poetic, practical. Harold Gardner of Harvard has pioneered in this aspect of brain research.
Identify your own special mental strengths and choose your subjects of study with them in mind. When compelled to study a subject which does not seem to relate to your strengths, be creative about how it might relate.
For example, let’s say you’re struggling with Calculus but you are gifted in Music. I just googled that unlikely combination and discovered the following site, among 40 others that explore that odd nexus: Calculus Songs
Tip: Decide to enliven your study by approaching it from the direction of one of your favorite intelligences.
Even if this doesn’t directly help you prepare for tests, it will give you a boost in morale and motivation.
My own favorite way of enlisting my brain in my learning is with this invocation:
Old friend, companion, comrade,
partner, muse and guide:
please join me on my journey –
shine brightly from inside!
(Ronald Gross) Use your Whole Brain
Teaching and Learning Tips
From Ronald Gross
Use your Whole Brain
Previous page > Brain Preferences
The knack of effective learning is to know which of the brain quadrants you strongly favor - and to arrange the educational process so that you get to make maximum use those strengths.
Here are some specific ways in which this can be done - whether you are a learner or a teacher.
1. Approach your subject by using one of your favorite "styles."
For example, if you are studying statistics and find the material immensely off-putting because of the emphasis on abstractions and numbers, find alternative approaches that will "warm up" the subject. Read a vivid history of the leading figures who actually invented statistical methods, to see how passionate they were about the subject, and why.
They were trying to figure out why people died in the plague, how to beat the stock market, and how to maximize the wealth of a nation. Once the numbers take on flesh and blood, you will find mastery much more appealing.
2. Learn and teach "around the brain."
As a teacher, vary the ways you present material, so that in every class period, you appeal to at least three, hopefully all, of the quadrants. For example, in a literature class, complement your discussion of the language and imaginative elements of the work you are discussing, with more literal facts about the author's life and times.
3. Take a "Learning Walk-Around."
Say you're studying Psychology. Visit each quadrant of the brain and use its distinctive powers on the material. In the upper left, consider facts, theory, and data. In the lower left, focus on order, sequence, and procedures. In the upper right, let your fantasy and imaginative full rein, inspired by Einstein's dictum that "Imagination is more important than knowledge." In the lower right, express, share, and emphasize with how others could be impacted.
4. As a learner or teacher, use a wide repertoire of ways of understanding concepts, including the abstract, the procedural, the imaginative, and the emotional.
For example, Elizabeth Cohn, who trains nurses at Adelphi University, reaches her students through each of their ways of learning. In teaching them how the heart works, as a basis for reading EKG output, she provides printed materials and lectures on the principles. But she also engages them in a "Hokey Pokey" during which they do gymnastics to enact the flow of blood through the heart. And she provides them with a "Flip and See EKG" where they can physically manipulate read-outs instead of merely trying to memorize them.
There's a larger benefit to doing all this - beyond learning easier and better. You will be strengthening the comprehensive powers of your brain, in ALL the quadrants.
This is important for two reasons:
* Most important challenges we face in life REQUIRE the use of capabilities from all four ways of thinking.
In handling our financial affairs, for example, we cannot focus on just one approach such as a bookkeeping mind-set (lower-left), or on imaginative ways to create more wealth (upper-right), or on our feelings about getting and spending (lower right). We need to use ALL of these parts of our brain to best design our financial lives in terms of savings, projections, creativity, or resourcefulness.
* Our mental health depends on using our whole brain.
Over-emphasis on only one or two kinds of thinking makes for an unbalanced personality. We are all acquainted with such people: the Nerds who are trapped in their upper left quadrant, the Dreamers who are ensnarled in grandiose fantasies, the Co-Dependents whose feelings get them into trouble, the By-the-Bookers who just follow the rules. Each of these people has under-developed potential which could enrich their lives.
To address the challenges of our lives, and to develop our full potential, we need to use our whole brains.
From Ronald Gross
Use your Whole Brain
Previous page > Brain Preferences
The knack of effective learning is to know which of the brain quadrants you strongly favor - and to arrange the educational process so that you get to make maximum use those strengths.
Here are some specific ways in which this can be done - whether you are a learner or a teacher.
1. Approach your subject by using one of your favorite "styles."
For example, if you are studying statistics and find the material immensely off-putting because of the emphasis on abstractions and numbers, find alternative approaches that will "warm up" the subject. Read a vivid history of the leading figures who actually invented statistical methods, to see how passionate they were about the subject, and why.
They were trying to figure out why people died in the plague, how to beat the stock market, and how to maximize the wealth of a nation. Once the numbers take on flesh and blood, you will find mastery much more appealing.
2. Learn and teach "around the brain."
As a teacher, vary the ways you present material, so that in every class period, you appeal to at least three, hopefully all, of the quadrants. For example, in a literature class, complement your discussion of the language and imaginative elements of the work you are discussing, with more literal facts about the author's life and times.
3. Take a "Learning Walk-Around."
Say you're studying Psychology. Visit each quadrant of the brain and use its distinctive powers on the material. In the upper left, consider facts, theory, and data. In the lower left, focus on order, sequence, and procedures. In the upper right, let your fantasy and imaginative full rein, inspired by Einstein's dictum that "Imagination is more important than knowledge." In the lower right, express, share, and emphasize with how others could be impacted.
4. As a learner or teacher, use a wide repertoire of ways of understanding concepts, including the abstract, the procedural, the imaginative, and the emotional.
For example, Elizabeth Cohn, who trains nurses at Adelphi University, reaches her students through each of their ways of learning. In teaching them how the heart works, as a basis for reading EKG output, she provides printed materials and lectures on the principles. But she also engages them in a "Hokey Pokey" during which they do gymnastics to enact the flow of blood through the heart. And she provides them with a "Flip and See EKG" where they can physically manipulate read-outs instead of merely trying to memorize them.
There's a larger benefit to doing all this - beyond learning easier and better. You will be strengthening the comprehensive powers of your brain, in ALL the quadrants.
This is important for two reasons:
* Most important challenges we face in life REQUIRE the use of capabilities from all four ways of thinking.
In handling our financial affairs, for example, we cannot focus on just one approach such as a bookkeeping mind-set (lower-left), or on imaginative ways to create more wealth (upper-right), or on our feelings about getting and spending (lower right). We need to use ALL of these parts of our brain to best design our financial lives in terms of savings, projections, creativity, or resourcefulness.
* Our mental health depends on using our whole brain.
Over-emphasis on only one or two kinds of thinking makes for an unbalanced personality. We are all acquainted with such people: the Nerds who are trapped in their upper left quadrant, the Dreamers who are ensnarled in grandiose fantasies, the Co-Dependents whose feelings get them into trouble, the By-the-Bookers who just follow the rules. Each of these people has under-developed potential which could enrich their lives.
To address the challenges of our lives, and to develop our full potential, we need to use our whole brains.
Fast Company: Have you seen the 5 faces of Genius?
Fast Company
Have You Seen the Five Faces of Genius?
Understanding how you think is just as important as what you think about, says Annette Moser-Wellman, founder of the FireMark consultancy. She teaches managers how to identify their creative style.
From: Issue 39 | September 2000 | Page 54 | By: Cheryl Dahle
Sometimes the freshest ideas are hiding in plain sight. On a sultry afternoon at a resort in Greensboro, Georgia, a dozen or so Coca-Cola brand managers are hovering over bins of ice and beverages, magnifying glasses in hand, à la Sherlock Holmes. They've been instructed to scrutinize the drinks that their company sells and to look for details that they've never noticed before.
One manager mixes glasses of instant Powerade, testing how the taste changes with more or less of the blue powder. Another grabs a Fruitopia bottle and peers at the text messages hidden in the psychedelic graphics on the label. When it's time to share, Scott Stuckmann, 34, senior brand manager for Coca-Cola Classic, has an observation about his bottle of Barq's root beer: "Our target market for this drink is teenagers, but the packaging is designed to emphasize the history of the beverage," he says. "Why would a teenager care about that?"
That's exactly the kind of simple-yet-noteworthy insight that the exercise -- part of a two-day seminar called "The Five Faces of Genius" -- is designed to produce. Annette Moser-Wellman, the leader of the seminar and founder of FireMark Inc., an innovation consulting firm based in Bainbridge Island, Washington, has spent a good portion of her career studying these types of "aha" moments. If you want to come up with great ideas consistently, she says, analyze your own creative style and learn how to enhance it.
"We're in the midst of a business renaissance, in which innovation and new ideas are critical. Yet how many managers do you know who spend any time thinking about how they think?" asks Moser-Wellman, 41, whose ideas have helped companies such as Andersen Consulting, Kraft Foods, and Starbucks to become more inventive.
If any company is ripe for some hard thinking these days, Coke is it. After going through the most significant layoffs in its 114-year history, an extended slump in market growth, and a gut-wrenching restructuring, the company is looking for ways to shake up its hidebound corporate culture, and Moser-Wellman's program is part of that effort. More than 200 managers at Coke have been through FireMark's training so far, and another 300 are scheduled to go. "We're coming out of the Dark Ages at Coke," says Jeff Dunn, 43, deputy group president for Coca-Cola North America. "For us, this is not just another training program. Innovation is what is going to help us turn around our business and our culture."
Part of the reason Coke was attracted to the curriculum, says Dunn, is that it's not based on brainstorming around a specific business problem. Instead, it teaches people about the nature of creativity and how to cultivate it. Moser-Wellman, who has degrees in art, theology, and business, developed her ideas by studying how history's great artists, scientists, and designers came up with their ideas, and by defining their creative MOs. As part of the seminar, participants analyze their own individual creative styles and then do a series of activities designed to help them learn and borrow from other approaches.
Maria Ellis, 30, a brand manager for Powerade, found one of those activities to be particularly helpful. She wrote the name of her business unit in the middle of a chart and then surrounded it with facts about that unit -- things that seemed important, but not necessarily interrelated. Then she tried to think like an "Observer" -- one of Moser-Wellman's five creative types, someone who finds inspiration in the details -- to see if there was a way to link some of that information together. She came up with an idea that she thinks will entice more moms to buy Powerade for their families -- a potential growth market for the drink.
Moser-Wellman says that the workshop taps into people's natural craving to create and experience art, something they don't often get to do at work. "There is an artist within each person, and everybody has the capacity to find creative genius in themselves."
But even hundreds of creative geniuses can't help companies that don't know how to implement daring ideas, cautions Alan Robinson, coauthor of Corporate Creativity: How Innovation and Improvement Actually Happen (Berret-Koehler, 1998) and a professor at the University of Massachusetts. "The danger with any kind of creativity training is that you get people all fired up, and the company doesn't have the structure or procedures in place to implement these ideas."
Coke appears to be committed to making innovation training the real thing. "We're restructuring; we're changing the way we work," Dunn says. "We're doing everything we can to become a place that encourages people and rewards them for great ideas."
Contact Annette Moser-Wellman by email (firemark@fivefacesofgenius.com).
Sidebar: Inspired Instincts
You can learn from the masters. Annette Moser-Wellman explores the creative process in The Five Faces of Genius (Viking Penguin Press, February 2001). Here's a preview.
The Seer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on his visionary moments: "My subject enlarges itself, becomes methodized and defined, and the whole, though it be long, stands almost complete and finished in my mind, so that I can survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, at a glance."
The Alchemist: Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's genius was in marrying design with the natural landscape. His masterpiece, Fallingwater, seems to spring from a rocky ledge.
The Observer: When he took his young daughter to an amusement park, Walt Disney noticed the bored adults, the run-down rides, the unfriendly operators. What if there was a place where kids and adults could play together?
The Fool: When scientist Roy Plunkett was working on a new configuration of a refrigerant, he accidentally left a container of the stuff out overnight. By the next morning, the material had polymerized into a hard, resistant material: Teflon was born.
The Sage: Pioneering photographer Alfred Stieglitz was inspired by the painter Vermeer's use of lighting and mood, and then used the techniques to create work that was entirely new.
Copyright © 2006 Mansueto Ventures LLC. All rights reserved.
Fast Company, 375 Lexington Avenue.,New York , NY 10017
Have You Seen the Five Faces of Genius?
Understanding how you think is just as important as what you think about, says Annette Moser-Wellman, founder of the FireMark consultancy. She teaches managers how to identify their creative style.
From: Issue 39 | September 2000 | Page 54 | By: Cheryl Dahle
Sometimes the freshest ideas are hiding in plain sight. On a sultry afternoon at a resort in Greensboro, Georgia, a dozen or so Coca-Cola brand managers are hovering over bins of ice and beverages, magnifying glasses in hand, à la Sherlock Holmes. They've been instructed to scrutinize the drinks that their company sells and to look for details that they've never noticed before.
One manager mixes glasses of instant Powerade, testing how the taste changes with more or less of the blue powder. Another grabs a Fruitopia bottle and peers at the text messages hidden in the psychedelic graphics on the label. When it's time to share, Scott Stuckmann, 34, senior brand manager for Coca-Cola Classic, has an observation about his bottle of Barq's root beer: "Our target market for this drink is teenagers, but the packaging is designed to emphasize the history of the beverage," he says. "Why would a teenager care about that?"
That's exactly the kind of simple-yet-noteworthy insight that the exercise -- part of a two-day seminar called "The Five Faces of Genius" -- is designed to produce. Annette Moser-Wellman, the leader of the seminar and founder of FireMark Inc., an innovation consulting firm based in Bainbridge Island, Washington, has spent a good portion of her career studying these types of "aha" moments. If you want to come up with great ideas consistently, she says, analyze your own creative style and learn how to enhance it.
"We're in the midst of a business renaissance, in which innovation and new ideas are critical. Yet how many managers do you know who spend any time thinking about how they think?" asks Moser-Wellman, 41, whose ideas have helped companies such as Andersen Consulting, Kraft Foods, and Starbucks to become more inventive.
If any company is ripe for some hard thinking these days, Coke is it. After going through the most significant layoffs in its 114-year history, an extended slump in market growth, and a gut-wrenching restructuring, the company is looking for ways to shake up its hidebound corporate culture, and Moser-Wellman's program is part of that effort. More than 200 managers at Coke have been through FireMark's training so far, and another 300 are scheduled to go. "We're coming out of the Dark Ages at Coke," says Jeff Dunn, 43, deputy group president for Coca-Cola North America. "For us, this is not just another training program. Innovation is what is going to help us turn around our business and our culture."
Part of the reason Coke was attracted to the curriculum, says Dunn, is that it's not based on brainstorming around a specific business problem. Instead, it teaches people about the nature of creativity and how to cultivate it. Moser-Wellman, who has degrees in art, theology, and business, developed her ideas by studying how history's great artists, scientists, and designers came up with their ideas, and by defining their creative MOs. As part of the seminar, participants analyze their own individual creative styles and then do a series of activities designed to help them learn and borrow from other approaches.
Maria Ellis, 30, a brand manager for Powerade, found one of those activities to be particularly helpful. She wrote the name of her business unit in the middle of a chart and then surrounded it with facts about that unit -- things that seemed important, but not necessarily interrelated. Then she tried to think like an "Observer" -- one of Moser-Wellman's five creative types, someone who finds inspiration in the details -- to see if there was a way to link some of that information together. She came up with an idea that she thinks will entice more moms to buy Powerade for their families -- a potential growth market for the drink.
Moser-Wellman says that the workshop taps into people's natural craving to create and experience art, something they don't often get to do at work. "There is an artist within each person, and everybody has the capacity to find creative genius in themselves."
But even hundreds of creative geniuses can't help companies that don't know how to implement daring ideas, cautions Alan Robinson, coauthor of Corporate Creativity: How Innovation and Improvement Actually Happen (Berret-Koehler, 1998) and a professor at the University of Massachusetts. "The danger with any kind of creativity training is that you get people all fired up, and the company doesn't have the structure or procedures in place to implement these ideas."
Coke appears to be committed to making innovation training the real thing. "We're restructuring; we're changing the way we work," Dunn says. "We're doing everything we can to become a place that encourages people and rewards them for great ideas."
Contact Annette Moser-Wellman by email (firemark@fivefacesofgenius.com).
Sidebar: Inspired Instincts
You can learn from the masters. Annette Moser-Wellman explores the creative process in The Five Faces of Genius (Viking Penguin Press, February 2001). Here's a preview.
The Seer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on his visionary moments: "My subject enlarges itself, becomes methodized and defined, and the whole, though it be long, stands almost complete and finished in my mind, so that I can survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, at a glance."
The Alchemist: Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's genius was in marrying design with the natural landscape. His masterpiece, Fallingwater, seems to spring from a rocky ledge.
The Observer: When he took his young daughter to an amusement park, Walt Disney noticed the bored adults, the run-down rides, the unfriendly operators. What if there was a place where kids and adults could play together?
The Fool: When scientist Roy Plunkett was working on a new configuration of a refrigerant, he accidentally left a container of the stuff out overnight. By the next morning, the material had polymerized into a hard, resistant material: Teflon was born.
The Sage: Pioneering photographer Alfred Stieglitz was inspired by the painter Vermeer's use of lighting and mood, and then used the techniques to create work that was entirely new.
Copyright © 2006 Mansueto Ventures LLC. All rights reserved.
Fast Company, 375 Lexington Avenue.,New York , NY 10017
Tips (more brain stuff)
Tips for Teachers
As a teacher, you should be aware that your students have a range of learning styles. Appeal to this diversity by using a variety of presentation, activity and assignment formats. Some possibilities include:
* enhance lectures and presentations with visual aids
* have students research and present material, in small groups or in plenary
* introduce content through discussion or problem-solving activities
* invite students to explore issues through roleplay
* assign practical hands-on activities, where possible
* take students on field trips to experience things first-hand.
Use your imagination! Lively and varied classes engage students and foster learning.
Tips for Learners
As a learner, an understanding of your learning style can help in the classroom and at home.
In the classroom:
If you have difficulty following a teacher's presentation of new material, ask if it can be presented in a way that appeals to your style. For example, if you are a visual learner, you may find it difficult to absorb content if the teacher just speaks. Approach your teacher and ask him/her to write key points on the board while they are talking.
At home:
When working independently to study for tests or complete assignments, you will find that you use your time more effectively if you use the strategies recommended for your style. For example, if you are an auditory learner, try recording summaries of notes you have taken from readings. To study, just sit back and listen...
Good luck!
Learning Styles Questionnaire
Barbara A. Soloman and Richard M. Felder of North Carolina State University present an online learning style inventory to help learners determine whether they are
active/reflective,
sensing/intuitive,
visual/verbal and
sequential/global
Related site (forward and backward links, used PNG's as my desktop):
http://adulted.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=adulted&cdn=education&tm=7&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.journale.com/really/brain.html
A questionaire:
http://adulted.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=adulted&cdn=education&tm=13&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
(I think this may be fluff, haven't used it yet):
http://www.maui.net/~jms/brainuse.html
As a teacher, you should be aware that your students have a range of learning styles. Appeal to this diversity by using a variety of presentation, activity and assignment formats. Some possibilities include:
* enhance lectures and presentations with visual aids
* have students research and present material, in small groups or in plenary
* introduce content through discussion or problem-solving activities
* invite students to explore issues through roleplay
* assign practical hands-on activities, where possible
* take students on field trips to experience things first-hand.
Use your imagination! Lively and varied classes engage students and foster learning.
Tips for Learners
As a learner, an understanding of your learning style can help in the classroom and at home.
In the classroom:
If you have difficulty following a teacher's presentation of new material, ask if it can be presented in a way that appeals to your style. For example, if you are a visual learner, you may find it difficult to absorb content if the teacher just speaks. Approach your teacher and ask him/her to write key points on the board while they are talking.
At home:
When working independently to study for tests or complete assignments, you will find that you use your time more effectively if you use the strategies recommended for your style. For example, if you are an auditory learner, try recording summaries of notes you have taken from readings. To study, just sit back and listen...
Good luck!
Learning Styles Questionnaire
Barbara A. Soloman and Richard M. Felder of North Carolina State University present an online learning style inventory to help learners determine whether they are
active/reflective,
sensing/intuitive,
visual/verbal and
sequential/global
Related site (forward and backward links, used PNG's as my desktop):
http://adulted.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=adulted&cdn=education&tm=7&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.journale.com/really/brain.html
A questionaire:
http://adulted.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=adulted&cdn=education&tm=13&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
(I think this may be fluff, haven't used it yet):
http://www.maui.net/~jms/brainuse.html
Learning Styles (Ronald Gross): The Four Quadrants of the Brain
Learning Styles
From Ronald Gross
The Four Quadrants of the Brain
* As an adult learner, have you noticed that you find some subjects easy and enjoyable to learn? But that learning other subjects entails industrial-strength pain?
* As a teacher of adults, have you noticed that some students in your classes are avid, effective learners - while others can't seem to get with the program?
* Whether you're a learner or a teacher, have you noticed that in everyday life, you relate to some people smoothly, while with others the process of interaction seems gnarly? Or that some tasks at work, or in your personal life, give you pleasure and satisfaction, while others are boring, irritating, and difficult?
All of these commonplace experiences derive from the same cause: the fact that we each have a preferred learning style, and that we learn most readily when we can use that style.
What does this mean for adult learning and teaching? How can we overcome the problems caused by these brain-style differences? Indeed, can we turn them into advantages and opportunities?
I have explored this topic in previous columns, including Why Won't They Learn?and Your Learning and Your Brain. Here, I'd like to suggest some practical ways that learning and teaching can be enhanced by acting on the fact that we differ in the ways we learn best.
I'll use my favorite model for such differences, developed by the late Ned Herrmann and currently carried forward with great integrity and verve by his top colleagues (www.hbdi.com).
Briefly, Herrmann suggests that we think of our brains as divided into four quadrants, each of them with distinctive strengths:
Left Front: Logical, Analytical, Theoretical, Quantitative
Left Rear: Sequential, Organized, Evaluative, Prepared
Right Front: Synthesist, Exploratory, Conceptual, Experimental
Right Rear: Kinesthetic, Emotional, Feeling, Sensing
This scheme is not a literal map of the anatomy of your brain. But it does reflect the ways in which different physical locations inside your skull specialize in different ways of processing information.
For example, in most people the areas that handle speech and verbal logic do indeed lie behind the left ear. Hippocrates noticed this: when soldiers were brought to him who had been struck in the left side of the head, they often lost the power of speech, but the same wound on the right side did not produce this result.
Next page >
From Ronald Gross
The Four Quadrants of the Brain
* As an adult learner, have you noticed that you find some subjects easy and enjoyable to learn? But that learning other subjects entails industrial-strength pain?
* As a teacher of adults, have you noticed that some students in your classes are avid, effective learners - while others can't seem to get with the program?
* Whether you're a learner or a teacher, have you noticed that in everyday life, you relate to some people smoothly, while with others the process of interaction seems gnarly? Or that some tasks at work, or in your personal life, give you pleasure and satisfaction, while others are boring, irritating, and difficult?
All of these commonplace experiences derive from the same cause: the fact that we each have a preferred learning style, and that we learn most readily when we can use that style.
What does this mean for adult learning and teaching? How can we overcome the problems caused by these brain-style differences? Indeed, can we turn them into advantages and opportunities?
I have explored this topic in previous columns, including Why Won't They Learn?and Your Learning and Your Brain. Here, I'd like to suggest some practical ways that learning and teaching can be enhanced by acting on the fact that we differ in the ways we learn best.
I'll use my favorite model for such differences, developed by the late Ned Herrmann and currently carried forward with great integrity and verve by his top colleagues (www.hbdi.com).
Briefly, Herrmann suggests that we think of our brains as divided into four quadrants, each of them with distinctive strengths:
Left Front: Logical, Analytical, Theoretical, Quantitative
Left Rear: Sequential, Organized, Evaluative, Prepared
Right Front: Synthesist, Exploratory, Conceptual, Experimental
Right Rear: Kinesthetic, Emotional, Feeling, Sensing
This scheme is not a literal map of the anatomy of your brain. But it does reflect the ways in which different physical locations inside your skull specialize in different ways of processing information.
For example, in most people the areas that handle speech and verbal logic do indeed lie behind the left ear. Hippocrates noticed this: when soldiers were brought to him who had been struck in the left side of the head, they often lost the power of speech, but the same wound on the right side did not produce this result.
Next page >
Brain Gym® Exercises
Brain Gym® Exercises
These simple exercises are based on the copyrighted work of Paul E. Dennison, Ph.D., and Gail E. Dennison. Brain Gym is a registered trademark of Brain Gym® International. I first encountered Brain Gym in "Smart Moves," a best selling book written by Carla Hannaford, Ph.D. Dr. Hannaford states that our bodies are very much a part of all our learning, and learning is not an isolated "brain" function. Every nerve and cell is a network contributing to our intelligence and our learning capability. Many educators have found this work quite helpful in improving overall concentration in class. Introduced here, you will find four basic "Brain Gym" exercises which implement the ideas developed in "Smart Moves" and can be used quickly in any classroom.
Below is a series of movements called PACE. They are surprisingly simple, but very effective! Everyone has a unique PACE and these activities will help both teacher and student become positive, active, clear and energetic for learning. For colorful, fun PACE and Brain Gym® supplies contact the Edu-Kinesthetics on-line bookstore at Braingym.com.
# Drink Water
As Carla Hannaford says, "Water comprises more of the brain (with estimates of 90%) than of any other organ of the body." Having students drink some water before and during class can help "grease the wheel". Drinking water is very important before any stressful situation - tests! - as we tend to perspire under stress, and de-hydration can effect our concentration negatively.
# "Brain Buttons"
This exercise helps improve blood flow to the brain to "switch on" the entire brain before a lesson begins. The increased blood flow helps improve concentration skills required for reading, writing, etc.
* Put one hand so that there is as wide a space as possible between the thumb and index finger.
* Place your index and thumb into the slight indentations below the collar bone on each side of the sternum. Press lightly in a pulsing manner.
* At the same time put the other hand over the navel area of the stomach. Gently press on these points for about 2 minutes.
* "Cross Crawl"
This exercise helps coordinate right and left brain by exercising the information flow between the two hemispheres. It is useful for spelling, writing, listening, reading and comprehension.
* Stand or sit. Put the right hand across the body to the left knee as you raise it, and then do the same thing for the left hand on the right knee just as if you were marching.
* Just do this either sitting or standing for about 2 minutes.
# "Hook Ups"
This works well for nerves before a test or special event such as making a speech. Any situation which will cause nervousness calls for a few "hook ups" to calm the mind and improve concentration.
* Stand or sit. Cross the right leg over the left at the ankles.
* Take your right wrist and cross it over the left wrist and link up the fingers so that the right wrist is on top.
* Bend the elbows out and gently turn the fingers in towards the body until they rest on the sternum (breast bone) in the center of the chest. Stay in this position.
* Keep the ankles crossed and the wrists crossed and then breathe evenly in this position for a few minutes. You will be noticeably calmer after that time.
These simple exercises are based on the copyrighted work of Paul E. Dennison, Ph.D., and Gail E. Dennison. Brain Gym is a registered trademark of Brain Gym® International. I first encountered Brain Gym in "Smart Moves," a best selling book written by Carla Hannaford, Ph.D. Dr. Hannaford states that our bodies are very much a part of all our learning, and learning is not an isolated "brain" function. Every nerve and cell is a network contributing to our intelligence and our learning capability. Many educators have found this work quite helpful in improving overall concentration in class. Introduced here, you will find four basic "Brain Gym" exercises which implement the ideas developed in "Smart Moves" and can be used quickly in any classroom.
Below is a series of movements called PACE. They are surprisingly simple, but very effective! Everyone has a unique PACE and these activities will help both teacher and student become positive, active, clear and energetic for learning. For colorful, fun PACE and Brain Gym® supplies contact the Edu-Kinesthetics on-line bookstore at Braingym.com.
# Drink Water
As Carla Hannaford says, "Water comprises more of the brain (with estimates of 90%) than of any other organ of the body." Having students drink some water before and during class can help "grease the wheel". Drinking water is very important before any stressful situation - tests! - as we tend to perspire under stress, and de-hydration can effect our concentration negatively.
# "Brain Buttons"
This exercise helps improve blood flow to the brain to "switch on" the entire brain before a lesson begins. The increased blood flow helps improve concentration skills required for reading, writing, etc.
* Put one hand so that there is as wide a space as possible between the thumb and index finger.
* Place your index and thumb into the slight indentations below the collar bone on each side of the sternum. Press lightly in a pulsing manner.
* At the same time put the other hand over the navel area of the stomach. Gently press on these points for about 2 minutes.
* "Cross Crawl"
This exercise helps coordinate right and left brain by exercising the information flow between the two hemispheres. It is useful for spelling, writing, listening, reading and comprehension.
* Stand or sit. Put the right hand across the body to the left knee as you raise it, and then do the same thing for the left hand on the right knee just as if you were marching.
* Just do this either sitting or standing for about 2 minutes.
# "Hook Ups"
This works well for nerves before a test or special event such as making a speech. Any situation which will cause nervousness calls for a few "hook ups" to calm the mind and improve concentration.
* Stand or sit. Cross the right leg over the left at the ankles.
* Take your right wrist and cross it over the left wrist and link up the fingers so that the right wrist is on top.
* Bend the elbows out and gently turn the fingers in towards the body until they rest on the sternum (breast bone) in the center of the chest. Stay in this position.
* Keep the ankles crossed and the wrists crossed and then breathe evenly in this position for a few minutes. You will be noticeably calmer after that time.
Learning
...is tough.
I did a survey tonight with a computer programmer. I asked him, "How can you read manual after manual without falling asleep?"
He said, "Wake up at 400 AM in the morning at read it then. No one will bug you. As the day moves on, you'll want to do something else."
I said, "I don't even go to bed until 300 AM."
He said, "Well, that's your first problem."
________________
I asked my mom why I'm falling asleeping during my readings. She said, "Its because its not very interesting for you." But I have to get this information into my head! I have to make it interesting for myself somehow.
________________
So I obsessed tonight while trying to understand what kind of learner I am and how the brain functions. I'm gonna solve the first problem by going to bed by midnight...its like I'm one of my niece or nephews again...I don't want to go bed!
The next few articles are ones I've found about the brain that I want to make accessible to myself if for some reason I need to reference them in the future from anywhere.
I did a survey tonight with a computer programmer. I asked him, "How can you read manual after manual without falling asleep?"
He said, "Wake up at 400 AM in the morning at read it then. No one will bug you. As the day moves on, you'll want to do something else."
I said, "I don't even go to bed until 300 AM."
He said, "Well, that's your first problem."
________________
I asked my mom why I'm falling asleeping during my readings. She said, "Its because its not very interesting for you." But I have to get this information into my head! I have to make it interesting for myself somehow.
________________
So I obsessed tonight while trying to understand what kind of learner I am and how the brain functions. I'm gonna solve the first problem by going to bed by midnight...its like I'm one of my niece or nephews again...I don't want to go bed!
The next few articles are ones I've found about the brain that I want to make accessible to myself if for some reason I need to reference them in the future from anywhere.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Ethos Percussion Group
If you're in NYC, go see Ethos Percussion Group play Monday night.
Monday March 12, 2007
Peter Norton Symphony Space
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th Street
7:30pm
www.symphonyspace.org
Works to Include:
World Premieres by Clarice Assad and Susie Ibarra
Ethos Commissions by Dafnis Prieto and Samir Chatterjee
Double Music by John Cage and Lou Harrison
Ethos Percussionists are Trey Files, Youssef Phinney, Eric Sheronick and David Shively
Ethos Bio:
"...played with expert togetherness, sensitivity and zest." ~ New York Times
"...extraordinarily skilled ethnic drumming... one of America's finest percussion quartets." ~ Percussive Notes
For more than fifteen years, Ethos Percussion Group has inspired audiences throughout the country with its exceptional music-making and collective devotion to the incredibly diverse world of percussion music. Ensemble members Trey Files, Eric Phinney, Yousif Sheronick and David Shively are accomplished classical and world music artists, each with a distinctive background and musical perspective. Their substantial combined expertise is the source of Ethos' innovative programming, which integrates global instruments and playing styles into the conventions of Western chamber music to create a visually and aurally compelling experience. The ensemble's critically-acclaimed performances regularly feature numerous commissions and world premieres, traditional rhythms from India, West Africa and the Middle East, and landmark works by composers such as John Cage, Lou Harrison and Steve Reich.
Recent seasons have included concerts across the United States and the United Kingdom, with major engagements at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater, the Bermuda Festival, London's Wigmore Hall and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Recent collaborations include the Kansas City Symphony, Grammy-winning frame drummer Glen Velez, Indian tabla master Pandit Samir Chatterjee and Ghanaian gyil virtuoso Bernard Woma. Ethos is the recipient of a continuing grant from the Jerome Foundation which has funded fifteen commissions for the ensemble. The premieres of these works have been a significant element of the group's ongoing concert series dedicated to percussion chamber music, which was established in New York City in 1999. In April 2000, National Public Radio's Morning Edition covered the world premiere of Michael Daugherty's Used Car Salesman, which was commissioned for Ethos by Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa.
Ethos' discography includes Sol Tunnels (2003), The Persistence of Past Chemistries (1999) and Ethos Percussion Group (1996).
Since its founding in 1989 by Michael Sgouros, Ethos has remained committed to advancing the percussive arts in education as well as performance. In addition to presenting clinics and master classes at institutions such as The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music and Berklee College of Music, Ethos has worked with thousands of students in New York City's public schools through concert and classroom activities. Ethos is an ensemble-in-residence at La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts, and in 2004 the group formed a satellite organization dedicated exclusively to arts education known as World Beat.
Individually, the members of Ethos have performed with Philip Glass, Branford Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma, New World Symphony, New Music Consort, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Sospeso, New York City Ballet, De La Guarda and Mabou Mines. They can be heard on a variety of recordings released by CRI, Opus One, Koch International and Decca. Ethos Percussion Group is a member ensemble of Chamber Music America and a sustaining member of the Percussive Arts Society. The ensemble gratefully endorses products from Cooperman Drums, Grover Pro Percussion, Innovative Mallets, Latin Percussion, Sabian Cymbals and Yamaha Percussion.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Coincidence strikes a nerve again
Peggy Su wrote his in her myspace blog -
What should I do??
For the past month or so I have been in a big limbo over NYC. I have this great opportunity to move to this city that I love so much, yet Iam still uncertain about going. It is a life changing experience, dropping everything here and starting over in a new city. Leaving my friends and family and relocating, I think I have a difficult time with that thought. But I keep telling myself that I will make new friends, like I did a few years ago and I already have some friends there. So you ask what the hell am I waiting for?? To tell you the truth Iam not sure. I guess Iam just scared. I mean I will already have a job working for Apple Computers. I just need a decent place to live that doesnt drain my funds...haha good luck to me on that one!!! Anyways, I should so this right?? ....
I responded with this -
Wait a second...I thought you wanted to live in Australia?!!?!!!
I would tell you NYC at this point in your life.
I moved there when I was 26. I think I knew two friends that I wasn't even that close with and I was jobless. I did go out there with a plan though, I wanted to be around artists and create work with an experimental theater company.
I think moved there with maybe $3000 in my bank account, I can't really remember that detail, but I knew I'd find a job somewhere. I was ready to live grimly, yet I was so ready for a new experience.
Something NYC can give you that I don't think LA can, is a drive that's constantly in your face. You can have a lot of down time in LA. As soon as you walk out your door in NYC, the hustle and bustle begins. I love the subway and the ability to walk everywhere, you meet so many people. When I'm in my car in LA, I miss those occassional bumps into the commuting strangers on the subway. But sometimes, not all the time, that stranger is pretty cool and you find yourself engaged in a really cool conversation with a new friend.
NYC is also a safe town, contrary to parental beliefs. In Manhattan, you'll always be able to find a yellow taxi cab on every corner. There's like no back alleys anymore, just more buildings!
As far as making friends, Peg, you're so easy to get along with! So many people all over the world already love you! I noticed you already have friends there....GO FOR IT!!! Stay there for at least a year. Let your passion drive you, not your fear. If you want it, if you REALLY want it, you should go.
Posted by *R*O*S*E* on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 11:52 AM
What I failed to realize is Peggy wrote ths on Monday, April 3, 2006
Wait a second...you've been contemplating this for almost a year now girl!!!
I'm slow.
Posted by *R*O*S*E* on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 11:57 AM
So first off, I'm not 26 anymore. And my drive to live in NYC is to create with my community of professional artists that do a damn good job in their craft and are succeeding well at this. Although I never wanted to admit this, I like the idea of having a steady job and steady money. Even if its just a little bit. The idea of running around the country in search for work not only sounds annoying to me, but tiring. I want to make a great living for myself in one place.
Moreover, when I was writing in response to Peggy, I told her to follow her passion, not her fear.
The idea of running to LA right now, like in 2 weeks, is because I have to start the driving back west to get my job back at Apple. It offers me steady money, a great health insurance plan, which I love having. But I can get a steady Apple job anywhere. Its just the full time status that gets removed, which has the health care benefits.
but why run so quickly? My parents are here in Florida.
One of the reasons why I don't want to "run" in two weeks is because I just witnessed my friend Dajana go through the death of her dad. He had cancer of the lungs. She's pregnant and he came for a visit from Germany in January, and they had a wonderful time together. In Febraury, he passed away. She flew back to Germany in a moments notice. Its so sad.
I'm going to be in similiar shoes one day. I don't know when that will happen. But learning to accept the fact parents die one day is not an easy concept to swallow.
My dad could in fact live for several more years. He's in good hands here. So is my mom. Both my brother and my sister live within two miles from here, plus my dog Thisby will be entertaining everybody.
The problem is, my heart is here.
John Cambell tell us to "follow your bliss." Well, I seem to be trying to figure that out. Why the f*ck am I having a hard time figuring this out? What is my bliss? I'm living such a wonderful lifestyle here, being in the plush environment of my parents and them just loving the idea of making me happy. Its so great.
But while I've been here, I've been acting like a kid, the grass is greener in NYC and LA. I'm sure I most have complained everyday. Maybe not out loud, but inside. Its taking me a while to accept any kind of lifestyle here.
But now that I've announced I'm leaving in two weeks, my mom finds an audition for me to go to, to be a cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Bucks. Its cute, but its not really for me.
And at the climbing gym yesterday, I inquired about taking a lead climbing class which opened the door to conversations on California, 2nd Species, meeting Floridian riggers...I felt like I might be able to find friends here with talents I admire.
Morgan told me, "Don't worry, LA will still be there."
But then a famous other said, "You can never go back home."
Then I remember another saying, "The only thing constant is change."
Damn it, I'm in a conundrum again.
If I follow my heart today, its in Florida. I'm so worried about leaving my parents, because the next time I see them, my dad, who knows. I don't want to think the worst today and everyday, but I think its my fear that is driving me. I'm having a hard time living my life.
As far as where I'm going to be in three weeks:
40 - Florida - because my heart is here and I might have found some artistic friends, but I'm lazy because my life is so cushy not paying rent and living with my parents. If I stay, I'd finish renovating my parents condo so their place is a little more organized. I'd take the month of April school session at the Players Music School, fly to NYC for a few weeks in May to work on the gig with 2nd Species, maybe the gig in Hollywood Florida will pan out and I can get some of the Floridian riggers to check out and possibly make good connections. Hartzell might be doing Blue Man in Orlando, so there's one of my 2nd Species partners, now only 2 hours away. Maybe he could help me get a job there, so I'm not pulling my hair out. Oh wait, I don't want to live in Orlando. I thought maybe I'd go back to school to at the University of South Florida...music? theater directing? photography? physicians assistant? Gees, if I become a PA, that would make my finances for life comfortable.
30 - Los Angeles - because I'm driven when I'm there, but I'm somewhat not interested in grinding pavement as an actor/dancer/model. But I know that made good money for me in the past, why not do that again? I've got other skills now, stunt work, harness work, directing, choreographing and producing. Its a game though. I don't know if I want to be gambling with this career anymore, but it surely is a passion...which above all, makes me driven. On just the retail salary, I'm looking at having $100 of play money each month, argh. It does afford me free time though, so I'll have to add on a teaching or club or bar gig just get a little bit of extra cash. My aspirations are high and I will constantly be in "search mode" looking for better work, more work. I'm really hoping I'll be able to create a home with my friends. I'm also thinking about taking a few bacclaureate programs at schools...like the business school with Pepperdine. Ha, I'll have to get accepted first! But that reality could happen in May, its an extension program for adults that already have a professional career. UCLA also has extension programs for people in search of degrees. And the neighborhood I'm looking at is right here. Marshall and Abby already go there.
30 - New York - Its an easy flight to my parents house, which I can visit often. I may have to surrender my car to save on bill payments in exchange for decent living and plane fares too and from Florida if I'd like to visit them every two months. My car is like a $500 chunk of expenses. A subway card is like $80 bucks. 2nd Speces, a company I help build from the ground up, Brook Notary, who's ideas for a non profit agency can turn into a heart fullfilled full time career, and Al Flannagan, who helped me create a show that is so moving and poignant for out time, all are so ready to start spit firing ideas. Who knows where those actions can take me. There's an abundant amount of schools there too. Look at Trey, Broadway show, 2nd Species, HS teacher and doctorate student. And, he and his wife just bought this huge house in Croughton Harmon. Its so possible. One of my favorite friends.
So the idea of opportunity is available anywhere. The notion of friends, is happening on both coasts, not quite yet in Florida, but could be soon. As far as finances, they are presently under control here in Florida, and a part time job somewhere could fix that. School is available anywhere. The artists careers are clear and solid in both LA and NYC, I may have to give it a little more time in Florida.
Its the parents, thats the crux in the matrix. Where do I want to be in relation to them?
Close - living with them...not for too much longer
In Tampa - a car ride away, can visit a couple times each week if I want to.
In NYC - $160 a weekend plane ride away, could probably visit once a month, but I'd surely have to get rid of my car
In LA - $300+ plane ride way and few days off from work. Hope to visit every two-three months, that's if I get a second job.
In the past, I could go a year without seeing them. One time, I went two years. I felt bad about that though.
Oh decisions.
What should I do??
For the past month or so I have been in a big limbo over NYC. I have this great opportunity to move to this city that I love so much, yet Iam still uncertain about going. It is a life changing experience, dropping everything here and starting over in a new city. Leaving my friends and family and relocating, I think I have a difficult time with that thought. But I keep telling myself that I will make new friends, like I did a few years ago and I already have some friends there. So you ask what the hell am I waiting for?? To tell you the truth Iam not sure. I guess Iam just scared. I mean I will already have a job working for Apple Computers. I just need a decent place to live that doesnt drain my funds...haha good luck to me on that one!!! Anyways, I should so this right?? ....
I responded with this -
Wait a second...I thought you wanted to live in Australia?!!?!!!
I would tell you NYC at this point in your life.
I moved there when I was 26. I think I knew two friends that I wasn't even that close with and I was jobless. I did go out there with a plan though, I wanted to be around artists and create work with an experimental theater company.
I think moved there with maybe $3000 in my bank account, I can't really remember that detail, but I knew I'd find a job somewhere. I was ready to live grimly, yet I was so ready for a new experience.
Something NYC can give you that I don't think LA can, is a drive that's constantly in your face. You can have a lot of down time in LA. As soon as you walk out your door in NYC, the hustle and bustle begins. I love the subway and the ability to walk everywhere, you meet so many people. When I'm in my car in LA, I miss those occassional bumps into the commuting strangers on the subway. But sometimes, not all the time, that stranger is pretty cool and you find yourself engaged in a really cool conversation with a new friend.
NYC is also a safe town, contrary to parental beliefs. In Manhattan, you'll always be able to find a yellow taxi cab on every corner. There's like no back alleys anymore, just more buildings!
As far as making friends, Peg, you're so easy to get along with! So many people all over the world already love you! I noticed you already have friends there....GO FOR IT!!! Stay there for at least a year. Let your passion drive you, not your fear. If you want it, if you REALLY want it, you should go.
Posted by *R*O*S*E* on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 11:52 AM
What I failed to realize is Peggy wrote ths on Monday, April 3, 2006
Wait a second...you've been contemplating this for almost a year now girl!!!
I'm slow.
Posted by *R*O*S*E* on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 11:57 AM
So first off, I'm not 26 anymore. And my drive to live in NYC is to create with my community of professional artists that do a damn good job in their craft and are succeeding well at this. Although I never wanted to admit this, I like the idea of having a steady job and steady money. Even if its just a little bit. The idea of running around the country in search for work not only sounds annoying to me, but tiring. I want to make a great living for myself in one place.
Moreover, when I was writing in response to Peggy, I told her to follow her passion, not her fear.
The idea of running to LA right now, like in 2 weeks, is because I have to start the driving back west to get my job back at Apple. It offers me steady money, a great health insurance plan, which I love having. But I can get a steady Apple job anywhere. Its just the full time status that gets removed, which has the health care benefits.
but why run so quickly? My parents are here in Florida.
One of the reasons why I don't want to "run" in two weeks is because I just witnessed my friend Dajana go through the death of her dad. He had cancer of the lungs. She's pregnant and he came for a visit from Germany in January, and they had a wonderful time together. In Febraury, he passed away. She flew back to Germany in a moments notice. Its so sad.
I'm going to be in similiar shoes one day. I don't know when that will happen. But learning to accept the fact parents die one day is not an easy concept to swallow.
My dad could in fact live for several more years. He's in good hands here. So is my mom. Both my brother and my sister live within two miles from here, plus my dog Thisby will be entertaining everybody.
The problem is, my heart is here.
John Cambell tell us to "follow your bliss." Well, I seem to be trying to figure that out. Why the f*ck am I having a hard time figuring this out? What is my bliss? I'm living such a wonderful lifestyle here, being in the plush environment of my parents and them just loving the idea of making me happy. Its so great.
But while I've been here, I've been acting like a kid, the grass is greener in NYC and LA. I'm sure I most have complained everyday. Maybe not out loud, but inside. Its taking me a while to accept any kind of lifestyle here.
But now that I've announced I'm leaving in two weeks, my mom finds an audition for me to go to, to be a cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Bucks. Its cute, but its not really for me.
And at the climbing gym yesterday, I inquired about taking a lead climbing class which opened the door to conversations on California, 2nd Species, meeting Floridian riggers...I felt like I might be able to find friends here with talents I admire.
Morgan told me, "Don't worry, LA will still be there."
But then a famous other said, "You can never go back home."
Then I remember another saying, "The only thing constant is change."
Damn it, I'm in a conundrum again.
If I follow my heart today, its in Florida. I'm so worried about leaving my parents, because the next time I see them, my dad, who knows. I don't want to think the worst today and everyday, but I think its my fear that is driving me. I'm having a hard time living my life.
As far as where I'm going to be in three weeks:
40 - Florida - because my heart is here and I might have found some artistic friends, but I'm lazy because my life is so cushy not paying rent and living with my parents. If I stay, I'd finish renovating my parents condo so their place is a little more organized. I'd take the month of April school session at the Players Music School, fly to NYC for a few weeks in May to work on the gig with 2nd Species, maybe the gig in Hollywood Florida will pan out and I can get some of the Floridian riggers to check out and possibly make good connections. Hartzell might be doing Blue Man in Orlando, so there's one of my 2nd Species partners, now only 2 hours away. Maybe he could help me get a job there, so I'm not pulling my hair out. Oh wait, I don't want to live in Orlando. I thought maybe I'd go back to school to at the University of South Florida...music? theater directing? photography? physicians assistant? Gees, if I become a PA, that would make my finances for life comfortable.
30 - Los Angeles - because I'm driven when I'm there, but I'm somewhat not interested in grinding pavement as an actor/dancer/model. But I know that made good money for me in the past, why not do that again? I've got other skills now, stunt work, harness work, directing, choreographing and producing. Its a game though. I don't know if I want to be gambling with this career anymore, but it surely is a passion...which above all, makes me driven. On just the retail salary, I'm looking at having $100 of play money each month, argh. It does afford me free time though, so I'll have to add on a teaching or club or bar gig just get a little bit of extra cash. My aspirations are high and I will constantly be in "search mode" looking for better work, more work. I'm really hoping I'll be able to create a home with my friends. I'm also thinking about taking a few bacclaureate programs at schools...like the business school with Pepperdine. Ha, I'll have to get accepted first! But that reality could happen in May, its an extension program for adults that already have a professional career. UCLA also has extension programs for people in search of degrees. And the neighborhood I'm looking at is right here. Marshall and Abby already go there.
30 - New York - Its an easy flight to my parents house, which I can visit often. I may have to surrender my car to save on bill payments in exchange for decent living and plane fares too and from Florida if I'd like to visit them every two months. My car is like a $500 chunk of expenses. A subway card is like $80 bucks. 2nd Speces, a company I help build from the ground up, Brook Notary, who's ideas for a non profit agency can turn into a heart fullfilled full time career, and Al Flannagan, who helped me create a show that is so moving and poignant for out time, all are so ready to start spit firing ideas. Who knows where those actions can take me. There's an abundant amount of schools there too. Look at Trey, Broadway show, 2nd Species, HS teacher and doctorate student. And, he and his wife just bought this huge house in Croughton Harmon. Its so possible. One of my favorite friends.
So the idea of opportunity is available anywhere. The notion of friends, is happening on both coasts, not quite yet in Florida, but could be soon. As far as finances, they are presently under control here in Florida, and a part time job somewhere could fix that. School is available anywhere. The artists careers are clear and solid in both LA and NYC, I may have to give it a little more time in Florida.
Its the parents, thats the crux in the matrix. Where do I want to be in relation to them?
Close - living with them...not for too much longer
In Tampa - a car ride away, can visit a couple times each week if I want to.
In NYC - $160 a weekend plane ride away, could probably visit once a month, but I'd surely have to get rid of my car
In LA - $300+ plane ride way and few days off from work. Hope to visit every two-three months, that's if I get a second job.
In the past, I could go a year without seeing them. One time, I went two years. I felt bad about that though.
Oh decisions.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Today its LA
All day I've been thinking, and actively pursuing an apartment in LA. That seemed like the logical choice.
Then out of the blue, the f*cking blue, my writing partner/agent tells me he's been thinking a lot about R + J. WTF. Now I'm in cahoots again. Should I move to NYC, live in a cheap dump and write my ass off?
Or should I live it up just a little while longer in LA and hopefully find a nitch to crawl into?
For 80% of the day, its been LA.
By Friday, I've got to choose.
Tuesday = LA 80, NYC 20
Then out of the blue, the f*cking blue, my writing partner/agent tells me he's been thinking a lot about R + J. WTF. Now I'm in cahoots again. Should I move to NYC, live in a cheap dump and write my ass off?
Or should I live it up just a little while longer in LA and hopefully find a nitch to crawl into?
For 80% of the day, its been LA.
By Friday, I've got to choose.
Tuesday = LA 80, NYC 20
Monday, March 5, 2007
Aiguille, Longwood, FL
superclimbingrosa....
I called my mom as I left the gym, and she waited for me at the door. It was nice that all her friends were expecting me and they already knew so much about me by the time I arrived. They asked me questions like, "We heard you went rock climbing. What is that?"
"My daughter is a dancer too!"
"We've been to your parents place on the beach. Your view is amazing!"
"You have an aerial company? What is that?"
They re-heated the authentic Philippino food because me and another couple showed up a bit late. There was a pleuthura of food, so much, for just the three of us and it was so tasty!!! They opened a bottle of wine too. Philippinos know how to make guests feel welcomed and I loved conversing with them too.
I got to meet the birthday girl, she turned an energetic 96 today! If I make it to 96, I hope I'll still be climbing, dancing, and flying too!
Session time: 2 hours of bouldering, V0-V1, 5.7-5.10
Projects V2, 5.11
Practice front levers
Cardio this week - at least 3 1 hour sessions with 2 pound weights
Projected workouts this week:
Monday (today) nothing
Tuesday - Cardio 1 hour
Wednesday - climb - 3 hours
Thursday - travel day to Orlando -
Friday - climb at Aiguille or Tampa
Saturday - Cardio
Sunday - Climb or cardio
Cardio or Climb each day this week. Perhaps on Sunday, do BOTH!
I called my mom as I left the gym, and she waited for me at the door. It was nice that all her friends were expecting me and they already knew so much about me by the time I arrived. They asked me questions like, "We heard you went rock climbing. What is that?"
"My daughter is a dancer too!"
"We've been to your parents place on the beach. Your view is amazing!"
"You have an aerial company? What is that?"
They re-heated the authentic Philippino food because me and another couple showed up a bit late. There was a pleuthura of food, so much, for just the three of us and it was so tasty!!! They opened a bottle of wine too. Philippinos know how to make guests feel welcomed and I loved conversing with them too.
I got to meet the birthday girl, she turned an energetic 96 today! If I make it to 96, I hope I'll still be climbing, dancing, and flying too!
Session time: 2 hours of bouldering, V0-V1, 5.7-5.10
Projects V2, 5.11
Practice front levers
Cardio this week - at least 3 1 hour sessions with 2 pound weights
Projected workouts this week:
Monday (today) nothing
Tuesday - Cardio 1 hour
Wednesday - climb - 3 hours
Thursday - travel day to Orlando -
Friday - climb at Aiguille or Tampa
Saturday - Cardio
Sunday - Climb or cardio
Cardio or Climb each day this week. Perhaps on Sunday, do BOTH!
Friday, March 2, 2007
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