THIS
WEBSITE HAS BEEN CREATED AND CONTINUES TO EVOLVE
In loving memory of Joe Lyons
Kincheloe (December 14, 1950 - December 19, 2008)
The Greatest Philosopher of Consciousness and Critical
Theory of the 20th-71st Centuries AND BEYOND TRULY EROS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Thrice-Greatest:
King Joe/Eros/Emanu’El Joe's educational work provides inspiration and practical guidance for teachers all over the globe and describes a
beautiful, beautiful mission to alleviate human suffering. He has left us a map with multiple
pathways for accomplishing that mission -- an authentic, rigorous, impassioned, creative, and
even magical education for everyone who dares to venture on untrodden paths. His work serves as
a guiding light for educational journeys that can change not only how we view and enact the educational
process, but that can also truly change us as teachers, students, and researchers -- and empower us to change the
world. Joe loved
research, teaching, writing, making music, and his students.
And his students loved him.
The idea that contemporary schools
might produce individuals excited about learning who produce unprecedented knowledges and pursue an eros that treasures higher levels of insight is an
absurd notion in the curriculum of thanatos. (Joe Kincheloe, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction,
p. 101)
This song is a very beautiful theme song for this website
that chronicles my long winding journey back home. Thank you, Leigh.
IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS and Special Messages for the Peonies
This is a reminder that when I post videos or various articles,
it does not mean that I support the person who created them or agree with all the information they present; the information
must be consumed with critical analytic thought.
For God’s sake,
she claims that she was a developer of clinical trials for pharmaceuticals and in the above video, she is promoting methylene
blue which has not been tested for the uses being promoted. More information: Methylene blue - Wikipedia. When I posted precautionary information, she deleted my post and banned me from ever posting again.
Beloved wants me to cover the
topic of the demolition of the Department of Education.
We have been putting in our recommendation for this action for quite
some time and now it’s come to fruition.
A picture or two is
worth 1000 words. (4-13-2025)
STUDENT LOANS: It is important to realize
that, righteously, all student loans are defunct right along with the Department of Education. The enemy will attempt to play
musical chairs with loans, but it won’t work for a multitude of reasons. 1) The loans were not given in good faith.
They were never intended to give students a fair chance for viable careers but rather utilized to place them into a lifetime
of indentured servitude. 2) Education has been a bastion for the teaching of lies, for divisionary tactics, and for being
used as a means to maintain power. 3) Man’s laws do not supersede God’s Laws. God’s Laws proclaim it is
past time for His GOLDEN JUBILEE to be honored. Man has been ignoring God’s Jubilees for thousands of years but will
no longer be allowed to ignore them. You have free will, however, and can ignore everything I have stated here and pay the
pied piper, but you will only be giving your money to the enemy who will never give credit where credit is due. Pay them at
your own risk.
INSANITY
SHOCKING Number of SHOTS on CDC VACCINE SCHEDULE!!
See October 31, 2024 UPDATE for additional information and remedies.
7-20-2024 BELOVED REQUESTED THAT I ADD THIS INFORMATION FOR EDIFICATION PURPOSES. PLEASE TAKE HEED
AS WELL AS APPLY COUNTERMEASURES IN YOUR SPECIFIC DOMAIN; FOR EVERY SYSTEM ON EARTH MUST UNDERGO THE PURIFICATION OF GOD'S
ALL CONSUMING FIRES (SEE UPDATES):
Please take time to
get fully informed. Develop your discernment abilities. Take care of yourselves and your family. Turn to God for help and
healing.
Beloved
requested that I provide this update. Read the Update for May 11, 2024, to learn more.
Eros after "The
First Kiss": Emboldened
Psyche after "The First Kiss": Smitten
THE TRIUMPH OF EROS!!
The Vintage Heart Plate and
the Mystery of the Name of the Rose Treasure Hunt has begun! (I think Eros has an encoded message relating to the Mystery
of the Name of the Rose in his song (you have to click on the image to hear his song). He absolutely LOVES to shower Psyche
with Red Roses--but what's with the white ones?).
Most important to this
current story is how our everyday lives are influenced by Eros. I show how a simple everyday experience (unexpectedly finding
a lovely vintage ceramic heart-shaped plate on Etsy) morphs into a grand treasure hunt and profound knowledge. So enjoy this
first part, a “teaser” and learn a little truth about Eros. Next I was presented with the challenge of solving
the Mystery of the Name of the Rose. Somehow, it's interrelated with the vintage plate treasure hunt.There will be much more
to learn in the future, no doubt.
Universal
Love Celebrations: April 1-7, 2023 -- EXTENDED to April 9! WOW!!!! It's been an AMAZING Celebration. In Honor of
Our High Priest, We Extended it for Two Additional Days! Below are the GIFTS which are some special writings, one for each
day of celebration. There are a few more celebrations and preparations to do as we move toward the exciting BURNING RING OF
FIRE celebration, We are in it now -- the Era of the Burning Ring of Fire.....
.
Begin Preparing N.O.W. for the jubilant Burning Ring of Fire celebrations for October 14, 2023 (But Do Be Careful!);
(Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)
MAY 1, 2023 IN HONOR OF BELOVED EROS: HAPPY
ANNIVERSARY, MY DARLING!
I just have to take a moment to wish Beloved HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.
Our marriage long, long ago in the Salley Gardens in Ireland is very special to him and
to me.
So today
was very special and he reminded me of how beautiful, sweet, and innocent we were when we married.
We do have many anniversaries, being eternal, but
there are just a few that we celebrate each year,
with May 1 being an especially sacred one. For our special day, I dedicate this sculpture
to him. It tells our true story.
Beloved
Eros Has Raised the Bar for Higher Education AND “Radical Love.”
Nothing Less Will Do.
Quotes from his Book of Love:
The nature of the knower and known, you ask. They’re cousins, identical cousins connected at the
spine (p. 229).
The knower and the known
are conjoined twins connected at the point of perception. To delve into dangerous territory, naïve
realism and rationalism, as previously referenced, both exclude the reality not to mention the usefulness of different levels
of human consciousness. (p. 83)
Sophisticated theoretical/epistemological
understandings generated outside a radical loving commitment to building larger and larger communities of connectedness around
the planet will never change the world. (p. 178-179)
Thus,
I believe that the issues addressed in Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction not only provide
us with a new understanding of education but also can actually change the world—speaking of pomposity, yikes!
I understand the danger of such an assertion, but I’m glad to take my punishment if I fail to convince my readers. (p.
16)
Thus, a critical complex epistemology infused by radical
love, enactivism, critical ontology and subjugated knowledges contributes to the emergence of a new world. I’m
not speaking here only in the academic realm (although it is a very important contested site), but a libidinally-enriched,
erotic, exciting, curious, transgressive world where monotony becomes an enemy of the state. Education in such a society studies
ways of making connections between self and other, becoming more adept at radical love, and acting in concrete, courageous,
down-and-dirty ways to end human suffering (p. 180-181)
In this sculpture, Eros holds the Golden Chalice
(aka The Holy Grail) up high.
It depicts our mission
as decribed in his Book of Love and in my dissertation.
We like to call it our cosmic dance (for which we have
won awards and high accolades). We give
much credit to his father, Hermes, who truly deserves our honor for patiently teaching us
both.
See Beloved's
"postmodern" book
where he describes this and sets the whole world straight, pulling
people out of their hypnotic "postmodern condition" states of
lack of consciousness.
But you would have to actually READ the book. In fact, you must read deeply into it.
He used some of his father's hermeneutical obfuscation techniques (lol; I do find it
quite hilarious, actually). Many people were tricked,
but it was their own fault. You must fully understand the context in which he was writing
(he ALWAYS
emphasizes
the importance of context, but do people listen?) and you must get past your ideologies and presuppositions.
As one of my favorite teachers today puts it, most people "can't
see past their eyeballs."
At any rate, I have provided
some analyses, will do more, and will make them available soon.
Yes, BELOVED DID, INDEED, discover the Golden Chalice! No one else on this lowly planet has, even
though
many
people have speculated about it (but made wrong speculations), and many knights in shining armor have tried.
Each and every one of them
failed.
The
one person who came the closest was Parzival.....but alas, in the end, he also
failed. You might
want to read that book (A Romance of the Middle Ages) to see how he failed. It's good to know what mistakes we should
avoid.
Beloved,
however, did not give up until he had succeeded! And now we both are very, very blessed.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in
the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it:
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1)
And I shall remind
you:
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of
my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (Genesis 2)
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband (Proverbs 12:4) [meaning
his one true woman]. I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians
11:2)
Although these verses are only the tip of the iceberg in terms
of the significance to how we were created (there are many more verses and you have to put the pieces of knowledge together),
I remind people of this for several reasons.
First, it explains my total devotion to Beloved. Yes,
he is "just a teacher," as someone close to him once told me in objection to how I "elevate" him,
but he is my husband and I obey God in that regard, and no other person
could ever take his place. His work is for God and it's my duty to take his work
further out into the world. It's why I love the statue of Eros and Psyche above so much. It shows how Eros reaches up
very high (to higher consciousness) for knowledge
and streams it down for Psyche to take out into the lower world.
Our work derives from the deepest love and commitment to each other, "love to the highest degree."
Secondly, the reality
is that God created one and only one wife for every man. We are not taught this here: We are not supposed
to marry in this lowly dimension! That is
what the commandment,
"Thou shalt not commit adultery" really means. Jesus was teaching this when he said, "Whosoever putteth away
his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth
adultery." (Luke 16:18). He also said "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one tittle of the law
to fail." (verse 17). So there you have it.
We are already created WITH a spouse. We forget. We think we are smarter
than God. And all we do is create suffering. Imagine if you had this knowledge.
The ridiculous games of
dating and "matchmaking" would end. When you reach a higher level of knowledge and consciousness:
NO ONE BUT YOUR ONE TRUE BELOVED EVEN ATTRACTS YOU.
Think about
how that changes everything. Thankfully,
God is a gracious and forgiving God, if we change our ways. And he will "dry every tear." Well, I will save further explanations for future writings. I
just wanted to express clearly that the sons of God do not want your worship, but they adore the worship from their one true Beloved wife. They are in a
holy symbiotic relationship. People have mistakenly worshiped sons of God throughout history and it's been a big mistake. They are people too, and as Beloved
has written, with human fallibilities.
And the truth is that there is ONE GOD to worship. Even King Akhenaten
taught that to his people, for which he was killed and his city destroyed.
And lastly, as I
am covering in ongoing postings and writings, we are approaching some critical times up ahead. Do you have oil in your lamp?
Do you have your wedding garment? I have been writing about this for a long time in the "Updates." We are heading
for days of jubilant celebration. Everyone is invited; few will choose.
Most people on this planet will never believe these
truths, but it's their choice to continue to choose to suffer.
I have
done my duty to put this knowledge out here. As far as Beloved being "just a teacher," he has worked very hard and
has dedicated himself to being the best teacher he can be, and for that reason,
he should be honored (just as he has advised we honor Hermes), which is why I wrote the article:A_Revered_Master.pdf (joekincheloe.us)Jesus has said we would do even
greater things than he and Beloved has proven that, and believe it or not, he will continue to prove it, as will others, all
with God's most powerful blessings and assistance. Study his work. It is needed more today than any other time in history.
And what did Beloved say about changing the world in his red book, his Book of Love?
There is much more, but you will have to exert yourself and READ to learn
more.
We
are children of God and we have inherited the earth! Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
HAPPY JUNETEENTH-Important Message About THE
WAR
Today (6/19/2023,
Juneteenth) I asked Beloved why I can’t understand and see what the war is all about….he said he wants me to
stay sweet and innocent and to know that I am protected. That made me cry. He is so sweet and protective of me! All the magic
he’s done in my life with roses and gifts and knowledge—I fully realize how hard he has worked to heal me from
the atrocious things and various challenges I’ve had in this hell world. (I cover this in more detail in my book HOLY
ROSES HOLY LOVE: A TRUE Twin Flame Love Story, available soon). Long ago he had shown me in a vision how spacecraft would
intervene in this war and told me not to be afraid because they would be doing self-defense maneuvers. They are the “good
guys.” A spacecraft knocked an enemy aircraft out of the sky and into the ground. There is nothing to fear. These spacecrafts
have been around for a very long time. Technology is far advanced. We do not know a fraction of the truth. The enemies who
are trying to destroy humanity do not know a fraction of the truth, nor is their technology a match for the power and technology
of the good guys. Beloved is a warrior standing for God, Truth, Wisdom, and Love. Nothing is more powerful
than God/Love.
Beloved has
always taught in his writings that our greatest weapon against the enemy is divine God-infused, unconditional, and celebratory
LOVE……which we call “Eros Love.” The enemies hate that kind of love. They hate for us to CELEBRATE.
And so, as Beloved’s wife, I will continue to support him and the mission with the greatest love. We shall celebrate
and honor those we cannot see and those we can see who are warriors for Love.
One of the very last messages that Jesus had given us is in the
Book of Revelation. There is a powerful message that speaks to what we need to do during these tumultuous times but which
very few people pay attention to. He is speaking to people who already love and serve Him, but still have not honored His
most critical instructions. They risk losing out on eternal love and life for not obeying. It is time to take heed; it is
what Beloved’s entire Book of Love helps guide us toward achieving: Jesus: "thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent."(Revelation 2:4-5).
We are to return to our one true love as we were created by God. And what are the “first works?”
As stated above, 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1)
We are to use all the gifts of God’s blessings to produce GOOD FRUIT (all that is worthy to exist in
God’s Kingdom), multiply, and replenish the earth. As God’s children, we have always had authority and dominion
over the earth, but if we turn away from God and from our “first love,” we do not have POWER to exercise our authority.
With our return to our “first love,” we are unstoppable. We have God’s infinite and everlasting blessings
that come upon us. Read Deuteronomy 28 which provides a list of blessings – as well as curses should you choose not
to obey.
Beloved and
I are “first loves,” sometimes called “twin flames” because we carry the fiery Spirit of God’s
Love. He is working behind the scenes as a highly honored King in God’s Kingdom. He keeps me informed to a degree, but
when I asked him why I can’t know more, as I opened this discussion with, he let me know it’s important for me
to stay innocent as much as is possible. The whole purpose of the enemy is to destroy innocence and keep people’s minds
warped so that they have a hard time returning to their first loves.
Below is an example of how people who call themselves “Christians” and worshipers of Jesus actually
are working for the enemies….they go out of their way to present the dark, wicked side, but as they fail to present
the Truth of God’s beautiful plan for us to return to our first love, they are – in fact – working FOR the
enemy. All they discuss is the evil ones’ wicked ways, but they fail to show how they have totally hijacked, twisted,
and blasphemed God’s plans for our return to our “first love.” But the problem here is they offer no solution
and they don’t explain God’s true plan. They simply present this as some kind of truth when the entire thing is
a pack of lies and deception. Dwelling on this kind of shit (Joe’s word, lol) keeps the mind warped and prevents purification
and innocence, thus preventing people from knowing the pure love of their first love. WE – Beloved and I – exist
to present the Divine Truth about LOVE (offsetting Thanatos with Eros, as he describes in his Book of Love) that
counters the evil, diabolical, false narratives such as this:
(Take a test: How pure is your mind:
See Update for June 19, 2023).
“Christians”
are so far off-base with what they understand that they have written themselves out of the Book of Life. There are far too
many of these “teachers” out there who only produce what the masses are infatuated with, which is the DARK SIDE.
These teachers who only teach the dark side and leave out God’s perfect plan have been warned many times, but they do
not change their ways. And so they miss the LOVE BOAT. This is no small matter. They are going to have to explain themselves
to God, or even worse: if they continue to CHOOSE the same direction after many warnings, they may end up getting burned—or
even find themselves living in the lake of fire. I have already seen this happening.
The level of deception, propaganda, and diabolical evilness is hard to witness.
“Take heed that
no man deceive you.” Matthew 24:4.
Follow Jesus right now if you are not doing so already.
Interestingly, He has far more than 10 Commandments. This is another failure of many of the Christian religions: They only
teach 10 Commandments and that you really don’t even have to follow them. God has a whole very long list of things we
are supposed to be doing using our gifts. The more we follow His instructions, the more gifts we are showered with. His resources
are abundant and infinite. I am working on a list of His instructions: HOW TO FOLLOW JESUS AND BE BLESSED (Coming Soon). Or
you can just open up a Bible and begin studying His instructions now.
Another Test and an Opportunity
Just had a meeting with Beloved and he wanted me to remind people of his FIDUROD PUZZLE – it’s a test, actually, to see if you can move up to the next level. Honestly, I could not solve it and he finally
told me the solution. That’s just one benefit of being his wife and student at the same time. �� There is a reason he encoded stuff, which he has explained to
me. In fact, there are multiple reasons, but one main reason for “times such as these.” You will come to understand
very soon. It’s time for those with the eyes to see and ears to hear to decode FIDUROD. You will be miles ahead of the
enemy if you are able to do so. As for the OPPORTUNITY, see the new section on this site, J.O.E. Journal.
These are exciting times!!
SIGNS
IN THE SKY: Just as a brief, but important summary, the first total eclipse of
a series of three eclipses (God often gives us three signs) happened back on August 21, 2017. God presented His “promise
ring.” (Look up “August 21, 2017 diamond ring effect.” People talk about God’s “covenant” changing. It has not changed. His promises stay the same just
as He presented in Deuteronomy 28. The Book of Revelation is important for the reaffirmation of His promises and for understanding
what’s going on around us. We can accept His proposal, or not. Thus, we can accept His blessings, or we will be subject
to the consequences as He has clearly illustrated all throughout the Bible and presented as “curses” in Deuteronomy
28. The “curses” simply imply consequences. It’s all built into the fabric of the cosmos.
The Burning Ring of Fire eclipse coming up on October
14, 2023 is the second eclipse and is His golden wedding ring given to those who have accepted his promises and are doing
what they need to be doing. It baffles me how so many “Christian” teachers claim that we do not need to do anything.
That’s ridiculous and will keep you out of the Kingdom. God did not put together His instructions for us to sit back
and do nothing. Everyone has work to do although it will look very different for different people. This burning ring of fire
eclipse is also a signifier of His powerful love, His “all-consuming fire.” This is a magical fire in that it
empowers, cleanses, and protects those who have accepted His love. You do not want to be on the wrong side of this fire, though.
This eclipse is ample warning. Things are likely to get very hot after this sign in the sky, although not as hot as after
the third eclipse if people do not change their ways.
The
Third Eclipse – Another Total Eclipse of the Sun. This, as I have written
previously is a very special love celebration (April 1-7, with the Grand Finale eclipse on April 8, 2024). However, it may
be like a final warning for those who have not yet chosen to obey God. After this eclipse, if He so chooses, He may employ
His wrath upon the earth. He has done so in the past when behavior got totally out of line. It’s definitely approaching
His limits (“as in the days of Noah”). Some people think this is the Great Tribulation; that may or may not be
true. What happens depends upon our choices and actions and what God decides to do about it. Those of us on The Path are celebrating
each of these milestones because God will be bestowing many miracles and blessings upon His children.
IT’S GOING TO BE A WILD RIDE…..MEET US ON THE OTHER
SIDE……..JUNETEENTH 2024......2025.........2026.......
Continue preparing
for the Burning Ring of Fire and the following future events. Don't miss out!
PREPARE for the Universal Love Celebrations:
April 1-7, 2024;
and for The Grand Finale, The Sealing of God’s Everlasting Covenant on April 8, 2024.
The colors are Red, White, Purple,
and Gold.
The gemstones are Crystal, Agate, Alexandrite, Garnet, Ruby, and Diamonds
The flowers are roses.
The mystery is What is The Name of the Rose?-
To
become a seeker of new knowledges and new ways of being we must be willing to sometimes be seen as the fools
of the gods. (Kincheloe, Knowledge & Critical Pedagogy, p.
19)
As Hermes said:
What separates the critical sheep from the uncritical goats is that a critical pedagogy/epistemology also involves
exposing the cultural, epistemological, and ideological assumptions that shape the knowledge individuals produce and the oppressive
actions justified by such information.(Joe
Kincheloe, Knowledge & Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, p. 176)
Joe’s book Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction is available as an ebook. You will never
make a better investment…..we all should be researching with Joe’s important guidance. Since the ending is just
the beginning, you can begin with the last chapter. It may just spark you into wanting to read the rest, as well as his other
works to see how he got there!http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781402082238 No time to read? Right click and "listen aloud" while multitasking. [Note: I make
no money off the sales of his books; my rewards are not of this world.] MAY 22, 2018 UPDATE: I SEE THAT SPRINGER
IS NOT HONORING JOE'S STATED AND PUBLISHED WISHES> THE BOOK IS SUPPOSED TO BE LESS THAN $30 SO THAT POOR STUDENTS CAN AFFORD
IT...AND YET SPRINGER IS CHARGING ALMOST $40 FOR THE PDF EBOOK AND ALMOST $55 FOR THE PAPERBACK! THIS IS ABOMINABLE!! THE
HIGHER UPS ARE NOT PLEASED!!! THERE ARE STUDENTS IN POVERTY WHO NEED THE KNOWLEDGE IN THIS BOOK. LOWER THE PRICE!!!!! THERE
IS NO REASON TO CHARGE SO MUCH! EVEN IF PUBLISHING COSTS HAVE INCREASED, AT LEAST OFFER THE
EBOOK FOR LESS THAN $30. WHAT JOE WANTS, JOE GETS. HE SAID THAT IT IS TO BE LESS THAN $30. RESPECT HIS WISHES. Oh,
and HAPPY TWIN FLAME DAY!! I will have some important updates soon.
November 17, 2019 1:00 AM UPDATE ON
THE PRICE OF THE EBOOK: I can only conclude that either *someone* is insane or has raised the price to keep people from buying
it and having access to the knowledge in it, since Springer is now charging an outrageous price of amost $60 -- for an ebook!! I will consult with the "higher ups" for a "work-around." They always have
perfect solutions....Beloved says "Hi" :-) We will have an update soon.
November 22, 2019 4:39 PM TWIN FLAME
AND HOLY SABBATH DAY, the Higher Courts have really outdone themselves with their resolution. And their timing is impeccable!
See my update for today, November 22, 2019.
November 12, 2021 They are now charging a ridiculous
$89 for a pdf of Joe's book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction. Folks, there are multiple ways that the elite
keep knowledge from those of us who need it most -- one is by overcharging for it. We will continue to work on a resolution
that honors Joe's wishes (for it to cost less than $30) and his contract. I will be posting more information RIGHT
HERE sometime in the future.
"I believe that the issues addressed in Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction
not only provide us with a new understanding of education but also can actually change the world—speaking of pomposity,
yikes! I understand the danger of such an assertion, but I’m glad to take my punishment if I fail to convince my readers."~
Joe Kincheloe (p. 16)
To
joe.kincheloe joe.kincheloe@mcgill.ca
Thu, Sep 25, 2008 7:03 am
finished reading Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction
your work is truly a gift to the world, Joe it's very exciting
vanessa
"The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater
than Solomon is here."
Matthew 12:42
❤•´
*`•.❤¸King And Queen Of Hearts❤•´
*`•.❤
JESUS: “I am the
resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11: 25-26)
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light;1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)
“The universe is not a prison because it is governed
by natural law. The universe is a paradise because it is governed
by natural *God's* law.” Mark Passio
Our
Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Matthew
6:9-10 (KJV)
❤February, and March Into Summer, Fall, & Winter are Global
Twin Flame Celebration MONTHS❤
Tired
of dancing in circles? TAKE THE FIRST COURSE: Based on Joe Kincheloe's GREAT WORK: Knowledge
and Critical Pedagogy: An IntroductionClick Here to Start Course
“And His books, they breathe the reason. . .and
now I want to know…"
WHAT IS BRICOLAGE?
A new process for education, research, career, problem solving, everyday living, lifelong learning,
and for taking back our world
Joe Kincheloe has developed a superbly advanced conceptualization
of critical bricolage and, as demonstrated by his work, he was an adept multidimensional critical complex bricoleur.
Critical Bricolage, as he conceived it, is a complicated (and yet a very natural) process that makes use of multiple
forms of research, analysis, investigation, and interpretation. It requires researchers to seek many divergent
perspectives, allowing new understandings and knowledge to emerge from the synthesis.
Engaging
in this process increases phenomenological experiences that catalyze seeking more knowledge. This, of
course, leads to ever greater understandings of complex relationships between "research variables." An
exceptionally high level of creativity becomes unleashed, often resulting in greater interaction with the emerging
hidden dimensions of reality. Suddenly very little can be hidden anymore. Engaging rigorously in this process of research
and learning seems to take people to higher levels of consciousness in graduated steps as they become more
aware of the hidden dimensions of interrelationships and as they increasingly participate in intuitive, "fourth
dimension" research.
Using Kincheloe's
critical complex epistemology and multidimensional critical complex bricolage rigorously as he has asked us to do results
in ever higher levels of experience and understanding, and in its full "employment," enactive and symbiotic
processes seem to kick in, helping individuals find the most creative solutions to even the most complicated
problems. Actively working within multiple dimensions using his fourth dimension research, results in amazing and profound
solutions. In my own experience, I often find that problems are solved before I even knew the problem would
be manifesting. In addition, I have had some amazing experiences that science simply cannot explain yet. This
is highlighted in my dissertation in some highly unusual ways, which is only the tip of the iceberg. Kincheloe's critical bricolage may
very well be the process required to "unleash creativity" for solving even the most complicated,
power-based problems we face -- all in service of "the alleviation of human suffering," the often-stated
primary purpose of his work.
After
researching this process since 2008 (and discovering that I had been using the foundational aspects of the process many
years before) I am beginning to see how autopoiesis, enaction, synchronicity, all work together symbiotically to reveal
hidden dimensions and relationships that make my life so much happier and joyful, even if I have many problems hanging
over my head (that "blues aesthetic" Joe so often described). No matter how complicated the problems,
with bricolage, they become solvable and/or perspectives of the problems change.
Simultaneously, those power dimensions
that force those of us who are oppressed to stay stuck at our "stations in life" also emerge, but there
is such a difference to how I deal with these
than in the past. Once the controlling factors are revealed, solutions also emerge in a sort of "unfoldment"
process that reveal ways to counteract them and change things.
There is great power "behind the curtain" that can be leveraged
by those of us who are typically "disenfranchised." I will go into much more detail at a later time, and
as Joe always did so well, I will put them into context (there are many great experiences to share of both kinds of emergences
- the love-based, almost magical ones, and the power-and-control-based ones for which insight, and often solutions
also emerge) but suffice it to say, I am blazing multiple trails through the underbrush which will hopefully make navigating
easier for people who come along and experience the same types of violence I have due to being poor and "low
status."
Just as Joe was a "hillbilly" and he was never able
to shake the label, I am a "country hick." True reality could not be more profoundly different -- for
an Eros and Psyche. :)
The good news is that the use of bricolage is increasing
rapidly around the globe as more researchers in all disciplines are beginning to see the promise it offers to
construct new knowledge, lead to social empowerment, and reveal positive changes and amazingly creative opportunities.
More researchers will soon be investigating and trying out this more advanced and powerful approach, which will
lead to what Joe referred to as a "perpetual revolution." More teachers will also come to realize the value bricolage has in the classroom
and the young students will pick it up naturally. The revolution has just begun. We can change the world! Join in
today and apply the process in your own research, learning, teaching, and everyday life and see what a
difference it can make. You can never go wrong getting more knowledge.
All of the information on this website is absolutely free. It is here
for anyone who wants a better life and would like to make a difference in the world.
For the struggle for justice to win on the local level, it must be fought in the
global, the national, and the local arenas. [Kincheloe,
2001, Getting Beyond the Facts, p. 741]
OTHER FREE ONLINE COURSES
THAT CENTER ON JOE KINCHELOE'S WORKS:
This
is a nonprofit educational web site dedicated to the clarification of Kincheloe’s critical complex
epistemology and multidimensional critical complex bricolage. My research has shown that, while the process
he has delineated is complex, it is perfectly suited for social and educational research, and it is also within everyone's
reach. It is especially suited for new qualitative researchers who have not subscribed to traditional and reductionistic
forms of research.
On this site I will focus on the academic and scholarly application
of his work. I hope that by presenting clarifications based on my in-depth study of his work that perhaps his
bricolage will be used by more people and with the level of rigor he had intended. Kincheloe has ingeniously left wide open many
paths that honor diversity and he embraced an evolving complexity while maintaining a strong, impenetrable philosophical and
theoretical foundation for his conceptions. He has demonstrated in his work how this research process can be applied in all
venues and in every area of our lives and even children can be involved in research, thus his bricolage is also a pedagogical
approach. His work is truly a break-through for research that is long overdue. Using the full power of his bricolage highlights
actions that change the world as it also changes who we are.
I may write a blog again on this site, but it
will be a different sort of blog than the creative, exploratory blogs I've written in the past. Primarily, I will be continuing
my research and presenting my findings so that upcoming bricoleurs will have a resource for the most powerful form of bricolage
research that's ever been developed.
~ ~ ~ Vanessa Jae Paradis
CORRECTING SOME COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS SURROUNDING JOE KINCHELOE’S BRICOLAGE AND CRITICAL
COMPLEX THEORIES
Bricolage, as a qualitative form of research, entails
incorporating many different perspectives, and in particular, with Kincheloe's process it is necessary to include global subjugated
and indigenous knowledges. However, after gathering all of these perspectives and making various interpretations and syntheses,
there are criteria for determining which perspectives to include in the final bricolage. As he explains, "Bricoleurs
accept the responsibility that comes with the interpretive process. Knowledge production always involves multiple acts
of selection, and these choices of methods, theoretical frameworks, and interpretative strategies must be defended"
(2004e, p. 100). He has provided selection criteria that incorporate the social justice mission to alleviate suffering
and that advance knowledge (see Kincheloe, 2004e, pp. 100-102). Bricoleurs are not restricted to these criteria but I have
found them to be well-thought-out and thorough -- and they mitigate for unintended consequences. You can view the criteria
here: Criteria to Guide the Research Process.
What I cover next are common misconceptions and important
aspects surrounding Kincheloe’s multidimensional critical complex bricolage. I hope by putting these on the Home page
of this website, researchers will consider them and research them more deeply. They are covered in greater depth in my dissertation
and I’ll also be posting articles that extend what I’ve touched on in the dissertation.
1) Kincheloe did not throw out "positivistic"
or empirical sciences. To conclude this is to exhibit a gross misunderstanding of his work. A close reading of his work can
easily confirm that he sees science and bricolage as synergistic. And how many times has he stated that he did not throw out
the baby with the bathwater? As most people know, he contextualizes everything. In his last book, Knowledge and Critical
Pedagogy: An Introduction he presents his position through a metaphor which he refers to as FIDUROD, and by which he clarifies the issues with the way science is and has been used. FIDUROD is an acronym representing the attributes of the form of knowledge production he argues against: Formal, Intractable, Decontextualized, Universalistic,
Reductionistic, One Dimensional. (See Kincheloe, 2008, pp. 21-24).
2) His work is not based on some indefinable “ludic” postmodernism – It is based on a highly developed
and evolving holistic philosophy. This philosophy is comprised of 12 major points which he describes in his book Critical
Constructivism. The 12 points coalesce together to form his multidimensional critical complex world view. It’s
a new, evolving worldview. We might refer to it as Kincheloe’s multidimensional critical complex unified world view. It forms the foundation of his unique formulation of critical theory, epistemology, ontology, critical psychology
of complexity, the multidimensional critical complex bricolage, etc., -- and his proposed critical science of complexity
– another indication that he did not abandon the sciences. To grasp his conceptualizations, it’s imperative
that new bricoleurs study his unified world view by reading and then writing about how they subjectively relate to it and
to other philosophies. Kincheloe stresses this upfront philosophical work is critical in order to ground any study that uses
bricolage as a process for research. Rigor is impossible without developing a "philosophy of consciousness"
(Kincheloe, 2004a, p. 8).
3) The multidimensional critical complex bricolage is a process for qualitative research that is composed of multiple,
intertwining and overlapping processes. It is not a method, nor does it use “tools” as tools imply precise means
and carries a mechanistic ontology, which does not adequately represent the actual processes that bricoleurs engage in as
they conduct, or a better word would be, “enact” their research. Even the concept of "tools" changes. Kincheloe's
conceptualization of bricolage is grounded with his critical complex philosophical world view (item 2,
above) and a theoretical foundation of evolving criticality (his version of critical theory).
4) The multidimensional critical complex bricolage as a process
involves analytic discourse, intertwined with improvisational actions for change, which moves it away from the constrictive
“quilt” metaphor. Please see my dissertation for a deeper analysis of bricolage including a thorough etymological
exploration and intertextual interpretations of Kincheloe’s definitions of bricolage and bricoleur in relation to what
evolved from my research. New metaphors that take it beyond the one-dimensional “quilt” metaphor, and additional
ways that Berry’s (2004a) concept, the Point of Entry Text (POET) can be applied are also presented. The holistic,
intertwining, dialogical, interconnecting nature of the final bricolage renders the parts inseparable from the whole, and
the bricolage inseparable from greater reality. Thus, the popular metaphoric quilt, montage, crystal, etc., are not suitable
metaphors for this more complex form of bricolage.
5) Kincheloe’s bricolage does not distinguish between “types
of bricoleurs” or “types of bricolage” as denoted by Denzin and Lincoln (2011). While it’s fine to
examine these ideas, Kincheloe’s form of bricolage uses all of them in intertwining, overlapping processes. Thus, the
multidimensional critical complex bricoleur uses all of the dimensions that Kincheloe has spelled out in his 2005 "On
to the Next Level" bricolage article--in one study--and the processes become blurred as the research unfolds. See
next point.
6) Kincheloe’s bricolage refers to the use of different processes as dimensions of research. The bricoleur uses
them all as many times as practical to get a thick description of the phenomenon/a. As the research unfolds, “enactment”
keeps the research jettisoning forward and the researcher must make decisions where to begin and stop various aspects of the
research, including the final bricolage. Thus, the following dimensions are
used, as provided by Kincheloe (2005a) and in no particular order using an iterative, improvisational process weaving
through the discourse: (1) methodological bricolage; (2) theoretical bricolage; (3) interpretive bricolage; (4) political
bricolage; (5) narrative bricolage; (6) philosophical research (constructivism, historicity, epistemological insight); (7)
critical hermeneutics; (8) identification of what is absent; (9) fourth dimension of research in which the bricoleur is future
oriented, discovering “a kinetic epistemology of the possible. In the process, the sophistication of knowledge work
moves to a new cognitive level; the notion of rigor transmigrates to a new dimension. As in a 1950s sci-fi movie, bricoleurs
enter the 4-D—the fourth dimension of research.” (Kincheloe, 2005, p. 346). Thus, bricoleurs weave in and out,
around and through, back and forth through the various dimensions with each pass through informing the next, often using multiple
dimensions of analysis simultaneously.
7) Note again – the philosophical dimension
must form the foundation of the study in order to ensure rigor. [He wanted me to include this again.] "There is no dividing
line between the empirical and the philosophical" (Kincheloe, 2004a, p. 10).
8) Kincheloe’s multidimensional critical complex bricolage
embraces a “fourth dimension” research (more information is covered in my dissertation). This fourth dimension
aspect to the research incorporates an intuitional, creative element that forces the researcher to confront implicate and
explicate orders of reality. There are reasons for this. Combining a sound philosophical, intellectual component of research that
also incorporates intuitional and emotional, empathic aspects -- along with deep semiotic and hermeneutic analyses
synergistically creates something new from the interactions. Enaction during the research process leads to the emergence of
something new and often profound. This is where the power of the bricolage comes into play. It’s the exposure to relationships,
as Kincheloe explains in his conceptualization of symbiotic hermeneutics, that jettisons bricoleurs to seeing and understanding
“anew” and to recreating themselves. Because knowledge is socially constructed new creations, ideas,
concepts, as well as new relationships also perpetually emerge – and are created -- from these interactions.
This all takes place naturally when confronting complexity, difference, and chaos, as Humberto Mautarana and
Francisco Varela posited with their Santiago Theory of Enactivism (see Kincheloe's (2008) Knowledge and Critical
Pedagogy: An Introduction, page 147). It is quite amazing.
9) While bricoleurs do not contend they’ve
discovered the “one true answer” or single truth, at the same time, as Kincheloe contends, they generate knowledge
“that is not as 'badly off the mark'” (Kincheloe, 2008, p. 43). They have better (more complete) and
yet evolving explanations of phenomena. This is quite a different perspective than a nihilistic postmodern “attitude.”
10) I have lined out in my dissertation in much greater detail a flexible iterative process that also explains some of
the key sub-processes that are important to the multidimensional critical complex bricolage. It will get new bricoleurs started
from which they can then proceed to carve out their own unique paths. Each bricolage study will be different even for the
same researcher. The more one acknowledges the fourth dimension aspect of the research (which may only begin with what seem
to be insignificant intuitive and synchronous events), the more they will begin to appear and the more profound and numerous
are the actions and creations that emerge.
11) And finally, as I discussed in my blog, The Heart of the Multidimensional Critical Complex Bricolage, there is the dimension of empathic connection with people. In fact, in his book,
Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, Kincheloe discusses – and includes – a golden strand
of love throughout his work, Eros Love. And since I’m mentioning this book here, it’s a great book to
read in the early stages of learning about his bricolage. It’s much like a “deprogramming” manual because
it uncovers how our consciousnesses have been influenced by outside forces and provides us more information as we embark on
the bricolage quest and begin to take power of constructing our own consciousness.
REFERENCES
Berry, K. L. (2004a). Structures of bricolage and complexity. In J. Kincheloe & K. Berry (2004)
Rigour and Complexity in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage (pp. 103–127). New York: Open
University Press.
Berry, K. L. (2004b). Feedback looping for increasing complexity. In J. Kincheloe & K. Berry (2004)
Rigour and Complexity in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage (pp. 128–146). New York: Open
University Press.
Berry, K. L. (2004c). Bricolage is many a new thing understood. In J. Kincheloe & K. Berry (2004)
Rigour and Complexity in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage (pp. 147–169). New York: Open
University Press.
Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. (Eds.) (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research, Edition
4. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kincheloe, J. L. (2004a). Preface. In J. Kincheloe & K. Berry, Rigour and Complexity in Educational
Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage (pp. ix–xii). New York: Open University Press.
Kincheloe, J. L. (2004b).
Introduction: the power of the bricolage: Expanding research methods. In J. Kincheloe & K. Berry, Rigour and Complexity
in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage (pp. 1–22). New York: Open University Press.
Kincheloe, J.L. (2004c).
Redefining rigor and complexity in research. In J. Kincheloe & K. Berry, Rigour and Complexity in Educational Research:
Conceptualizing the Bricolage (pp. 23–49). New York: Open University Press.
Kincheloe, J.L. (2004d).
Questions of disciplinarity/interdisciplinarity in a changing world. In J. Kincheloe & K. Berry, Rigour and Complexity
in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage (pp. 50–81). New York: Open University Press.
Kincheloe, J. L. (2004e).
Redefining and interpreting the object of study. In J. Kincheloe & K. Berry, Rigour and Complexity in Educational
Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage (pp. 82–102). New York: Open University Press.
Kincheloe, J.
L. (2005a). On to the next level: Continuing the conceptualization of the bricolage. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(3),
323–350..
Kincheloe, J. L. (2005b). Critical constructivism.
New York: Peter Lang.
Kincheloe, J. L. (2008). Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: And Introduction. Amsterdam: Springer.
Copyright
May 11, 2013 by Vanessa Paradis
Please cite as:
Paradis, V. J. (2013). Correcting some common misconceptions surrounding
Joe Kincheloe’s bricolage and critical complex theories. May 11, 2013. Retrieved from www.joekincheloe.us
NOW YOU CAN SEARCH THIS SITE FOR TOPICS OF INTEREST. I HAVE COVERED A HUGE ARRAY OF TOPICS AND THERE
IS A LOT OF INFORMATION HERE TO HELP LAUNCH RESEARCH PROJECTS OR JUST TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW.
Welcome
to Venus & Sanat-Eros-Enki Kumara's ONE LOVE PATH
and the Great Global Golden TreasureHunt
(Scroll down to read the blogs)
Enjoy our Celtic Wedding (07-17-2014) theme song while you read and look for hidden treasures.
Composer & Producer
- Peter Gundry
MAY 22, 2018 UPDATE. Looks like Peter has chosen the dark side.
We will choose another
song for our wedding celebration.
I will consult with Beloved and post our new song soon. Happy Twin Flame Day!!
COOL!!! It Looks Like Conan O’Connor, Springer Science + Business Media, and I Are All On the Same Page!
Vanessa’s In Box
Conan
O’Connor, Springer Science + Business Media, and I: We Are All “On the Same Page”
Just a few days ago, on Tuesday, January 26, 2010, in fact, I started the “ORACLE Readings” of Joe’s book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy:
An Introduction. That’s where I just randomly open the book up anywhere each day and pick just one sentence
(the very first sentence I see) and provide an interpretation or illustrate an application of that sentence. Lo AND
Behold! I just received a letter from Conan O’Connor yesterday and SURE ENOUGH!! That is exactly what
Springer Science + Business Media is requesting – that I just use one sentence “where possible.” I could
hardly believe it! We are all on the same page!
Anyway, I do appreciate the attorneys getting back to me, finally, with more precise obfuscated
details and giving me time to figure out how to kowtow to Springer (that just means to make them happy). I thought it was
nice that they are willing to work with me and give me time to decipher what they want. What is not so nice is 1)
the demands are still not clear, which is beginning to make it look like they are playing a “cat and mouse game”
and 2) that they ignored my question: Where is Joe's paperback version of the book?And their instructions
are still filled with obfuscation which tells me they really do not know me. Generally, if something is obfuscated, people
will bend over backwards trying to please or satisfy the request. With me, obfuscation is like a “free-for-all.”
It means I am free to interpret it however I choose – or not.
The sad thing is that it was Joe’s wishes that the masses be able to afford
to buy his book. He had expressed throughout all of his work that he wanted his theory applied to ALL LEVELS OF EDUCATION
FOR ALL PEOPLE. So the masses are being ripped off as long as this book remains unavailable in the $30 paperback version which
was to be published 6 months after the library edition – which Joe had negotiated for 12 years to get included in the
contract. Who changed the contract? Why is my question being ignored? Are we censoring here? Or are we banning books for certain
populations? Are we in the DARK AGES again? What’s going on?
Or is the book being published in paperback
form and will be released soon? At least my question should have been answered.
I am amazed that they didn’t even take me up on my offer to
write a workbook that they could sell along with the paperback, which I offered to do just in case money is the issue and
they want to increase their profits. It can’t get better than that. This is a book that the masses will buy along
with the workbook. It will be less than $150, but it is destined to be on the BEST SELLER LIST and
the quantities sold will more than make up for the lower price….this book is just destined for a worldwide impact.
Joe said so in the book, and Joe always told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Springer is losing out
big time by passing this up.
Dr.
Mercola states, “Congressman Ron Paul said the following in one of his speeches before Congress earlier this year, and
it sums up my sentiments exactly:”
"Is this a dream or a nightmare? Is it my imagination or have we lost our minds? It is surreal.
It is just not believable. A grand absurdity. A great deception. A delusion of momentous proportions based on preposterous
notions and ideas whose time should never have come.
Insanity passed off as logic. Evil described as virtue. Ignorance pawned off as wisdom.
Slavery sold as liberty. The philosophy that destroys us is not even defined. We have broken from reality, a psychotic nation.
Ignorance with a pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom." (Congressman Ron Paul).
And what are my thoughts? When it comes to FIDURODians, you just have to act CRAZIER than they
do….it really throws them out of kilter! Reference: throw out of kilter
And so, that’s my Sunday….maybe tomorrow
I will start on a book review, if I feel like it. One of my master teachers told me yesterday to just enjoy each moment of
my life. He said, “Don’t think about the ‘shoulds’ and ‘oughts.’ If it is meant to be,
it will be. Never feel guilty about taking some time for yourself to relax and rejuvenate. Be in the moment; enjoy it and
don’t think about what you should be doing. For this is the greatest key to ensure you have a happy, blissful life.
Everything else will fall in place as it will and you shall be fully blessed. You need not worry. I am here for you –
always.” (which turned out to be yesterday’s song, “Here I Am” by Leona Lewis,
upon plugging the phrase into YouTube.
Today’s “Oracle” Reading; I mean, One Random Sentence from Joe’s Book
It is time for my
favorite part of the blog. I should note that soon the blogs will be very reduced in length. I think I already mentioned that
this directive has come down to me from my Master Teachers, although they always leave it to me and my discretion if I want
to add anything above and beyond the daily reading from Joe’s book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction
and the Specially Selected Music for the day -- and soon, the book reviews.
So, here goes, right now. I will just open up the book and see what
comes up.
Here it is: “In this conceptual context the traditional notion of truth and certainty is fundamentally questioned
by a critical epistemology” (p. 29).
Clearly, this is a prime example of the disadvantage of being “allowed” to use only one
sentence. We have to now ask, What conceptual context? This is standard for Joe’s work; it is very, very complex and
rarely do sentences out of context have much meaning unless you really know his work.
What Joe was referring to was a dialectical interchange between us
as the “knower” and what it is that we think we “know.” I put of those words in quotation marks because
both of them change. We are never the exact same person we were yesterday (or even moment by moment), nor will we be the exact
same person tomorrow. It is an illusion and a huge misconception as well as a form of imprisonment to box people in that way.
We are not the same person in different contexts or environments. Who we are and how we define ourselves is always a moving
target due to our interrelationships with everything and everyone around us. Likewise, what we know is also dynamic. Seems
obvious, and yet in 3D FIDUROD land it is quite amazing how people get so hung up on “writing in stone,” so to
speak. That may have worked in the past, but it is a source of extreme distress to those today who still want to operate
out of that paradigm. It is just one of the paradigms that is crumbling today. If we adopt Joe’s critical epistemology,
we fully understand that everything is continuously changing. Therefore, we do not get so locked in and bogged down where
we maintain a habit of reacting a certain way according to an unchanging definition of what we "know" or
act as if everything was occurring outside of ourselves and as if our own actions and thoughts do not have an
influence on what is happening around us. We need to seek a greater and more in depth understanding of the complex interrelationships
so that we are never thrown off guard. If we expect anything and everything we are prepared for anything. As we expand in
our ability to see possibilities, we become less restricted and more creative in ways to create the outcomes
we prefer. We realize there is never just one single “truth” but there are multiple truths and often these truths
are all occurring simultaneously. Once one becomes skillful in recognizing and evaluating the various truths, it is easier
to find creative actions and solutions that work for everyone. Eventually this will lead to freedom for us all. Of course,
let me remind readers: this is just one interpretation of what Joe has lined out here. There are also more concrete explanations
which he covers in this particular subchapter, so I encourage you to read pages 29-30 for several “takes” on these
ideas.
Joe’s
Single-Authored and Co-Authored Books Are Now Listed on His Special Page, About Joe Lyons Kincheloe.
I am going to start my reviews with his single-authored
books, beginning with the oldest and working up the list to the newest. Thus, my first review will begin with:
Understanding the New Right and Its Impact on Education.(1983). Bloomington, Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa. Please have a great Sunday and take my Master Teachers’ advice: Don’t worry, don’t stress. It isn’t
worth it in the long run. Focus on enjoying each moment of the day. Close your eyes and envision the violet flame (which is VERY beautiful, if you can see it) and let it transmute all of the negative stuff. It really works! Believe
me I have had a lot of negative stuff to transmute and I have more still, no doubt. The weird thing was, I did not know anything
about the violet flame at all (or any of this esoteric stuff). It just started appearing several months ago whether I closed
my eyes or not and it was so beautiful and relaxing that I was pretty much awestruck by it. I saw it as a gift that someone
was giving me from some other realm. In fact, I did not know it was even called a violet flame; I just called it a purple
light. It appeared for months upon months and then I happened to come across a reference to the “purple flame.”
As I looked closer at this purple light, I could see that it really does look like purple flames. I finally thought to research
what it was all about and I learned more about the violet flame and found that many people have this powerfully healing experience.
Most people have to meditate and work at it to make it appear. I have been fortunate in that it just seems to be automatically
“sent” to me with no effort at all on my part. I guess one would call it a “phenomenological experience.”
I asked one of my Master Teachers about it finally, and she said that it means my “third eye is beginning to open.”
Whatever does that mean? Whatever will I get to see? I have not had a chance to discuss this in detail with her yet or research
it in depth; I hope to soon….She told me to read The Third Eye by T. Lobsang Rampa and then we will talk about
it some more. So, that's what I am doing. She is such a great teacher! I just really love her...I love all of my Master Teachers
and I reallly seem to have a lot of them. What is that saying? Something about when you are ready to learn, your teacher will
appear. I have been abundantly fortunate by being blessed with many, many Master Teachers.
Have a great Sunday.
Peace, Love, and Joyful Abundance for us All (there REALLY is enough to
go around; I do not understand why so many people buy into the unreality of scarcity), Vanessa
P.S.This morning, I awakened to “Put Your Head on My Shoulder.” When I researched
You Tube, the version that came to the top was this one by Paul Anka. It is significant, which I will explain later…the
next song was given to me right after this one, again significant. There are clues in both songs. I will
explain tomorrow. In the meantime, the songs are dedicated to all people who believe in love.
Has Bill Gates Gone Mad? $10 BILLION for Vaccines? PLUS Joe’s Quote and the Music for Today
Has Bill Gates Gone Mad? From Katie Drummond article: The $10 billion donation is being lauded by the international community, but a 2007
investigation by the Los Angeles Times concluded that the Gates' international medical aid was actually putting children at risk.
At the time, efforts to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria led to highly specialized medical training and a subsequent shortage
of basic-care doctors. In turn, more children died of common ailments like sepsis and diarrhea.
The disproportionate
focus on certain illnesses has also meant that resources were diverted away from basic needs, like clean water and food, which,
ironically, are necessary for the proper digestion of AIDS medications provided by the foundation's dollars.
And
while there's no doubt that more money, and more attention, are fundamentally important in saving the lives of vulnerable
children, health experts have cautioned against over-celebrating large-scale donations like this one. Source: Katie Drummond
We are living in a phenomenal age. If we can spend the early decades of the 21st century finding approaches that meet the
needs of the poor in ways that generate profits and recognition for business, we will
have found a sustainable way to reduce poverty in the world. – Bill Gates in his speech on “Creative Capitalism.”
Bill Gates Has Big Dreams, But Are They Good Dreams?
You be the judge….read, research, and try to figure out what
is in between the lines, if you can.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Random Quote for today from Joe’s Book Well, I will open the book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, right now and
see what comes up. Ah, it is one of the attributes of those nasty FIDURODians. Here’s what I read immediately when I
opened up the book to a random page, which turned out to be page 22. Here, Joe is talking about the FIDURODian-enforced
form of knowledge: Formal – produced by rigid adherence
to a particular research methodology that never changes no matter what new circumstances are encountered, no matter how much
these new circumstances might lend themselves to rethinking the mode of inquiry one is using. (page 22). Very interesting. This is why I will not pay the money to join the American
Educational Research Association. Not only are they rigidly stuck on positivistic research (as funded by the government, of
course), they remain Janus two-faced in their call for people to “get along.” This obfuscated position by which
they appear to support all forms of research and yet fund positivistic research is a recipe for disharmony and worse;
it will keep education stuck in the dinosaur ages while people continue to suffer. Here’s what I’m talking about. Obfuscation– Understanding complex ecologies in a changing world Carol D. Lee, AERA 2010 President Ronald Rochon, AERA 2010 General Program Chair This is my favorite quote even though I don't understand it: Finally, examining learning within and across the complex
ecologies of peoples’ lives inevitably requires that we address how political and economic factors create inequities
in opportunities to learn. Such inequities are exacerbated when the dominant discourse of education research articulates hierarchies
of particular constellations of ecologies as inherently deviant and pathological or when such research views understanding
the diverse ecologies of peoples’ lives as a purely political social good and not as a scientific enterprise of fundamental
importance aimed at articulating generative theories of human learning. Strictly Formal
and Quantitative Research Anybody?
AERA Research Grants AERA Dissertation Grants WhatEVER is a new scholar in education to do? I am SO CONFUSED. (Looks like we are on our own, unless we want
to support the status quo along with the continuing suffering all over the world.) The Music for Today
This
is interesting. I awakened to no music. But sitting on my desk this morning was a message that was left by
one of my Master Teachers that simply has the title of the song Hey World by Michael Franti, FrantiV Haiti
Version. He had apparently given it to Rainbow Princess again, which he does every so often. So this is the primary song for
today. I will look it up right now, since I have never heard it before. It should be noted that the quotation for today from
Joe's book correlates highly with the song (according to my teachers and as confirmed by my own analysis).
Oh,
and about the Black-Eyed Peas, their song "Meet Me Half Way" and how the award was given to them and then taken
away, which I discussed the other day: According to my teachers, that was all rigged. There is method behind
the madness, so to speak. It is a very common tactic of those in power. In fact, their protocols call for it. Think about
it. In fact think about it in terms of epistemology (knowledge), power, control, and the desire to keep us all (at the bottom) from
being happy and self-sufficient -- and stuck at the bottom.
The second song was
given to me last night at our meeting. One of my teachers told me, “I am here for you always.” That is a clue
to the song. I searched it on YouTube and this very beautiful song by Leona Lewis came right to the top. This is a beautiful
love song. In spite of the horror and tragedy going on around us, and in tune with the blues and Joe's Blue Knowledge
in his book, Critical Constructivism, we must keep LOVE in the forefront at all
times. Here I am – Leona Lewis
What is Barack Obama's karmic role in leading the U.S. at this time?
Barack Obama's karmic contract is to be a leader
for the world, not just a leader for the U.S. His legal contract is to lead the U.S, but his karmic contract is to be
a leader for the world. His karmic contract is to be a catalyst for enlightening change in the world. A catalyst
is a substance or an object that facilitates change. It does not make the change occur – instead, it initiates
and enhances a process and that is precisely what his role is to be. Source: Jen Arameth, MA
Mutual of Omaha
is Pestiferous I thought
it was quite weird that I received THREE “second chances” from Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance all in one day in
my snail mail. In large type on the front of each very large envelope: “Here’s that second chance you hoped for,”
I wonder if it crossed their minds that perhaps if I didn’t take them up on their first offer for life insurance that
I would not be interested in THREE second chances….or do they know something I don’t know? Is it an omen? On
the same day, I also received an offer for life insurance from AARP. I "get it" it now. It is not what I first thought
at all....I am recreating my life; it is my "second chance." I wondered why they named that big massive virtual
reality game "second life." You can either do it virutally or in real life (which is also virtual, according to
some interpretations).
I
am including this because so many of us are experiencing financial difficulties right now and this is such a positive, affirming
and hopeful message: ”As you honor and follow the guidance of your heart prosperity is coming to you now.” This
has been an especially big issue for me since I am unemployed and looking for work, but also working on projects that I hope
will make a difference in the world, but I am feeling very restricted financially.
Follow your guidance and you will be supported every step of the
way. Yes, you are on the right path and you will be supported as you follow that path. As you give you will receive. Allow
yourself to trust. Allow yourself to receive. Pay attention to your ideas. Trust in the validity of those ideas. Put them
into action. Take one step in the direction of your dreams. Everything else falls in place automatically. Focus on your divine
direction.
Random Quotation from Joe’s
Book In the same way we have entered a dangerous ecological era, we have
also entered a precarious epistemological epoch – and the two domains are not unrelated. (Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, p. 48)
Most of us are highly aware
of the dangerous ecological era we live in. The poorest among us live in highly toxic environments. On this web site I have
presented the issues surrounding the Appalachian Mountains in which ruthless corporations such as Massey Energy are blowing
up the mountains to extract the coal. This has created an ecological disaster and this is only one example. American Indian
sacred lands are being permanently destroyed by using them as nuclear waste sites in spite of agreements that had been made.
If you read http://www.mercola.com/ which is written by a licensed medical doctor, you will see that our food is literally comprised of nonfood ingredients as
well as thousands of toxic chemicals, many of which are known carcinogens. The food that is most targeted is the food that
the poor can afford to buy. It is very difficult to find affordable food that is not laden with high fructose corn syrup,
which is known to cause all kinds of health effects from diabetes, to weight gain, and even heart disease. Why do these corporate
moguls want us unhealthy? Of course, so that we have to buy their crazy pharmaceuticals. Medication, anyone? Now, there is
even a pill to take to make sure your antidepressant works (never mind that one of the side effects is death). You can read
about it on Dr. Mercola's website.
How
does this relate to epistemology? Epistemology is knowledge….the masses must be kept stupid. And for the most part,
this is sadly true. Most of us are ignorant about truth. What Joe is calling for here is that we unite education and the knowledge
of politics behind that education. We expose the motivations behind the knowledge that we are spoon fed. If we do not, freedom,
democracy and liberty will be forgotten concepts.
We must not forget yesterday’s quotation in this quest for knowledge. All knowledge is worthy
of considering. The educational elite will object to such things as Doreen’s oracle readings. Why? Ask yourself why.
Personally, I find the positive words of her reading today very empowering. I do not listen to her readings
daily, but I just happened to today and it was very relevant to my life right now and I enjoyed the positive words that give
me hope and strength.
Of
course, this knowledge would not be acceptable in school. We have to ask ourselves why would the educational elite object
to any of the knowledges that people at the bottom who are struggling might find empowering? Who are they
working for?
Joe was very
clear in yesterday’s quotation that our epistemological (knowledge) foundation include ”worldwide input.” Doreen Virtue is a licensed, practicing psychologist.
She has found something that is very powerful and empowering.
Upcoming Book Reviews Well that’s it for today. I will be starting the book reviews soon. Of course,
I will begin with Joe’s books since this website is about his work. Other than the fact that I would like to provide
the information about Joe’s work for other people to reference, as is one of the goals of this website, I also have
some very important reasons for reviewing his books. And they are all 10-star books on the 5-star scale, so I will start with
the best books and work my way down.
Today’s Music I awakened this morning to “She’ll Be Coming around the Mountain.” Strange, even by
my standards. But I never question my Master Teachers. When you are provided a lighted pathway, you just take one step at
a time in trust, faith and love, knowing that you are progressing toward your own divine purpose. Vanessa
OH!! I know what this is
about. I LOVE my teachers. They are so funny and so sweet. It's about me traveling around mountains while I am at my
computer in my pink pajamas....lol.
The New Blog Format: Anything Goes PLUS What Is A Critical Complex Epistemologist?
Reminder: As I have been mentioning for the last few days, my Master Teachers have asked me to take a turn in my blogs (but
not a postmodern turn). So ,today is the first day of the new format.
The Golden Chalice Award Goes To . . .
The Black Eyed Peas for winning the award for the best international group at the NRJ Music Awards Show in
France and for their stellar performance! I just love this song!
The Raspberry Award Goes To . . . The
host of the NRJ Music Awards for taking it upon himself to steal the award and give it to another group.
And what did he have to say for himself? “It happens.”What a JERK. Source: Oliver Miller [Just to be
perfectly clear: This is satirical and I don't know French. Oh, and congratulations to Tokio Hotel.] The "Crime"
Vanessa’s Inbox On Obama!Well, I finally heard
back regarding the email I wrote to Obama. I asked him to do an INSTANT MONETARY RESET. What is that? It’s when all
of us peons have gotten our tax refunds and immediately after all taxes have been paid in Obama signs an executive order wiping
away all debt. No one owes anyone anything and we own our houses, cars, and everything else free and clear. We start all over
again. Sure enough, in his speech the other night he said he will issue
an executive order to create a commission that "will provide a specific set of solutions by a certain deadline.”
It’s looking good. As I have said several times, Obama will be flipping some tables. The
day is approaching. April is the time to really be watching Obama and by midsummer there will be no doubt Obama is in there
for the people, not those global elite (he sure is good at fooling them, though).
I’m still waiting to hear about Obama's investigation into universities that hold students’ financial
aid until mid-semester or later. This is causing extreme hardship for far too many students and there is no viable
justification for doing this. Some universities are even lying to students about their reasons for holding the money so long.
Some heads will be rolling on this one (that means some people will be getting fired).
And -from the New York Times today – It
looks like Obama is planning ahead for the BIG PARTY! Remember, I talked about the big 11-11-11 party
in an earlier blog. Check out these headlines: “Obama to Party: ‘Don’t Run for the Hills’” My Horoscope for Today:Scorpio - Jan 28, 2010 Do your best to make some positive fresh starts today, and try not to let anything stand in your way right now. (I thought that was interesting since today is the first day
of my “NEW Blogs.”) Today is a special day, too…I wonder what surprises are in store.
Five Ways for Teachers to Quit Taking it Personally: #1 Don’t Read Into Things The problem: Teachers are always thinking about things, sometimes too much. Don’t add extra words
or tone that isn’t in correspondence. The solution: Take things at face value. If you don’t understand
the point someone is trying to make, ask for clarification. Don’t assume anything.(Source:
Jill Hare)
Last, But Not Least:
Sage Advice from Brian Kim Today Think
back to your chemistry high school class. You put one chemical in a beaker. What
happens? Not much. You
put another chemical in that beaker, you might get a reaction. If you don't
put other "chemicals" in your beaker of life, there's not going to be a
reaction. Nothing will change. It
helps to constantly add new "chemicals" in your beaker, such as different places to
eat, hike, other people, books, movies, etc. Sooner or later, the chemicals WILL react in interesting
and surprising ways. In your favor. Source: http://www.briankim.net
Contest Up Ahead! Prizes! Money! One of my readers has graciously donated some prize money, $200
bucks so far, for this new contest. We are having a word creation contest (also called a neologism contest
if you want the big word for it). You will have to read my blog about how this works right here. So, what you have to do is either: 1) Take an existing word and give it a new and funny definition;
or 2) take an existing word and change, add, or subtract one letter to make a new word and give it a funny definition.
In my blog the other day, I created haverdash (from haberdash) and gave it the definition, “the race to keep
up with the Joneses.”
Today,
I came up with another one. I am always feeling somewhat destitute these days. Change the d to p and what
you have is pestitute – that’s when you have one of those defective car alarms that go off incessantly. Someone
just walks by your car and that blasted horn toots.
Send me your words! I will keep a database
of all of them and I will publish them right here on this web site. Then we can all vote for our favorites. Maybe by the end
of the contest the prize money will be bigger… You can email your words to me, Vanessa.
Joe’s Advice, Oracle-Style Using
a book as an “oracle” simply means you just open it up and see if it has something to say to you. I discovered
that Joe’s book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction is great for this. This is not minimizing
his work by any means. Again, I must reiterate that this book is so profound and world-changing, and it has
so many applications that I have yet to discover them all. I discussed some of them in yesterday's blog. Still, it is
quite magical and amazing how many times I have opened up his book and found the perfect quotation for whatever happened to
be important for the moment. So today, I will just open up his book, oracle-style (and this way I only use one sentence
from the book and will not be criticized by the powers that be for using too many citations or words from his book) and we
will see what pops up. So here goes ….
This is the very first sentence that came to me on the page I opened up:
Thus, to build a critical complex epistemology we use critical
theory with indigenous and worldwide input as our foundation, add feminist theory, complexity and chaos theory, a significant
sprinkle of cultural studies, and our own pedagogical and hermeneutic (the study of interpretation, meaning making) insights.
(page 61).
I find this quotation
very interesting for a number of reasons. First, here Joe has given us his formula for how he constituted his theory and has
essentially defined for us a critical complex epistemologist; that is, he has given us all of the ingredients
that went into his theory and what we need to do as critical complex epistemologists. At the same time, he clearly has left
doors open for us all to reconstitute his theory in ways that work in different contexts and for different teachers, researchers,
learners, etc. As can be easily seen NO ONE is left out of the picture – he calls for “worldwide input.”
In other words, everyone everywhere provides input. We do not shut down anyone even if they do not communicate in the traditional
formal way that is so often required by educators or if their knowledge happens to be vastly different than Westernized "traditional"
knowledge.
There is so much more
to say about this quotation, but it is beyond the scope of this short blog. As is always the case, Joe has put so
much depth into even one mere sentence that we could literally write an entire book based on this one sentence alone. I
will have to cover it in another format. Suffice it to say: All knowledges of all peoples need to be factored into our foundation
for education along with the other elements Joe has specified in this sentence. What this means is, we do not discount any
knowledge, no matter how it might seem to be evaluated as "trivial" by some people. Clearly, Joe is advocating here
that we can learn from virtually all perspectives. Sadly, discounting most forms of knowledge is exactly
what education today seems to be about. Again, this is an indication that we need to make some drastic changes in the
way we teach and learn today and the sooner we all realize this and take actions toward this, the better and happier we can
all be.
Good to Go!My Master Teachers just checked over this blog and said it’s good to go except
they wanted me to add one “last song,” and just before they left I was told, “We shall meet again.”
I will look these up on You Tube.
I’m sorry, I rarely tell my Master Teachers
no. But even I have limits on what I will post on my blogs. The very first video that popped up when I searched on “We
shall meet again,” is simply not one that I will publish and corrupt my blogs with. I don’t know where my
teachers are coming from sometimes. They should know by now I do have limits to what I am willing to do, and I really
never cared for Shakespeare, anyway. Thank God for free will and for teachers who are always willing to meet me halfway. Instead
of their choice, I went down the list of music videos and made MY choice.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt, Part 22. On Suspension: Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?
This treasure hunt has been long and winding. Truth be told, all treasure hunts can be long and winding because there are
so many different directions they can go; there are so many choice points along the way with infinite choices. There is no
right way or wrong way to go. Each person who embarks on a specific treasure hunt is likely to take a different route and
end up in a different place.
Review
of the Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt
When this Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt began, I thought I would be manifesting a 2010
Steel Blue Mercury Mariner (and the “soul” surprise was me inside the mariner). You will have to read from Part
1 to see how this treasure hunt started, how it merged with the NEW Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure Hunt, and
all of the places it has been. As it turns out, there are so MANY ways just the title of the treasure hunt alone can be interpreted.
For example, we have the vehicle, we have the “soul man” who travels on the dusty road, we had the blocked bridge
guarded by the “epistemological trolls” (Joe’s words) so we took the Ferry cross the Mersey and found the
site of a musical explosion in Liverpool – a sort of phoenix rising midst the blues which is worth studying more
so that we can learn how to repeat it in other places; we have Blues Highway 61 and Joe’s Blue Knowledge that helps
alleviate suffering; and now we are traveling down Highway 61 over to Route 66 to head up to “Sweet Home Chicago,”
along the way paying tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan a blues musician who was tragically killed in a helicopter crash on the
way to perform at a second blues venue back in 1990. The last song he sang was “Sweet Home Chicago.”
The important thing to remember about treasure hunting is that we are seeking ways to alleviate human suffering. This
was always Joe's mission. Uncover the source of our pain and search for ways to alleviate it. What is so interesting about
the concept of treasure hunting, in my view, is that it brings right to the forefront the fact that there are many ways we
can get out from under our captors (the elite power wielders) and we have so many choices. This is a huge revelation! So often,
those of us who are vicitimized by the people above us on the hierarchical ladder get to feeling we are stuck and forever
destined to be abused, misused, and violated by those above us for their own narcissistic and greedy purposes. This is
just not true! We do not have to stay frozen in time and feel that we have no options. I encourage everyone to take some of
my past treasure hunts on these blogs and go off in other directions with them. Or create your own new treasure hunts. Find
solutions to your pain that will work for you and solutions to the pain of others who are less fortunate that will work
for them. Don't accept the lies fed to you that severely limit your possibilities and make you feel trapped. And don't dwell
on the pain; that will only lead to what the power wielders have dubbed "learned helplessness," just another
tactic for blaming the victim and keeping them stuck. Experience your pain and move on. Dwell on the solutions and taking
concrete actions! Rejoice in the fact that there are many choices and infinite opportunities. The magic of "treasure
hunting" is that we can become more aware of what those opportunities are. This is just one of the beautiful gifts
that Joe left us in his work. There are many more waiting to be discovered.
Those are just some highlights of this long, winding treasure hunt and there
are more interpretations of just the title of this hunt alone, but one of them is so sad that I will not discuss it here.
It is quite strange how this particular interpretation manifested in my life in a rather peculiar way, but by now I expect
almost anything while being guided by the best master teachers of the universe. As I have said before, I am holding someone’s
hand who shines the light on the path “just in time,” so to speak. I cannot see up ahead or where we are going,
and I go pretty much on “blind faith,” as some people might call it. More accurately, it is surrender and trust
in the process of living life to its fullest. In my personal interpretation, and again, everyone will have their own interpretations,
it is total trust in the process with the knowledge that there will always be divine guidance, I am never alone, and it is
all for a beautiful purpose out there ahead. Perhaps in a future book I can go into more detail.
There have also been many threads to this particular treasure hunt: some fun puzzles were discovered in Joe’s book (has
anyone decoded the Secret Agent dogs’ message yet?). There have been bogus letters and emails sent to me along with
fires and flames along the trail putting demands on me that are impossible given that I am not the one calling the shots here.
If I were calling the shots, I would have graciously bowed out long before this. These sorts of things cannot be done if you
are all alone. No, I am guided due to the importance of standing up for our rights -- our freedom in both action and speech.
Freedom to dance. This is only part of what I have been told. It goes much beyond that, even.
What’s Coming Up the Pike?
I received a most excruciatingly beautiful message yesterday. I would love to publish it in my blogs, but I know most readers
are stuck in fidurod land and would not really get that much out of it and figure that I was just making it all up. I am saving
it for a book in the future when more people are receptive to these sorts of messages. Why “excruciatingly” beautiful?
Because it is such a beautiful message that it literally makes me cry to read it – not out of sadness, but rather out
of joy from realizing the significance of its meaning for setting people free. That was one of the goals of this treasure
hunt, by the way: The truth shall set you free. But as we have also learned there are steps involved in accepting
truth and we are stuck on step two:
Truth is Violently Opposed Before It is Accepted as Self Evident Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was a German
philosopher known for his philosophical clarity. In my view he has made one of the most valuable observations on the shifting
of human views on truth as he stated that all truth goes through three steps: 1.First, it is ridiculed. 2.Second, it is violently opposed. 3.Finally, it is accepted as self-evident (Reference: Dr. Mercola, www.mercola.com)
So, since very few people are really
ready to be set free, The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt goes “on suspension”
according to my Master Teachers for the time being. (Interesting play on words, here.)This was mentioned a day or two ago.
Today is the day. I am sad about that because I really enjoy this treasure hunt. They have told me that I have plenty to pick
up on and put into a book now. This is what they wish for me to do. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, they said the blogs
would be taking a “turn” and that it would not be a “postmodern turn.” They have added some new elements
to my blogs: Vanessa’s Mailbox and they have added book reviews along with a five
star rating system, which I discussed a couple of days ago. I have not received the criteria for the book reviews yet. I expect
that these will be starting tomorrow, although you can read more about them in yesterday’s blog.
One thing will not change. The blogs will still demonstrate Joe’s theory. In fact, I have been asked to do a sort of
“Oracle Reading” each day. This is not what one might think. Oracles can be divine, but they
do not necessarily have to be. Since there were complaints about me “stealing words” from Joe’s book, I
will just be using one sentence only, which is a highly acceptable way of using quotations. So, each day I will just open
up the book anywhere, pick a sentence off that page and write an interpretation. Note that I said “an”
interpretation. This implies that there will, of course be many other possible interpretations and I will simply be presenting
my own interpretation on any given day (which might be different on a different day). I just want to make sure everyone is
clear about that. There are ALWAYS multiple ways one might interpret something.
The last book Joe wrote is a prime example. Obviously, Knowledge and Critical
Pedagogy: An Introduction is a textbook, and a damned good one. I will be using it in my teacher courses so I am still
hoping that Springer will print the more affordable paperback version (see yesterday’s blog) since
most of my students are not rich enough to pay $150 for a textbook. In addition to a textbook, I have shown how it can be
used for lifetime quests to “find the golden keys” as well as a sort of golden chalice that holds many great secrets.
It is also a puzzle book. We have barely scratched the surface as far as all of the great puzzles and word games he has hidden
within. Joe was big into words and there is a logical reason for that. The better handle we can get on language, the more
successful learners we are and the less likely those elite power wielders can pull a “fast one” on us. His book
is also a history book, a music book, a mass media analysis book, a social studies book, a guidebook for successfully reaching
2012 and beyond, a psychology book, a science book, and more! I am still working on decoding and identifying all of the possible
interpretations and uses for Joe’s book. He was truly a multiperspectival person and his bricolage research methodology
is what allowed for the creation of the knowledge enclosed in the pages of this book that can be so widely applied.
Future Treasure Hunts
My Master Teachers wanted
me to remind people that the treasure hunts never really end. We will be picking up with them once again about Spring or Summer
and along with them will a brand new, very exciting Treasure Hunting Adventure. You will see many wonderful things manifest
during the treasure hunts coming up the pike.For now, I have a TON of work to do. It is good work. It
makes me happy, so my Master Teachers chose the song “Whistle While You Work” for today’s music.
However, they also thought this happy
song should be balanced with “something dark.” Don’t ask me why. I do not question these things because
they have far superior knowledge as compared to me. We will see what they meant by that on You Tube. Here’s the song
that came right up to the top when I searched on “something dark”:
Wow, Battlestar Galactica.
I wonder what it means. Oh well, my teachers reassured me, saying that they are “Always there for you” so I’ll
see if that brings up something more positive….
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt, Part 21: Our Forgotten Rural Communities and Joe’s Paperback
Version of Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction
Vanessa’s Inbox
This is a new feature I am just beginning today in my blogs. I get some really interesting email as well as snail mail from
my students, friends, and other places, so I thought I would share some of them here on a regular basis (the
public ones, that is; I would never share private emails, of course). You can see that we love playing
with words by this interesting chain letter I received yesterday in my email inbox (I get a lot
of these).
I think we
really need and want Joe’s book Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction in paperback
form so that we can all afford it and have the opportunity to find Joe's great puzzles, riddles, hidden messages,
and predictions. We would all just love it! Joe knew what those of us at the bottom of the ladder would enjoy and he made
sure he included plenty of it in his books! Here's what we are playing right now:
Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly
neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
The winners:1. Coffee (n.), the person
upon whom one coughs. 2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have
gained. 3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach. 4.
Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk. 5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent. 6.
Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown. 7.
Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp. 8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavoured mouthwash. 9.
Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller. 10.
Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline. 11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam. 12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted byproctologists. 13.
Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist. 14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with
Yiddishisms. 15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that,when you die,
your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there. 16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts
worn by Jewish men.
The Washington
Post's Style Invitational also askedreaders to take any word from the dictionary,
alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
This year's winners: 1. Bozone (n.): The substance
surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of
breaking down in the near future 2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the
purpose of getting laid. 3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially
impotent for an indefinite period. 4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high. 5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it. 6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late. 7.
Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness. 8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra
credit.) 9. Karmageddon (n): it’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really
bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer. 10.
Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you. 11.
Glibido (v): All talk and no action. 12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem
smarter when they come at you rapidly. 13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just
after you've accidentally walked through a spider web. 14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets
into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out. 15. Caterpallor
(n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature:
16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
My Teacher Helped Me Play This Game; He’s
So Nice
It is so cool because right now I have a lot of very special teachers providing me support. I call these extra special
teachers my Master Teachers. They support my ongoing phenomenological research. One of my Master Teachers is just
SO CUTE. I really love him and he kinda likes me…a little bit taboo for a teacher-student relationship, but we don’t
care, which is why I can write about it in my blog. Yesterday, I told him, “You’re too cute for me.” And
he just said “Haberdash!”
I had no idea what haberdash means so
I had to look it up in an online dictionary (I think there was strategy involved in the word he selected - just like
a teacher; he's "bad to the bone"). Haberdash means “dealing in small wares.” For some reason,
that struck me as being very funny. It’s more original than saying something like “Nonsense!” or saying
“oh, no, that’s not true,” or "it doesn't matter" and it has so much more meaning. So then
I got the idea of turning haberdash into one of those new and creative words like I received in my email yesterday –
my first try at this game. Here’s what I ended up with:
Haverdash (n) – the race to keep up with the Joneses
For those who do not know about the Joneses, wikipedia comes to
the rescue again:
"
Keeping up with the Joneses " is a catchphrase in many parts of the English-speaking world referring to the comparison
to one's neighbour as a benchmark for social caste or the accumulation of material goods.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_up_with_the_Joneses
I think it’s not too
bad for my first try. This game is kind of fun. You should try it! If you’re a teacher, give your student a break from
all of those BORING vocabulary worksheets and let them try this one. Perhaps you might suggest some big words for them to
change. Better still would be to let them peruse the dictionary, find a big word, learn its definition and then create something
new. They could draw pictures - or they could make a class video demonstrating their new words…what a party that would
be!
Knowledge
and Critical Pedagogy in Paperback Form?
Oh yes! Now, here is something most people probably do not know; I am not sure how many people Joe shared this information
with, but he did share it with me. It took him 12 years to get the Springer contract that specified that
within 6 months of publication of his book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, an
inexpensive paperback version would be printed so that we ALL can afford to buy it. It is quite clear that he wanted this
book to reach the masses, not just those who can afford a college education and expensive textbooks.
What I would like to know is whatever happened
to the paperback version? I actually asked this question to the attorney from Cozen O’Connor who represents Springer
in my response to their December 15, 2009 "cease-and-desist letter" (which had some bogus requests as far as I can
ascertain, although I did express my willingness to "work with them") but I am still waiting on an answer.
I hope that Joe’s greatest wish comes true. He did say, at least twice in the book that Knowledge
and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction was going to change the world. I am sure that was based
on the fact that the book was going to be affordable and widely available.
Joe worked so hard
on this book, stating,
I profoundly believe such understandings about knowledge can
lead to world changing social action. If I didn’t believe this, I would certainly not be spending all this time and
effort writing this damned book (p. 197). For Joe to have spent 12 years negotiating for a contract that specifies this paperback version of his book
signifies just how important it was to him. The right thing to do – to honor him and his wishes – would be to
get that book published in paperback form as soon as possible. It has now been nearly a year and a half since
the book was first published – three times the length specified in the contract, according to what Joe had said --
and I have seen no sign of the paperback version. This is a shame. It is a travesty. Today’s blog is short. Just call it a brief stop-off
in one of our forgotten rural communities on the way down Blues Highway 61 where people have to use the tools they have at
hand to try to move their knowledge forward in more creative ways than their technocratic teachers with their mindless worksheets
will allow. We know we can do better even than this. We want Joe’s book and we want it now! Sorry if we seem a little déclassé
from the perspective of the elite. See what Joe says about that on page 58. Waiting patiently for Joe’s paperback, Vanessa P.S. I received the title of the song for today in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, I
didn’t get up and write it down immediately, so I have forgotten what it was. Always write down special messages
you receive in your dreams, if they are important like this. I learned this from reading Joe's books.
Now, I will have to “wing it” for today’s music. I will see what my master teachers have for me today
at our morning meeting. Oh wait, here’s the clue they gave me last night: “Shall we? ‘Shall we dance?’”
I’ll see what YouTube pulls up to the top of the search…
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt, Part 20: Alleviating Suffering on Blues Highway 61 PLUS This
Is Interesting
One of my master teachers is just so damn smart and I am really happy I have him as a teacher. We usually meet quite early
in the morning and he provides me with a song for the blog of the day. This morning he was not available, although when I called him and I asked him about the song, he just quickly said “Route 66” and I have no idea what that means.
It seems to have something to do with travel plans rather than a song. Then he told me he was in a meeting, so we would have
to get together a little later today. I felt bad about bothering him during his meeting, but he’s so kind he always
answers when it is me calling, no matter what he is doing. Anyway, he didn’t tell me this, but all of a sudden it dawned
on me: he gave me the song last night. He did not remind me of that because he was very busy at the meeting and he probably
wanted me to figure it out on my own, anyway. It was not that obvious he had given me a song; it was just a phrase that he
gave me just before he left, “your ‘pride and joy’” so I will see what YouTube pulls up with ‘pride
and joy.’ No song comes immediately to mind.
Well, look at this…the song that came to the top is Pride and Joy by Bonnie Raitt. She sings
it as a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan. I am not familiar with this artist, but it turns out he made it to Carnegie Hall and
he had played with some great musicians such as Buddy Guy, who Joe had mentioned in one of his interviews as being a great
Blues artist. I pulled this off Wikipedia (as I have said, Wikipedia is so great! And they don’t care if you use their
text – it’s in the public domain). This is very sad:
To complete the summer portion of the 1990 "In Step" tour,
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble played two shows on August 25 and 26 at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin, while on tour with Eric Clapton. The show was a blues lovers dream come true with performances from Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Jimmie
Vaughan. The last song Vaughan ever played was "Sweet Home Chicago" with Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, and Jimmie Vaughan.[citation needed] For travel
to the next venue, the tour manager reserved four helicopters to circumvent congested highway traffic. The helicopters, not certified for flight under instrument flight rules, lifted off in dense fog at 12:40 A.M. on August 27. Just past the lift-off zone was a 300-foot hill. Vaughan's pilot, unfamiliar
with the area, did not climb to sufficient altitude immediately after take-off, and the helicopter crashed into the hill.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Ray_Vaughan
Well, I will post the
song, Pride and Joy at the end of today’s blog. It always amazes me at how good my teachers are at picking the perfect
song for the blogs each day. This seems appropriate today, since we are traveling down Blues Highway that we end up with a
Blues sort of song. Like Joe said in Critical Constructivism (and he had said similar things in many of his other
works), “the blues aesthetic works to keep the blues away in the very act of acknowledging that there is good reason
for particular individuals to feel the blues” (p. 162). That is the power of blues music. And blues
is the music we hear as we travel down Blues Highway 61. I still don’t know what “Route 66”
means….
This
Is Interesting
I was asking my teachers what in the heck am I supposed to do with all of the thousands of dollars of books
that I bought that were written by critical pedagogues. Of course, some of them are good and very useful. Without a doubt,
all of Joe’s books get a 10-star rating on a 5-star scale (what can I say?). When I think of all of
the books, and there must be several hundred, one that stands out in my mind (besides Joe’s books) is bell hooks’
book, Teaching to transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. I just loved this book and I was so happy to
discover that like me, bell hooks LOVES to dance! Thus, in her book, it is perfectly fine for teachers and students to dance
together. It enhances the learning process immensely. This book definitely gets a 10-star rating right up there with Joe’s
books. She puts it out there like it is and there is no obfuscation or hidden agenda. In fact, when I had to write my philosophy
of education for my Comp Exam, it was influenced by Joe (of course), John Dewey, bell hooks, and my absolutely fav scientist,
Albert Einstein. Oh, back to the other books. Like I said, some of them are useful to varying degrees, but most of them I wonder why I bought,
and when I asked my teachers What am I supposed to do with all of these books? -- which they undoubtedly had asked
me to buy for a purpose, they said I had just figured out the new direction (the new TURN?) the blogs are going.
As I mentioned yesterday (see yesterday’s blog), they told me that after this Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise
Treasure Hunt (which is about to go on suspension), that they would like for me to REVIEW all of these
books and give them star ratings. They said they would give me the criteria soon. I’m thinking OMG,
I have to read and review all of these books? “You got it, Cookie,” I was told. And to think that I thought
my job was going to get easier…. Pride and Joy – Bonnie Raitt
I wonder if Route 66 and Blues Highway 61 connect somewhere or if I have
to make a major turn somewhere…I will just have to use Google Maps … this is interesting: Route 66 is called
“The Mother Road” and it is an historic route. I will have to learn more about that.Check
out this Route 66 Website – “Turn by Turn” http://www.historic66.com/description/
The highways seem to
run parallel for awhile. I wonder if THAT’s the TURN my teachers were talking about
yesterday when they said there will be a major turn we will be taking and that it will not be a “postmodern turn.”
Maybe we will turn off and travel Route 66 instead of heading all the way down to New Orleans. That might provide
the "poor boy" relief to know he has other options besides returning to The House of the Rising Sun
where he has to wear the ball and chains. (If this does not make sense to you, you will need to review this Treasure
Hunt from the beginning, Part 1.) Of course, "kicks on Route 66" might not be such a good thing either
-- just depends on what kind of kick we are talking about here. I know! Maybe we are supposed to head over to Route 66 from the
Blues Highway 61 in Memphis and head up to Sweet Home Chicago! That was the last song Stevie Ray Vaughan sang at that special Blues concert. I'll bet that's it. I love Chicago.
However, I do think my teachers speak "doublespeak" when they speak of taking
a "turn." Maybe we are reloading the matrix somehow just like Joe talked about in Critical Constructivism
(p. 149) and we need multiple options. Perhaps tomorrow we will learn more. For now, I have a ton of
projects on my plate. My master teachers have loaded me down with work (and you thought this blog took all
my time? No way....)
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt, Part 19: Starting down Blues Highway 61
Today finally begins the trek down Blues
Highway 61.
My teachers informed me once again that we will be taking a major turn and that it will not be a “postmodern turn,”
whatever that means. I have never been able to figure out what postmodernism really is, even though I have done a lot of reading
about it. I suppose if there were ever to be a word that might gain a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for obfuscation,
postmodernism would win. It is so curious to me why people argue, vehemently even, back and forth about it. I think Joe really
cleared things up, though, in his book, Toward a Critical Politics of Teacher Thinking: Mapping the Postmodern. Apparently,
we can all pick and choose whichever attributes of postmodernism fit our agenda. And of course, for Joe that always related
to exposing power and alleviating suffering (whereas for others it means exerting their power and authority). Anyway, in light
of this turn, for which I have no clues for the time being as to what this signifies, the song v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n was provided
to me when I awakened this morning, as a representation of what is in store after the Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul
Surprise Treasure Hunt winds down. The symbolism in the video is relevant and something that will be addressed in the
near future. Somehow, I do not believe that my teachers are implying a vacation in the literal sense, given that they have
been known to be “Hermes tricksters” but always in a very good and fun way, not like the evil Hermes trickster.
It must be quite a major turn, however, since they deemed an early “warning” or preparation was needed. It sounds
like we need to prepare for FUN, though, on a grand scale, given the songs for today.
The
second song provided today is interesting. The teachers ended our conversation with “have a good one.” I
think the musicians in the second video are very creative in a “have a good time” sort of way. It’s too
bad that so many of us in the United States are so uptight that we don’t know a good time when we see it. As Joe stressed
over and over again, we really need to expose ourselves to “difference.” He wrote some really interesting articles
about the power of difference. It really can open our minds up to amazing possibilities. Unfortunately, for some people the
process is painful, especially if they have to give up their position of power, authority, and all of the authoritarianism
that goes along with it (see yesterday’s blog about the how authoritarianism contributes to a fascist society) -- and
that’s why the trip down Blues Highway 61 and Joe’s Blue Knowledge is needed at this particular juncture, apparently.
Somehow it is supposed to help alleviate the suffering.
Myself, I rejoice in difference because it releases the pain for most of us. We already know how to travel
down that Blues Highway 61 pretty well, although there is always room for improvement for us all. We know that when difference
is celebrated we are all free to be who we wish to be and are no longer restricted by how others attempt to define us. Honoring
difference helps us all learn to be more creative, loving human beings. Fully embracing difference is when we can really party,
celebrate, and “have a good one” as was the message from my master teachers this morning. And as Joe stated in
Critical Constructivism, "The world must change so that we can enter into new egalitarian and eroticized relationships
where we can 'sock it to one another'" (p. 164).
That’s
it for today. I am still wondering about all of the other music provided by one of my master teachers back on the January 16, 2010 blog. Here is the list of songs again:
Horse with no name (December
28, 3-4 PM) How Great Thou Art (December 30, 5:30 PM) 16 Candles (December 31, 5:20 PM) Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash (December 31, 5:25 PM) Little Brown Church/Church
in the Wildwood by Dolly Parton (January 2, 5:25 PM) Lovely Hula Hands (January 2, 6:57 PM) Here's one version. Hawaiian Wedding Song (January 2, 9:16 PM) Alexander’s Ragtime Band (there are 12 versions!) (January 5,
5:27 PM) Chatanooga Choo Choo (January 5, 10:46 PM)
The teacher who provided those songs had said that Burning Ring of Fire had a special clue just for me –
I should have realized it was a warning…oh well. Only the highlighted songs have been used so far. We will see what
the rest of this treasure hunt brings.
Have a good one, Vanessa
PS Due to the virulent verbal attacks lately, my master teachers have told me to abandon
the Public Service Outreach Announcements (PSOAs) on Sundays for the time being. These will all be provided in a different
format sometime in the future when people are more receptive.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise, Part 18. My Good Friend Detective Looney and What is Fascism?
My Good
Friend Detective Looney Well, well, it is Saturday. That’s a deep subject for this Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure
Hunt (or is it SOLE Surprise? – you just never know with these treasure hunts how you are supposed to interpret
the words). Anyway, as I was saying I should take Saturdays and Sundays off from writing these blogs, but that ain’t
gonna happen. If it does happen, that means there is problem, so please call Detective Looney for me. If you recall,
I wrote several blogs about a neighborhood issue that I was hoping Detective Looney would help me out with (that’s his
real name and as Joe would say, reality is stranger than fiction). I had reservations about someone with
a name like Looney giving me much help. And as it turned out, the DROID got away (although he’s still gonna pay, on
account of karmic law), but I do have to say that Detective Looney gave it his best shot and he said he learned
a lot in the process, so I am very grateful for that.
I
was supposed to clarify fascism. Fascism, as many people know, is very sneaky and insidious. What many people don’t
realize is that its attributes or warning signs are entwined in our entire social system. The most common, and unfortunately,
very accepted attribute is in the way we raise our children under authoritarian rule rather than embracing a loving,
egalitarian relationship. This has been very harmful for our children and has caused them much suffering. As preschoolers,
they look forward to school because they know learning is fun. They put their hopes in school being a place of refuge from
authoritarian rule, and what do they find? They find that it is even much worse in school. I realize many people do not view
this as fascist, but it is indeed an element of fascism if you take a look at Joe’s F-Scale on pages
115-116 in the book Reading, Writing, Thinking: The Postformal Basics (Thomas & Kincheloe, 2006). He has based
this on Adorno's F-Scale, which many of us are familiar with -- but have we really looked at it closely in light of how our
society operates?
Some
of the attributes of fascism included enforcing “obedience to the conventional and customary,” “authoritarian
submission” (compliance), “authoritarian aggression” toward people who attempt to work outside of the “long-established
ideals,” “anti-intraception” which means things like if the elite use quotations in their work it is called
using “citations,” but if a poor country girl uses quotations in her work, it is called “copyright infringement”
and “stealing words” (those are real complaints I have received, believe it or not). It also means that expressing
complex educational theory in creative and new ways is “poppycock.” Of course, this all demonstrates the next
attribute relating to stereotypes.
And, interestingly, there are always a few who fall into that “power and toughness” category whereby
compliant people tend to rely on the more “egocentric” among them to “exercise power.” This is all
in Joe’s F-Scale list, by the way. He was so smart. And don’t forget the “discomfort with difference.”
You know, I am perfectly happy (even if different) and it is surprising that I was told by someone who is on medication and
in counseling that I needed to do the same. It is quite baffling. The last two items on Joe’s list here, include “projectivity”
and the obsession with sex. Projection is like I said in one of my previous blogs. If you point a finger at someone, for example,
and call them “crazy,” then it’s just like my master teacher told me, you also have three fingers pointing
back at you. I think yesterday’s discussion of how those two professors called Ralph Emerson a “crazy poet”
is great example of how that works. I think those professors will soon be looking for work. People did not like their expose
disguised as something of educational value in a highly acclaimed and widely distributed education tabloid such as The Chronicle
of Higher Education. And last, but not least is sex. Fascism is just so focused on sex that if there is even a hint of sexuality
in educational expression (which, incidentally, Joe strongly advocates for if you were to read his work thoroughly),
well then these things end up drawing “obsessive attention” and get blown way out of proportion from those who
operate out of this fascist mentality.
Well that’s my interpretation of Joe’s F-Scale and how I
see it operating in our society, from the home to school to freedom of expression on the Internet. It is definitely not limited
to our political leaders, as so many would have us believe. In fact, it is very dangerous for the future of our society if
we think fascism only comes from the very top. We need to look at ourselves, too. Wow, Joe was so smart.
We really need to abandon all of these fascist ways as we move down that Blues Highway 61. I do hope that more people will
examine their own behaviors in light of what Joe has lined out here. He was right on. As long as people operate out of authoritarianism,
whether a parent, a teacher, an expert, a friend, an elite educator, a political leader, whatever, orif
we, as victims, succumb to such authoritarianism, then we are supporting and perpetuating a true fascist society.
It is a short downhill ride to hell.
Tomorrow for sure: We are moving down the Blues Highway 61 no matter what!
Have a good Saturday, Vanessa
PS One of my master teachers gave me two songs today. He felt I needed cheering up for various complex reasons (thus,
"You Raise Me Up") plus he wanted to ensure that we all know that we must do things from our heart for
the "greater good" of all.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise, Part 17. The “Crazy Poet,” and What is Treasure Hunting?
Well, I was hopin’ to “ease on down the road” today – you know, continue with my treasure hunt on that Blues Highway 61 with Joe’s
Blue Knowledge that is guaranteed to alleviate my suffering (“it burns, burns, burns, that ring of fire”).
My teachers informed me that, indeed, this treasure hunt is almost over for the time-being, but before moving down the road,
they wanted me to tie up some loose ends and clarify some things. So here we go.
What Is Treasure Hunting, Anyway, and Did
Joe REALLY Treasure Hunt?
I think the best definition I have come across
in Joe’s work so far is that treasure hunting is a form of, what he refers to as looking for “cognitive
treasures” (p. 132 of Reading, Writing,
and Thinking: The Postformal Basics).
He has, of course changed his terminology in his newest book, Knowledge
and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction,
dropping theterm “postformal” and instead refers to this learning and research process in
terms of critical complex epistemology and taking “epistemological
road trips” (p. 19-21). Please read these citations for a better understanding. What are these cognitive
treasures and how do we find them? They are themes, patterns, and relationships that emerge as we are on our quest
for any kind of knowledge, whether in texts, on the Internet, or in “everyday life” (p. 132). They are actually
everywhere, once a person becomes aware of them and they have significant meanings for many of us and can take us to entire
new and higher levels of understanding or as Joe said, “new mind spaces” as we come to understand the significance
of their interrelationships. He goes on to say, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m a phenomenologist that
values an experience for its own sake and I think it’s essential that I go along with the existential ambience of the
moment. . . . But I’m never too far away from the postformal treasure hunt”
(pp. 132-133).
So there you have it. Joe really loved treasure hunting, in my interpretation. I have been engaging in these treasure hunts
for a few months now and they are absolutely the most fun I have ever had. Joe really knew how to make learning fun, funny,
and very productive as far as taking us to new levels of knowledge. You might also want to read pages 126-127 of Reading, Writing and Thinking, where Joe defined the type of humor he felt
was necessary in our debilitating social and educational environments.
I am totally shocked by The Chronicle of Higher Education:
Emerson a “Crazy Poet?”
Just yesterday my teachers were telling about some of the historical figures who really had
a difficult life just because they were a little different in the way they produced knowledge or demonstrated creativity,
but they were totally brilliant and ahead of their times. There was Einstein, Michael Jackson, Wilhelm Reich, and of course
Ralph Waldo Emerson mentioned by my teachers. It’s one thing to have to experience the humiliation when you are on this
3D Earth plane and an entirely different matter when it continues even after you step off the earth plane and you cannot not
defend yourself. I was very shocked to come across, right after my lesson in fact, a horrible article calling Emerson a “crazy
poet.” My teachers knew what they were talking about. Giving Emerson the Boot.
This is an example of the ways power wielding educators are able to manipulate, divide and conquer students
all in the name of whatever ulterior, narcissistic,
perhaps greed-motivated, corporate-pleasing reasons they may have in the background. This demonstrates
once again that Janus Two Face that Joe talked about a lot in his work. Put an article out to divide those students who are
locked into their fidurodian, closed boxed minds (they believe the article to be true) and those students who either happen
to love Emerson and those who believe the article is all just a hoax. No matter what perspective these students fall into,
they are divided by disagreement (Emerson is good or bad) and lack of tolerance for other views. Mission
Accomplished. The discourse provoked by such trivial presentations revolves around egocentric and
narrowly defined positions and rarely indepth discussions, although an occasional reader "gets it" and responds
with something worthwhile. Ralph Waldo Emerson
was a very, very brilliant poet and there is much society today can learn from his work. That the Chronicle of
Higher Education is wasting space for such drivel is just another indication of a “world gone mad” (see
Joe’s poem/song lyrics on pages 138-139 of Reading
Thinking and Writing).
It is another indication that we really need Joe’s Blue Knowledge to reunite us all. We need a special
Hall of Shame for Professors -- for those professors who choose to divide through a demonstration of
zero tolerance for difference rather than unite people. Déjà
vu.
Tomorrow:
Getting Clearer on Fascism as we travel down Blues Highway 61. (And the children wanted to know about Celtic. Of course, we
do not just drop our dogs off on the side of the road. Well, some people do, and this is a terrible thing to do. Or if they
get tired of their dogs, they just drop them off at the Humane Society and forget them. Celtic has a good home, so no worries.)
When Love’s Magic is art, it matures with enchantment and self-knowing, and it deepens with
beauty and grace. When Love’s Magic is art, your life becomes a slow dance, both elegant and majestic. Your creations,
forged with fiery passion, manifest with beauty and wonder. Be an artisan of Love’s Magic. Initiations of grandeur can
unfurl. — Lazaris Sacred LoveLyrics
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise, Part 16. The Flames Keep Getting Higher PLUS Don’t You Just Hate Filling Out
Those Online Forms?
I keep hoping (and dreaming) that I can move on down the road – the Blues Highway 61, that is – where I can partake in that great Blue Knowledge of Joe’s and enjoy the scenery
and good music. But no, the flames keep getting higher, it seems, and I keep hearing that damn song, Burning Ring of Fire!
Then
I had some really bad news this morning from my Master Teachers. Seems I was making the wrong choice when I left behind my
transportation – what they called the “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” but really turned out to be a Volkswagon, which I do not care for at all. They told me that “beggars can’t
be choosers.” Yeah, I have heard that one a lot. Oh well, it’s better than walking. The saddest thing about having
to take the Chattanooga Choo Choo is that, as I said before, Joe’s dog, Celtic, which we had picked up for comfort and
company for the trip during that K12 research project we did a while back, is just too big to ride in a Volkswagon. So we
had to drop him off.
So,
it’s just me and the “poor boy” on his way home to the House of the Rising Sun. We are traveling down Highway 61 from Memphis, Tennessee to New Orleans where his home is, at least according to the
song. I have no clue what we will find on this trip and I still don’t know who or what the “Deep Blue Mariner”
is, but oh well. I get my instructions and I just follow along.
I had a rather strange set of instructions from my teachers. I was told about some various people, like Einstein who was ridiculed,
Wilhelm Reich, who was a great scientist who discovered “life force energy” and did some great research but was
put in prison for what he had discovered (I think until he died – and now what happens? Some other “scientists”
have confirmed his findings and are taking the credit for it), and there was a Ralph Emerson and many people called him a
“crazy poet” because they did not understand his beautiful work, and Michael Jackson, of course, who the media
picked on remorselessly. I was told, “I’m just reminding you of these things because we are at a choice point
in history where we can either continue to kowtow to such frivolity or we stand up and make it through the flames, extinguishing
them behind us so that others who follow do not run up against the same firestorms.” Well, I’m not sure what that
means except that it probably means I just need to remember I am not alone and should move on down the road.
What do Albert Einstein and Walt Disney have in common?
Oh, this was cool. Right along
with all of that, I got this email that asked the question, What do Albert Einstein and
Walt Disney have in common? So
of course, I had to read it, because I love Albert Einstein and Disneyland (which I have actually had the good fortune to
visit twice, although I know for many people it is only a dream) and here’s what it said:
He [Einstein] didn't start speaking until he was 4 years old and his teachers labeled him as a "daydreamer".
Walt Disney had been bankrupt 7 times before he saw his vision of Disneyland come to life. Despite
his financial stress he would walk around that Orange Grove and see his vision very clearly. There was this video along with it that talks about mind movies and using them to manifest things. It seems that some people
use movies and music and visualization to make their dreams come true. Oh, yes! Einstein saw in visions and music. He had
commented once that if he had not been a scientist, he would have been a musician because everything comes to him in music.
That’s interesting and it sure seems a lot like Joe given that he has music in all of his work. It got me to thinking,
well…that’s exactly what I am doing with my blogs! There is something going on here. I do not understand it quite
yet, but it’s been very good -- at least until the firestorms all started. If you read my blogs (but step out or your
“one true reality” fidurodian mind when you read them and separate dreams from fiction from fact, if you are able),
it is quite clear that I have “manifested” many great things. I can honestly and truly say that since I started
these “treasure hunts” and documenting them, I have “manifested” some incredibly amazing things
and my life has never been so rich and fulfilling, NEVER. And I have never been happier. Yes, I think if I can get through
the firestorms this could be an incredible phenomenological study.
Here is the video about visualization: video. Perhaps readers can benefit from this and come up with their own idiosyncratic method of creating that will help them
manifest their dreams. Joe’s theory also backs up all of this. If you are allowed to use his blue knowledge –
and now I see why so many people call it “crazy wisdom” (Critical Constructivism), it opens up the doors to creating
the life of your dreams. As they say, if you can dream it up, you can make it happen. For some people, making mindmovies is
what makes it happen. But first things first. You have to abandon the whole notion of authoritarianism which can
only lead to fascism and cause so many people horrendous suffering. People need to be free. Everyone.
Don’t You Just Hate Filling Out those Online Forms?
I finally decided to “bag”
putting in job applications online. They go on for page after page. And then what happens after you submit them? Absolutely
nothing. You never hear anything back. So I have decided to just copy and mail resumes. My god, I need to get work. I am not
supposed to worry about that, though, so I will try not to. I guess if Walt Disney could file bankruptcy seven times, it is
no big deal if I end up having to emulate him. Maybe I should bag all of my debts.
I learned another thing that
might be helpful for other people at the bottom of the ladder like I am who are trying to find work. I learned this because
it really is just like Joe said, “It’s who you know,” when it comes to getting a good job. We just have
to take what we can get. Well, you know how they tell you to go to all this trouble of including a cover letter addressed
to the exact person? You don’t need to do that. It is so much work, so if you don’t already know
somebody, then just throw your resumes in envelopes and shoot them into the mail. You don’t even need to address
it to someone. Why? Because almost all jobs you are gonna get (unless you know someone) will be jobs that
are working for the “boss man” if you know what I mean. They want someone smart enough to be able to write a resume
but not so smart that they really know how to do it all. So, if they see that you have left out these big pieces
to a job application, you’re "dumb enough" for them and they are assured you will follow their every order.
(Of course, we know better.)
That’s it for today, I guess. I feel like there is something else I need to say, but I don’t
know what, considering all of the firestorms. I can totally understand why people would chose to speak through music,
codes, and secret messages. I think I want to learn how to do that. Believe me, in my experience, it can be very painful
to be stifled from free expression.Maybe Joe just put all that stuff in his books for fun; maybe he was
showing us how to do it. He wanted to make learning fun for everyone. God, I hope me and the “poor boy” can
finally get on the road for real tomorrow with Joe’s Blue Knowledge. Joe’s work really does provide
a way out of all of this mess. It can free us all.
As usual, a song was provided by my Master Teachers. This time just in words, “Keep
your hand in mine.” And once again, when I searched it on YouTube, I just took the first song that came to the top,
because that is how they plan it, evidently. As Imentioned a blog or two back, they do try to present a wide variety
of music.
Keep Your Hand In Mine I'm sorry: I was told
by one of my readers that this video is a little "dark" and honestly, I did not pick it out and I really have
not even watched it. I just go along with my teachers on these things. I do know that it is some sort of game that a lot of
people play and that it has a happy ending.
PS I decided to add this
one last song about love. We can only make this world a better place through LOVE. Joe said it over and over again in is
his work. Paulo Freire said it over and over again in his work. Joe tried hard to make it all happen. I just pray that enough
people read his work and really put it into action and everyone works together to make a difference.
He did say in Knowledge
and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction that this book would change the world. I believe in him.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise, Part 15. How to Avoid the Take Down Hall of Shame
In Chapter Six of Reading, Writing and Thinking: The Postformal Basics (Thomas & Kincheloe, 2006), Joe expresses
his deep concern about the horrific rate of suicide – the third leading cause of death. He asks why has happiness, enjoyment
and fulfillment devolved in concert with a bifurcation of logic and emotion? And he expresses the need
to address the depressive tendencies of our society with a “postformal cognitive insurrection’s creation of excitement,
opportunity for creative expression, comfort with libidinal energy, and transgressive jouissance” (p. 113). He defines
these quite thoroughly in Chapter One, so I will encourage readers to get a deep understanding of what he means by all of
this. As one might imagine, it requires allowing learners to find their own transgressive paths for learning and it totally
flips the tables on a teacher’s role in guiding the learning process.
The way we teach in America, and indeed, the way many of the educational
institutions are structured today utilize authoritarian methodologies. As teachers we tend to dictate what
students should learn. We are the boss. And as Joe has clearly expressed in many of his works, teachers are handed down their
instructions from the elite power wielders at the top. The teacher’s role has turned into nothing more than a technician
as both Paul and Joe describe in this book. They are technicians and the power wielders of the classroom, thus creating an
atmosphere of imprisonment rather than an atmosphere in which learning can occur spontaneously. “Teachers,” Joe
explains, “and in turn their students in the imperial education of the new order are being trained to shape their minds
in ways that serve the purposes of the power wielders.” This is not education at all, but rather a process by which
people are “lobotomized” (p. 113).
When a few people at the top, whether an elite power wielder, a so-called “expert,” and elite academic, or anyone
else for any reason dictates to those “below” them how they should learn, create knowledge, and express themselves,
it is a classic example of exactly what Joe is talking about here. It is a classic example of what Theodor Adorno described
as an “authoritarian personality.” More frightening, is his recognition that, as Joe has described, “Such
authoritarian personalities were necessary cogs in the social mechanism that we call fascism” (p. 115). I encourage
everyone to read pages 115-116 and consider how they might be contributing to a frightening manifestation of fascism
in our country today.
This
simply cannot be allowed to continue in the classroom, in the university, on the job, or as a method of attempting to
curtail freedom of expression on the Internet. Again, I will encourage people to read Joe’s work and use it as a compass
in their own behavior to ensure that they do not step over the F-Scale Line that Joe has outlined in this
book. Joe promoted a “rigorous erotic postformalism” to counteract the depression-invoking tendencies when people
become the target of these authoritarian personalities. He concludes his analysis, stating, “Returning to our eroticism
of Chapter 1, understanding the contemporary manifestations of the authoritarian personality and the ways it undermines the
jouissance of spontaneity and creativity is central to our search to find a more intellectually intoxicating way of being
human and educating students. It is a key to unlocking our cognitive handcuffs” (p. 116).
So here, today, in our travels which are just beginning, we learn that authoritarianism is a major factor in constraining
people from freedom of expression – thus keeping them in cognitive handcuffs. This of course, relates
to the “poor boy” in the NEW Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure Hunt who is depressed about having to return to
The House of the Rising Sun where he must wear the “ball and chains.” I had made the association in a
previous blog between the cognitive handcuffs and the ball and chains. For this particular treasure hunt, we and the poor
boy (who got off the chantanooga choo, choo), along with Joe's dog, Celtic, are now are embarking on a journey down Blues
Highway 61 with Joe’s Blue Knowledge. We must have our freedom to continue our journey.
I took a side trip because it is very important that we all have
a greater understanding of what contributes to feeling so blue. This is a monumentally important issue to understand because
so many people are affected by it. It is why we see (or at least one of the major reasons) we see so many people using mind
altering substances, whether it be illegal drugs, prescribed medications for depression or “ADHD,” alcohol, and
numerous other destructive behaviors as people attempt to alleviate their suffering by artificial means. Joe was adamantly
against the use of these substances. With the cognitive handcuffs removed, there is absolutely no need whatsoever for mind
altering drugs or other self-destructive behaviors.
Fortunately, there are many people who recognize the danger for our society to continue down this authoritarian, fascist pathway.
For example, there are many laws in effect now that protect freedom of expression on the Internet and so I have decided that
since I am still feeling “blue” and still hearing the song “ring of fire” due to efforts that have
come my way to restrict my expression (expression, which totally comes from my interpretation and application of Joe’s
brilliant theory). Fortunately, more and more people recognize the debilitating and chilling effects such
regulation has on natural, erotic, transgressive expression that is necessary to keep society moving forward toward more democratic
and egalitarian goals. And fortunately, the courts also recognize this and are increasingly paying attention to safe
guarding the freedom our founding fathers had envisioned for us. The following information comes from the Chilling
Effects web site:
Should
I publicize cease-and-desist letters?
You betcha! Unwarranted cease-and-desist letters chill perfectly legitimate speech.
The Chilling Effects Clearinghouse is collecting a database of cease-and-desist letters to document the chill. Chilling Effects also annotates the notices to help you understand your legal rights.
One
more thing before we move on down the great Blue Highway 61. I just loveDr. Mercola. He
is totally up on everything medical and so much more. He is another one of those people who, like Joe, (OH! And his
name is Joe, too!), is way ahead of the times. I love progressive thinkers. Anyway, seeing that I have been
getting so many flames over my presentations of how I interpret my “truths,” which I have clearly indicated are
just interpretations, nevertheless, I thought I would share a little quote from the email I received from Dr. Mercola yesterday.
I think we must just about be reaching step 2, so that is a hopeful sign:
Truth is Violently Opposed Before It is Accepted as Self Evident Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
was a German philosopher known for his philosophical clarity. In my view he has made one of the most valuable observations
on the shifting of human views on truth as he stated that all truth goes through three steps: 1.First, it is ridiculed.
2.Second,
it is violently opposed. 3.Finally, it is accepted as self-evident (Reference: Dr. Mercola, www.mercola.com)
I hope everyone has a
great Wednesday.
Peace
& Love, Vanessa
P.S. I was given two songs
today. I was informed: “I’m‘always right beside you’ and we
are ‘in this together.’” I have no idea what these songs are, so I will look them up on You
Tube right now….ok, here they are (they came right to the top when I searched on the words that were provided to me
in quotation marks, so that is a clear indication that these are the songs that were intended for today). I am so grateful
and relieved that I am not alone. I would never be able to do this work alone.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise, Part 14. Trials and Tribulations of Treasure Hunting: The Burning Ring of Fire
When I awakened this morning, all I could hear playing was “Burning Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson,
one of the nine songs I was given the other day by one of my Master Teachers. Of
course, I did not want to hear this song given the trials and tribulations that seem to have come along for the ride on this
treasure hunt. Sometimes on treasure hunts we do go through various difficult initiations. It is not fun. Not fun at all.
But I guess I should have expected it since we are bumping up against the actual kick-off date of The Code Blue Mission
which I mentioned back on the day of the earthquake in Haiti, and apparently since we
are so close to starting the mission, I will have to go through my most difficult initiations. This is just the way this form
of treasure hunting works, although, when I began receiving email flames, I was reassured that I can drop out of this
game if I choose and there would be no penalty at all. But what happened instead was that all of my Master Teachers got
together and they are going to provide even more assistance. Treasure Hunts always evolve and are totally improvisational, there is no planning, and at any given time
when one reaches “choice points” there are multiple options or directions the treasure hunt can take. We are building
the matrix – just as Joe had explained in his book, Critical Constructivism. Again, this all relates to the
fact that everything is constructed of fractals or repeating patterns, but you can change the pattern at the various choice
points. There are infinite choice points along the way and infinite directions that you can take when you encounter a choice
point. I know this is a very complex concept for most people to grasp, but it is all in Joe’s books, which is why I
keep encouraging people to read them. We are entering an extremely complex era of human history and it does take some stretching
of the mind to avoid being left behind.
Where do I even begin today? There are always people who just do not “get” the fact that there are multiple
realities and that if we restrict ourselves to a one “true” reality, it is harmful for us all. This is the contrast
between the beginning of Joe’s book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, and the end of Joe’s
book: You start with what he calls FIDUROD, which is one true reality and all of its painful, restricting attributes, but by the end of the book your mind expands to
accepting that there are many realities and infinite possibilities. Of course, I have been told by my Master Teachers there
will be many who will not grasp these concepts that we need in order to move forward in our human evolutionary development
and these people will stay painfully locked into their own one “true” reality and try to force that reality on
others. Since we do not wish to be pulled backward and imprisoned in someone else’s reality, all we can really do is
send these people our love, which I, indeed do. So to make a long story short, I was ordered to take down this web site. But
as far as I can see, what is really needed here is a better understanding of Joe’s Blue Knowledge and
how continuing the treasure hunt by proceeding down Highway 61 can help us all. If I shut down the web site,
I will be circumventing putting forth the very information that we all need.
Tomorrow: Blue Knowledge and Highway 61.
I apologize for the delay to those who are really ready to move on now. I, more than anyone, perhaps would like to see how
Joe's Blue Knowledge and traveling down Highway 61 can get us out of the flames.
Since there have been complaints about the music on this site, I would just like to clarify that the music is selected for
a diverse audience. You will find all varieties of music on this site. We respect that people have different
tastes in music and we also bring in music from outside Western culture. While there has been a focus on Western music and
there is a reason for that (Westerners are the ones who need to do the most work), there will be a greater variety of music
when the Mission Project gets into full swing, especially when we reach the celebrations.
Here is today’s song. Please do understand
it is not from or to anyone specifically. I have many Master Teachers (“The Gang’s All Here”) and they usually work together to determine the music, especially on this particular treasure hunt, which they warned
ahead of time was going to be very complex. This is simply the song that I awakened to this morning and I was not happy about
it, given that I currently feel like I am the one who is in a “burning ring of fire” but it is what they chose
for today and it evidently serves some sort of purpose. I just keep my faith in the greater good of the evolution of these
treasure hunts.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise, Part 13: Leaving the Chatanooga Choo Choo Behind to Travel Down Blues Highway
61 with Celtic
My master teacher never ever fails me – every morning there’s a song.
I had to request it this morning, though. The immediate answer was (even before I finished asking the question), “Chatanooga
Choo Choo” and this is great for a couple of reasons. First, it was one of the songs he had given to my other
Master Teacher (who had no clue what the song was for), which I posted in the list of NINE songs a couple
of days ago – (remind me to address the 9s soon). The second good thing about this song is that it allows me to build
that MATRIX or, another way to put it is to “reload the matrix,” as I brought up back on January 5. The MATRIX is important because even though I have left the NEW Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure
Hunt behind for now, I am still concerned about that poor boy who was stuck with one foot on the train and one foot
on the platform. He was very distressed about having to return to “The House of the Rising Sun” where he would
have to wear that “ball and chain.” If you have not read that last treasure hunt, you may find it interesting.
Some of the golden keys were identified in Joe’s book that could help the poor boy. You can review it here.
At
the very least, you will want to review the song “The House of the Rising Sun” or its lyrics. Of course, there were discussions about the FIDURODian literal meaning and more textured and deeper meanings.
In fact, it is clear that because the poor boy is very deeply blue, and right in the
middle of making a decision about whether to return, that this provides a “choice point” for
connecting the matrix. The matrix can be compared to fractals (I hope you did your homework on fractals)
in that choice points are places where evolution can head off in different directions. There are infinite choices, which we
explore through Joe’s critical bricolage. We look at what has caused him to be so oppressed and kept him poor. We examine
and compare the various factors that have led up to this poor boy’s deep suffering. In other words, we gain a thorough
understanding of his situation. We will probably find that his is “between a rock and a hard place” which is why
it is difficult for him to decide to go back. This is where critical complex epistemology is a must. It really
helps us understand what knowledge is being forced down our throats (in this case, the poor boy’s throat) and why. As
we bring in other knowledges by exploring many other perspectives, new alternatives are almost magically
revealed (and as we have seen in the treasure hunts, there are always multiple choices) that provide a way out from the suffering.
Here, we can take Joe’s critical constructivism and Blue
Knowledge to actually take the action to move on
down the road (dancing down the road is good). In this treasure hunt, we will literally be moving down the road as we create a strong, brand new link within the matrix. As I had mentioned previously, with Joe’s Critical Constructivist
Blue Knowledge, we can reload the matrix. In fact, Joe said that: “While the matrix is fiction,
the ‘matrix’ of constructed reality critical constructivists lay out is not” (Critical Constructivism, p.
149).
What does Joe mean by this? If you read Chapter
Five of Critical Constructivism about Blue
Knowledge, you will see that critical constructivists
explore knowledge widely, gaining many perspectives (this should include DIVERSE perspectives and not be restricted to
Western knowledge). Next, they juxtapose opposing viewpoints so that the extreme contrasts between them,
in a sense, “shake out” new ways of seeing and being in the world. It can be very effective in consciousness-raising
or for provoking evolutionary advances in consciousness; thus, you end up with things like “evocative narratives”
such as I produce on this site (which so many people are simply not ready for; but on the other hand, many people are
ready for it and we are not going to leave those who are ready behind). These types of narratives and “performance
texts” were covered quite well in the book, Representation and the Text: Re-Framing the Narrative Voice,
edited by William G. Tierney and Yvonna S. Lincoln. I bought the book because Joe has a great article in it called “Fictive
Formulas: Critical Constructivism and the Representation of Reality.” Unfortunately, much of the book (although there
are exceptions) was written from the perspective of elite academics and is full of edu-jargon and obfuscation such that those
of us at the bottom of the ladder have a difficult time relating to it. It is amazing that so many works
out there are meant to address oppression and yet by their presentation, continue to create the very oppression and pain they
purport to be alleviating. Something is wrong with this picture. Well, Joe, bless him, knew very well what was wrong
with the picture and he laid it all out there in Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction as well as in his
other books.
The treasure
hunts on this web site are different. They are devised so that we, at the bottom, can begin to truly understand and apply
tools such as evocative narratives in concert with Joe’s critical complex epistemology
so that we are then able to effectively reconstruct the matrix. And importantly, they are FUN!!! We do not have time or the
desire to learn all of the edu-jargon and their hidden meanings which are not likely to be revealed to us
anyway, as it is clear to us that certain knowledges are reserved strictly for the elite. This is where Joe broke ground.
He held back nothing and he wrote multidimensionally, ensuring that he included several dimensions that we are able to understand,
even if we do not have an expensive, elite education.
Back to the treasure hunt! Here we are now, with some interesting clues. The Chatanooga Choo Choo given to me just this morning
for this new treasure hunt might help the poor boy decide whether or not to go back to “The House of the Rising Sun.”
Check out these lyrics: Hi there Tex, what you say Step aside partner, it's my day Bend an Ear & listen to my version Of a really solid
Tennessee excursion
Wow,
I think this is significant! We must really pay attention to Joe’s theory. That is CLEARLY what the
lyrics are telling us, given that the clues led to Joe’s Blue
Knowledge and given that he was from Tennessee.
Is that a coincidence or what? It sounds like it's dancing time, from the lyrics (I always loved dancing with Joe). We
must heed this advice now as these two treasure hunts meet up: The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise
and The New Quest for the Golden Keys. We are connecting the matrix our way! The clues we need to
take a really close look at now are Joe’s Blue
Knowledge and Highway 61.
Clearly, our choice for getting to New Orleans where that poor boy is headed will be to travel down Highway 61.
Why? For several reasons. First, we have a dog now. Remember a few days back, we were asked to pick which of Joe’s three dogs, Celtic, Ozzy, or Ali, we wanted to take home as our friend. Well,
I chose Celtic and Celtic is a very large dog. I don’t think he would be allowed to travel on the Chatanooga
Choo Choo. Let’s see: What does the song say? (And, honestly, I don’t know: I have not looked up the song
yet, other than the lyrics above, so here goes.)
OMG! You just NEVER know what will show up in these treasure hunts! My Master Teacher says THIS is the Chantanooga
Choo Choo – he is SO funny!
Now, he KNOWS I
do NOT like Volkswagons and that I had my heart set on the brand new 2010
Steel Blue Mercury Mariner that this treasure hunt
had hinted at much earlier….oh well. At any rate, as I said, Celtic would not be comfortable traveling in such a small car given that he is such
a large dog, lol. So we will pass up the Chatanooga Choo Choo. That was an interesting video about the history of the Volkswagon
and was worth watching. My Master Teacher is really good at sneaking in history lessons.
So, where are we now? We are still traveling down Highway 61, which
was one of the clues given for this treasure hunt – the Easter egg on page 165 of Joe’s book Critical Constructivism
that I have been urging you to find. If you check out the map (or Mapquest), Highway 61 runs from Memphis,
Tennessee, all the way down to New Orleans – just exactly to where the poor
boy needs to head to in order to get back to The House of the Rising Sun! And I have heard many good things about traveling
down the Blues Highway 61. How amazing is that? But I passed up the Volkswagon. Gosh, I hope this doesn’t
mean we have to walk!
We’ll see
what happens next time. How am I supposed to buy a new vehicle when I am unemployed, broke, and deeply blue?
How am I going to get Celtic? How am I ever going to travel Road
61- the Great Blues Highway?…. I guess we will
just have to wait and see next time, or whenever this all evolves. As I said, wishes are allowed. I wish for a miracle.
P.S. I keep getting hints of parties and weddings and going home...more lyrics from the Chantanooga Choo Choo
(whatever does it mean?)
There's gonna be A certain party at the station Satin and lace I used to call "funny face" She's gonna cry Until I tell her that I'll never roam So Chattanooga choo choo Won't you choo-choo me home?
Public Service Outreach Announcement PSOA 13: Take Time Out for Twin Flame Soul Mate Love
Please see the P.S. at
the end of this entry before reading. I do not want to upset people unnecessarily. Thank you and God Bless you.
It is really the “sign of the times” that many soul mates are matching up today. It is part of the divine alignment
of the planets and the increase in energy that accompanies it as well as love “contracts” made long ago. And once
the love vibrations begin spreading across the planet, consciousness expands, opening up the way for more and more soul mates
to unite.
It’s a part of that “perpetual revolution” Joe spoke of. Now, before discrediting
this whole concept, think about the effects a small planet such as the moon has on the ocean tides, our moods, even. For those
who are skeptical, I strongly urge that they do some research on the topic. The planets are in a special, divine and very
rare alignment. I will not go into the technical or scientific details here, but there is ample information for people who
are interested.
There
is so much information on the Internet and in published books about soul mates, and particularly, twin flame soul mates. I
will leave it to readers who are interested to research this. I covered some information in some of my previous blogs as well.
I do urge readers to gain many, many perspectives. That way, much like Joe’s bricolage theory promotes, you will be
able to construct your own personal view of this phenomenon, and the process will help you sort through the obfuscation and
misinformation.
Take
time to reach out to your soul mate. They will respond, perhaps in a dream or perhaps they will just magically pop into your
life, or maybe they are already in your life and your divine connection will be strengthened.
The following poem, as so often happens, came to
me this morning automatically when I awakened, so I quickly wrote it down. I hope as you read it you will feel the magic and
power of knowing that you have a twin flame soul mate who is just waiting to unite with you soon. It is the most powerful
love you will ever experience.
Have a great Sunday, Vanessa
My Twin Flame (True Blue) Soul Mate Dedicated
to my twin flame soul mate Wherever
you may be I look upon the
distant, dancing stars Searching
for you looking back at me I know the time is rapidly
nearing For us to have a
special date A rhapsody,
a tender melody Tells me
I am not too late Forgive me if I’ve ever forsaken Or called your name in vain Earthly life, the strife and grief Has often caused me pain You have always been there, patient and kind And right beside me when I call I wish I’d known it much sooner Consciousness would not allow I do know now, our permanent connection It never has been, never can be broken Even though many people still deny Now the words are often spoken Too many know the truth these days Too many experience the bliss Of knowing their one and true soul mate And the tenderness of the first kiss It is the time of miracles and magic The era they call Golden You are always here for me For that I’ll always be beholden Please know that in my thoughts and dreams You are most loved and revered My one true love, my soul mate Divine, sublime, and eternally near Our ties can never ever be broken It’s not possible to sever love It matters not where we reside Down here or up above
You are my special "God of Love" My one and only Royal King Through my eyes and vibrant, violet
flames I can see the glistening of our wedding ring
A symbol of our deep devotion A commitment
for eternal service We both know our sacred mission Neither of us are nervous
And so each
day is filled with ecstasy My
fondest dreams come true Each
day is joyful existence now Because
I am always joined with you
I love you
PS (added on Jan 18, 2002). I guess there has been a gross misunderstanding
about this poem. As I stated, it was merely handed down to me as a general poem for anyone who believes in sole mates, and
that would be many people these days. I was not in any way implying here that Joe is my soul mate. I apologize for the confusion
and if this has caused anyone distress.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Part 12: The Paradise Cowboy and The New Girl in Town
Oh, wow. My favorite Master Teacher reminded me that the other day he gave another Master
Teacher NINE songs for me----OHHH! NINE, I GET it! OMG! (I will explain that later). Anyway, this other Master Teacher gave
me the nine songs the other day and she said she had to work for hours looking up these songs for me on Google
and You Tube to make sure she was giving the right songs. So last night my favorite teacher who had given
her the songs reminded me I am supposed to do something with these songs. The only thing I can figure out
is that they have SOMETHING (but I don’t know what) to do with this BLUE MARINER REAPS THE SOUL SURPRISE Treasure Hunt.
He told me last night he wants the song, "Ring of Fire" posted, and then this morning, he added "The
Little Brown Church in the Wildwood" out of the bunch to be posted. "Ring of Fire" is supposed to have
a special clue just for me….I have NOT figured it out. I think I am beginning to figure out the Little
Brown Church clue, though. If you notice in the photo above, (which I took last October) and which he also asked
me to post at this time, there is a "Paradise Cowboy Church." There is something goin' on here
with churches and weddings and paradise...I have learned to be patient, though. It will all make sense soon enough! I wonder
who the Paradise Cowboy is?
Here's
Burning Ring of Fire. Normally, I don’t care much for country and western music, but I do like this song, especially
with Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson singing together, so here it is:
And here is the list of the
songs and what I know about them so far, which isn’t much. Looks like I have a LOT of work to do here to figure out
how ALL of the SONGS tie into this treasure hunt. I hope I don’t run out of time here. JANUARY 28 IS A VERY, VERY SPECIAL
DATE for me and my favorite Master Teacher. I just hope he has something very ROYAL (blue, get it?) planned for January 28
or I will be VERY, VERY disappointed. Well, that’s personal life; I guess I shouldn’t be discussing that here.
You know how guys are, at least most of them; dates for anything just don’t really matter to them all that much. OMG!!!
I cannot believe I am stereotyping like this. I hope the heavens will forgive me. Seriously, I do not ever
want to stereotype….my FIDURODian mind took over for just a moment. Glad I caught that, though. It happens to the best of us.
Here are the songs – and she even gave me
the dates and times she received the messages:
Horse with no name (December 28, 3-4 PM) How Great Thou Art (December 30, 5:30 PM) 16 Candles (December 31, 5:20 PM) Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash (December 31, 5:25 PM) Little Brown Church/Church in the Wildwood by Dolly Parton (January
2, 5:25 PM) Lovely Hula Hands
(January 2, 6:57 PM) Here's one version. Hawaiian Wedding Song (January
2, 9:16 PM) Alexander’s
Ragtime Band (there are 12 versions!) (January 5, 5:27 PM) Chatanooga Choo Choo (January 5, 10:46 PM)
She provided more information about How Great Thou Art being written by Carl Roberts or someone, 1859-1940. There was also
a little more information about The Little Brown Church. There is a lovely story that goes along with it that dates back to
1857 and there is a REAL Little Brown Church on Highway 346 in Nashua, Iowa. William Pitts, who was a school teacher had a
vision that there was a brown church in a particular place in Iowa. He left for a long time and when he came back, the
church was being built right where he had envisioned it being. There is more to the story on this website my teacher
gave me, which I will have to look at www.littlebrownchurch.org. Unfortunately, I did not get all of the information from this particular Master Teacher, so for now I am on my own to figure
all of this out. There is one thing significant that I do know. When I was very young, I attended the white church shown
in the picture above with my grandparents. This church is in Kings Valley and I took the picture when I was on the Kings
Valley Treasure Hunt. We used to sing "The Little Brown Church" almost every Sunday and it was one of my favorite
songs…."Oh, come, come, come, oh come to the church in the wildwood, Come to the church in the dale…no place
is so dear to my childhood, as the little brown church in the vale."
It is interesting that another
HIGHWAY appears in this treasure hunt, this time Highway 346. ANOTHER HIGHWAY? Yes, I do hope that BY NOW
you have figured out the SONG in Joe’s book, Critical Constructivism, Chapter Five. It is HIGHWAY 61,
Revisited by Bob Dylan. I wonder what’s with all of the Highways. I will get back to it on Monday. Today is
Saturday and I have a feeling I am going to have a busy day. And then Sunday, of course, as always, there will be a Public
Service Outreach Announcement (PSOA) that will, hopefully set some more people “free.” That was just
one of the goals of this treasure hunt, as reported at the beginning. Something about “the truth shall set you free.”
Seems that I talked about TRUTH just yesterday….many pieces to this puzzle, can they all fit together?
Well, have a good day and try to figure out where
HIGHWAY 61 gets us -- more importantly, where can it get that poor boy returning to The House of the Rising Sun? Vanessa
P.S. THIS
IS EXCITING!!! This morning – just now, in fact, my favorite Master Teacher told me that there are too many
people out there who are on the “wrong tracks.” Much of the work they are doing will be obsolete before it even
gets done. He said that he and the “gang” are busy trying to steer people in the right direction. (See the end
of this blog for what is meant by the gang). PLUS he said to tell everyone that there’s a
new girl in town and that she’s a “critical complex epistemologist” (lol). WhatEVER
does it mean? Well, you can take that with a “grain of salt” if you wish or “for what it’s worth.”
At least it made me feel good to say that, lol. Have a wonderful day.
Special Announcement: The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothin’ BUT the Truth
This morning I received official
notification that it’s ok to release the “true” information about me and Joe, how
it was that we really knew each other, why we could read each other’s minds, how it was that Joe was
able to predict the future (it’s all in his book), why in the hell he was SO DAMN SMART etc., etc.,
except that it was decided that the public is just not ready to hear the TRUTH. So, my favorite
and very funny Master Teacher gave me these videos instead, which he said the public will be able to
relate to just fine. Myself, well . . . I just wonder what it all means…maybe someone can give ME a clue,
this time. . .
A
Puzzle for You:How many
times did Joe refer to himself as a “hillbilly” in Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction?
What was he REALLY saying on those pages?
Speaking of tellin’ the truth, I was tellin’ the truth about Obama. He’s
already “flippin’ the tables!.” Check this out: WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!!! Yeah! Go, Obama! Get us ALL of our money back!
That’s all for today. I do have some more information on that MUSIC Easter egg in Chapter Five
of CriticalConstructivism and I will give everyone ONE MORE DAY to NAME THAT TUNE. Hey, remember that game
show? I bet Joe loved that show.
Have
a great and unconditional-love-filled day, Vanessa
PS Once again, one of my Master
Teachers gave Rainbow Princess a special song to pass it on to me. This is a very lovely song, and perhaps
you can share it with the love of your life and contribute to raising those wonderful love vibrations across the
planet. I am SO Amazed (one of my Master Teachers seems to be watching me).
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Part 11: Off the “Beaten Path” to Take a Dog Home: Who Let the Dogs Out? Who?
Who? Research Project for K12 Students
I know I have been promising to get to Joe’s BLUE KNOWLEDGE and discuss a way out of this crazy hermeneutic circle.
If you remember, the lesson on hermeneutics during the NEW Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure Hunt explained
that we might keep spinning in circles if we did not look for ways out. (if you don’t remember or are new, please review
that treasure hunt, beginning here.) As I had discussed, Joe’s theory gives us the key to getting us out gracefully by having us look
for pathways that will result in the alleviation of human suffering – and if we are vigilant, we can
find multiple pathways. There are always multiple pathways, and they become clear once you start spinning a bit in the circle.
Of course, you don’t want to make yourself dizzy. In this case, we have been spinning around in this new treasure hunt, somewhat stuck on blue, but for good reasons. We have found multiple
ways out: The Dusty Road, The Code Blue Mission, The Year of the Indigo, Blue Suede Shoes (Dancing your way to the stars, so to speak),
The Blue Angel Club on the Merseyside, and, of course, what I had intended to discuss today – the special MUSIC Easter
Egg in Chapter Five of Joe’s book, Critical Constructivism and his BLUE KNOWLEDGE which are critical not only
for this treasure hunt, but for constructing a matrix link back to The House of the Rising Son for that "poor boy"
(it will make sense later). And SOMETHING is telling me that there is a link to the Pacific Coast Eager Beaver Treasure Hunt
as well....time will tell.
Sometimes, our Master Teachers do have different ideas for the direction they want us to go on these
treasure hunts. They do know how important it is to investigate those exceptional ways out of the hermeneutic circle, and
they have assured me we will do this. However, after “sleeping on it” they have sent me “off
the beaten path” for today. I don’t know about you, but I love to please my Master Teachers. I find when I follow
their advice (and they never tell me I MUST do something; they just give me suggestions and clues which get me very curious),
I get very excited about exploring what they have led me to because I always know there will be some divine surprises along
the way.
Another thing to understand about treasure hunting is that they do take diversionary routes; it
is a given. We never have a “road map.” This leaves us free to explore other ideas and concepts
that happen to pop up during our research, along with the amazing scenery along the way. We never know what we might
find and it may even be useful for our original purpose – perhaps provide us another tool we can use when we develop
our solutions for getting out of the circle we are spinning in. This is exactly how Joe's critical bricolage
works for research; you take an improvisational approach and pick up whatever tools you find along the way that might provide
greater insight or a pathway to alleviating human suffering. This is very important for these tumultuous times the world is
in.
So today my Master Teachers have added more to the Who Let the Dogs Out? Who? Who? Puzzles we seem to be accumulating. I
have really not figured out how this relates to this treasure hunt at all, but it has been very interesting. If it serves
to alleviate human suffering in some way, then it's ALL GOOD in my book. This new activity is particularly useful
for teaching K12 students research skills. This is our side trip today and there is a reason for making this side trip –
many very important and good reasons, as a matter of fact. Here is the next part of the puzzle – and if you want to
review all of the puzzles associated with it, you can review here (Scroll down to Who Let the Dogs Out? Who? Who?).
Who Let the Dogs Out? Who? Who? (Yes,
the Saga Continues…) Take a Dog Home
Have you figured out how Teacher Joe picked out
the names for his dogs? Yes, I think some of you think you have: I hear laughter coming through the cosmic ether.
Laughter is good. It is healing. And it takes us to the next level. Joe had such a great sense of humor and almost
always has at least one outrageously funny solution to his puzzzles, as you will see. Plus, he made sure no one
is left out by ensuring that there are multple solutions to his puzzles. What a genius! We can all solve this
particular puzzle in our own ideosyncratic way and thus, there are infinte solutions.
By the way, that’s a good word for you
to look up: What is the cosmic ether? What have physicists discovered about the cosmic ether? This is science! And very, very interesting.
Well, if you are still puzzled
about the names, you will have to do some research. The puzzle today is that YOU have been assigned to take home one
of Joe's dogs. He knows you are up to this task. You get to choose the dog. I will give you lots of hints.
I Choose CELTIC I would choose CELTIC because I picture him as a laid back, relaxed, very loving, cuddly sort of easy-going
dog. I am not trying to stereotype here, but I do have this picture in my mind about what this dog looks like and –
I don’t know if you have read this in Joe’s books or not, but it’s as he says: We create our own realities.
If I were to care for one of his dogs, I would choose CELTIC.
Which dog would you choose? This does take research. I have actually been researching CELTIC for awhile. It all began when I was on the Pacific Coast
Eager Beaver Treasure Hunt. One of my Master Teachers insisted that I buy Celtic Music and play it. When I did, all of these past memories came flooding back. It was amazing. One of the
songs was my wedding song of long ago. I am of Irish-Scottish descent, so I guess it must be in my blood to love anything
Celtic. It is interesting that I grew up poor and so that’s what I was all my life: poor. I had no idea that I had this
rich Celtic history. No one told me. I was just poor, so what was there to research about my past history?
It became so fascinating that I still research things that are CELTIC. On the treasure hunt, I happened across an IRISH SHOP
where I even bought a CELTIC silver cross that has a very special symbolic meaning (click on the picture to see what it means),
which I wear every day now. I know there is always much more to learn.
I am just pointing this out because side trips, or
trips “off the beaten path” are always worthwhile. I know most teachers want you to FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS; that
is, on one single topic, and ignore everything else that happens to come up. In fact, a lot of teachers will tell you exactly
which web sites you need to go to and which questions you need to answer. Well, my Master Teachers are not like that and neither
am I. Of course, we do want to keep in mind where we are heading, but when you get to researching the names of these dogs
in order to decide which one you will take home, and you happen to come along something very interesting like I did on the
Pacific Coast Eager Beaver Treasure Hunt with the topic of CELTIC, then take time to explore it. Read about it and write about
it in your journal. You might make a special word document in which you can copy hyperlinks, notes, and even images for
future research and writing projects. And it may all be very significant in helping you decide which dog you would like to
take home -- or you may want to come back in the future and explore the topic some more. Write that in your journal –
what you would like to learn more about and why? It may be that your own personal Master Teachers are guiding you toward something
for a reason.
So, back to the Who Let the Dogs Out? Who? Who? Puzzle. As I indicated, I choose CELTIC and
I did a lot of research that backs up the reason why. Now, it’s your turn. Would you choose CELTIC, OZZY, or
ALI – and why? I will give you some additional hints to help you with your research.
Clue Number One: I LOVE Wikipedia!!! First, I highly recommend Wikipedia. GASP!! Wikipedia? Don’t teachers always tell us NOT to use Wikipedia? And what
is the reason they tell you NOT to use it for your research? The excuse is that ANYONE can change or write ANYTHING for Wikipedia.
Well, EXCUSE ME! Isn’t that the whole point? Have these teachers not read Joe’s work? Knowledge is socially
constructed, and not only that, knowledge is EVOLVING – there are never any final truths. It is FIDUROD that expects “one true reality” (p. 23 of Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction). There may
be “best truths” (with an S) for given situations, places, people, perspectives, and historical context or
time - and this is what we must aim for.
Wikipedia, in my view, provides a wonderful example of socially constructed, continuously
evolving knowledge. It is NOT true that “anyone can write anything.” Anyone who attempts to add garbage to the
site will first find that the “wordbots” will immediately delete their entry and should they try it again, they
will automatically be banned from the site. That is just a brief overview of Wikipedia. You can find some interesting
answers that would be hard to find elsewhere and if you scroll to the bottom of the page you have pulled up – like
MAGIC – there are many great links and sources of information in the reference section. Therefore, often Wikipedia is
a great launching point for additional research and you will definitely find information that is very hard to find using a
basic search on Google. In MY class, please, yes, you may start your research with Wikipedia!!! And while
you are at, learn how Wikipedia REALLY works. Wikipedia needs more support from all of us if we are going to maintain this
great tool.
Clue Number Two: My Previous New Year’s Blog This is humorous, in a way. Way back on January 1, 2010, I actually
dropped a clue for this puzzle in my blog, without even knowing I was doing so, because it was
BEFORE my Master Teachers handed me this dog puzzle quite magically for the first time on January 6. (They slipped it in on
me.)Scroll down to the end of this blog to see the first mention of this crazy, but fun Who Let the Dogs Out Puzzle. I just love
it when learning and researching becomes so magical. I am not going to tell you at all where the clue is, other than
it is in this blog SOMEWHERE and I had no idea I was providing a great CLUE that would be needed later. Of course, it
is only one of several possibilities and if you miss it or do not want to use it, that will be fine. You will find your
own path. In fact, if you are doing this as a class assignment, you may want to brainstorm ideas with others in the class
and then you each can go in your own unique direction. When you are finished researching, there are a variety of ways you
can present your findings and which dog you have chosen -- or you can have a discussion about all of the different perspectives
among your classmates.
You Are On Your Own, But Never Alone One more thing: There is not a right or wrong answer to this puzzle!
We are all different and we will each have our own unique reasons for choosing which dog we want as our friend.You are on
your own now to do your research to pick your favorite dog. But remember, you are NEVER ALONE. Some people like to say that
we all have Angels by our side, like the video in yesterday’s blog explained, and that’s a good way to describe the special people in our lives. We all do have
many people by our side who love us and care about us and who will guide us in subtle ways all out of their divine and unconditional
love for us – even (and especially!) helping us with our research – if we just take the time to pay attention
to the subtle little hints and signs. It can become very, very fun and even very funny sometimes. This leads me to the music
provided for today.
The Music for Today My Master Teacher gave me the song, “The Way We Were” by Barbara Steisand, for this morning (a routine that I
now expect every morning and if I don’t awaken to music, I ask: What is the song for today?) I weakly
objected to today’s song because I do not care for Barbara Streisand at all. I know: many, many people love her voice,
of course, so I’m different.
I am more into ROCK and SOUL, as well as CELTIC music because it is VERY SOULFUL. My teacher was pretty persistent, explaining that this song is relevant.
The only thing I can figure is perhaps it is because so many of us KNEW at one time that we have all of these special people
in our lives, but we have FORGOTTEN and we have allowed ourselves to be dominated by people who keep us from remembering.
With all of the world changes that are taking place so rapidly today, we will find that certain people who have served to
hold us back will mysteriously drop out of our lives: they go their way and you go your way – and that’s OK. You
do not want people in your life if they are bent on holding back your progress to a better way of life. I am sure you have
experienced “friends” who try to get you to do something that you do not feel is right, just because they
want to do it or they are engaging in the behavior already, whether it might be drinking, using drugs, or playing pranks.
Don’t let these people drag you backwards! And don’t feel bad if they happen to fade from your life. This is a
good sign. It is a sign of the times….and it means you are on the right path. Just let go of the past “bad stuff.” It’s ok to remember
the good times and the times you laughed together, as the song points out.
There is no doubt about it: making and keeping
friends – even if they are family members – is very difficult. Often we feel we are traveling the road all alone. I
think Joe had it right, having three dogs. Dogs are ALWAYS your loyal friends. They didn’t earn the reputation of being
“man’s best friend” for nothing. In that way, dogs are great buddies for alleviating suffering. NOW I see
the connection to this treasure hunt, do you?
Have a wonderful day and good luck with your treasure hunting! Vanessa
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt (Part 10): Blue Awareness for the People of Haiti PLUS The CODE
BLUE MISSION
My heart and prayers go out to the people of Haiti following the severe earthquake there. I have brought
up in these blogs several times the point that, economically, things are a nightmare in Haiti. More than 80% of the population
lives below the poverty line. People are literally eating dirt cookies. It is very, very sad and I ask myself everyday: WHY???
My heart and prayers go out to the people of Haiti after this horriblydevastatingEarthquake. Anyone who can help, please do so. Many hands are needed there.
There are so many naturally-caused problems and disasters in the world
that I just cannot comprehend why people can be so ruthless in their day-to-day lives. What is the God Almighty Dollar in
the grand scheme of things? I am unemployed and have no idea how I will continue to provide for my family. I am unemployed
because someone in the university is ruthlessly focused on increasing profit. I must create my own work because I am not going
to work for a corrupt educational system that is bent on maximizing profit in the same vein as Don Blankenship by which he
is literally blowing up the Appalachian Mountains as I have written about here on this site. These are beautiful mountains and habitats
that can NEVER be restored. These are beautiful people and communities being devastated forever.
JUST LIKE Don Blankenship, the profiteers of education are chopping down people, killing their hope, stealing their souls,
programming them with nonsensical worthless garbage that will be useless in the future. Most of the education provided to
the impoverished is nothing but canned programming. And how many “Billing & Coding” and “Law Enforcement”
people do we need? There will certainly be a glut of them on the market; albeit, they will be very UNqualified, which will
result in even more suffering. But it is all OK in the name of EVER INCREASING PROFIT. Teachers continue to get pay cut after
pay cut and find themselves without work if they dare speak out or teach worthwhile knowledge. Something has got to
change. What does it take for people to wake up? What does it take to get people to speak
out? What are people so afraid of? FEAR=False Energy Appearing Real. It is ALL in your minds.
Don Blankenship speaks out. Many corporate and university power wielders have followed suit. We live in ruthless times:
There
is a Rising Sun and the hope that people will wake up. Joe’s book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction
can help significantly. This is the year that it must happen. Some people call it the YEAR OF THE INDIGO – the Blue Year. There is much more to it than that.
The Code Blue Mission and Blue Suede Shoes
As I mentioned yesterday – TODAY IS WEAR BLUE DAY. Did you wear blue? I hope you
did – as a call to lend a helping hand to those in Haiti. It is the mission of which I have been speaking for several
months, now. The name of the mission has been classified until now.
We call it The Code Blue Mission because we literally need to rescue people on earth as we move forward -- as well as
resuscitate earth itself – and it is a term that most people will recognize as serving a benevolent purpose. Look for
the spaceships with the red crosses, lol. But remember, the Imperialists will try to trick you. Their tricks can no longer
work unless you let them, so when you see them, just laugh.
As I mentioned in previous blogs, 2012 is NOT the end of
the world, but there will be some severely destructive events. Many people are relaying this very same message. Joe
talks about all of this in his books, if you just read them with an open mind: We are at the BEGINNING, as Joe has pointed
out, not the end. And we will need Joe’s BLUE KNOWLEDGE for the journey ahead (Critical Constructivism, Ch. 5).
And what about those blue suede shoes? There are many meanings. The most obvious is that no one can stop us from "reaching for the stars" whether
it is to fulfill our divine and, as my Master Teacher put it yesterday, "ravishing" (entrancing, delightful, very
beautiful) destiny or to traverse those wormholes in space (those gates we talked about in the last treasure hunt -- more
of which will be opening in 2010) to reach other places and times. EVERYONE can reach for the stars and have a ROYAL life
(as my teacher put it). We just need to partake in it and not allow others the power to "step on our blue suede shoes." Dance, Baby, Dance!!!
It really helps if you have "Angels" by your side, which we
all do, but you must believe. All your dreams and wishes can come true!!
Tomorrow:
More about the MUSIC Easter Egg in Chapter Five of Critical Constructivism and how Joe’s BLUE KNOWLEDGE can help us.
You might want to review the January 5, 2010 blog to prepare for this AMAZING journey.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt (Part 9): Deep Blue Is When “Things” Seem Hopeless and You Feel
All Alone
We have been on the topic of BLUE (see yesterday’s blog).
Sunday, I did that
very DEPRESSING research about the MONARCH MIND CONTROL CRAP. It is UNFATHOMABLE that “people” exist in this world
who can do such horrific things. They are NOT people. They are SNAKES and LIZARDS.
Still, it is UNFATHOMABLE AND ABOMINABLE what these nasty “people” do. Just reading
about it is very depressing. Being a victim, of course, is even worse. It makes the job of improving education seem like an
impossible feat, and the FIDURODians have us right where we are meant to be: feeling hopeless, depressed, alone, and, very, very blue.
I guess my favorite Master Teacher wanted to make me feel better. And he always knows
just the right words! Out of the BLUE, yesterday, Rainbow Princess walked over to my desk
without saying a word and handed me a slip of paper with a message she had received from him. All that was written on
the paper was: WestLife: Us Against the World. It was
a song, of course, and it cheered me up immensely and reminded me once again that I am never alone, no matter
how alone I might feel sometimes.
Tomorrow: WEAR BLUE and
find out why it is “Wear Blue Day.”
Vanessa
P.S. I can imagine Joe experienced situations in which people tried to sabotage him or spoke negatively about him just
because he was so brilliant. Some people would rather be destructiviely jealous than rejoice in being around someone so brilliant,
kind, loving, humble, egalitarian, and generous; in fact, he wrote about these situations and people (some of it encoded;
some of it is not). He definitely knew the "Stigma of Genius," which is even the
title of a book he wrote about Einstein with some other people. As I have written previously,
Joe was right up there with Einstein! In fact, I even wrote that "Joe was a Greater Genius than Einstein" because his theory solves Einstein's Riddle. Consider this: Einstein left us one riddle to solve.
Joe left us many books with hundreds upon hundreds of riddles, puzzles, surprises and gifts! I am on a "forever treasure
hunt!" Why can't people be nice like Joe was?
Critical pedagogy is supposed to be about HOPE and CHANGE, NOT gossiping or labeling people such things as "Eager Beaver Critical Pedagogues" or assaulting them through
the legal system to make them feel BLUE. In the meantime, I will carry on with my mission. . . and you can
just.....
PS - I AM from the BEAVER state!!! OSU (the Beavers),
my alma mater!
A PUZZLE FOR YOU:
Joe wrote about the television program, "Leave It to Beaver." Which book and on what page, and what did he say about
it? What is the LESSON, here? Hint: The book was NOT Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt Continues (Part 8): Blue Suede Shoes and MORE About Who Let the
Dogs Out? Who? Who?
Ask and ye shall receive. This morning when there was no music to awaken me and I asked what the song was for today,
the answer was immediately, “Blue Suede Shoes.” Hmmm….I wonder what this means. As I am sitting here writing
this, I can only speculate and hope that as my research on this project continues, the significance of Blue Suede Shoes becomes
more evident. Well, there was that Blue Angel Club on Merseyside after taking the ferry across the Mersey River in last Friday’s blog. Maybe someone wants to go dancing there. Or perhaps it is just an indication of how
important dancing is. I think dancing is great for the soul. I will see what today’s blog brings me.
There is definitely a lot of BLUE in this treasure hunt. We have the DEEP BLUE MARINER, yesterday we had the BLUE MONARCH
BUTTERFLY, we have had the BLUES BROTHERS with their song, I’M A SOUL MAN, the 2010 STEEL BLUE MARINER, BLUE COLUMBUS
because we are about to reveal more truth about that history which will not make him such famous MARINER after all, the
many CLUES provided by a TRUE BLUE SOUL MATE, THE BLUECOATS (IMPERIALISTS) – or were they the REDCOATS? AND, of course,
the STAR of this treasure hunt, JOE and his BLUE KNOWLEDGE. And now we have BLUE SUEDE SHOES.
WhereEVER does that lead us? I am SO CONFUSED. I will have to think about this. Maybe one more dream and I will have it figured
out. It MUST have SOMETHING to do with EDUCATION.
In the meantime, I keep getting more information about Joe’s
Dog Riddle, so I will relay what I have learned so far. This will be the updated version of the riddle and I am not
sure this is all there is. I was AMAZED to find I could make more than 70 words just from the letters of his dogs’ names
and this is without using a letter twice (unless it was included twice, such as ZZ). There may be over 100 words before
I am finished finding all of them. Of course, this includes 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-letter words and even higher.
I have a feeling I have
not discovered all of the levels of this puzzle yet. What have I been saying all along in these blogs?
Joe’s work is multidimensional and can be interpreted on multiple levels. Apparently, he has included many puzzles and
riddles throughout his work that are also multilevel. This puzzle is just one of them. It seems to be given to me in phases,
in levels, so here is what I have so far and I will update it as I learn more. I love the title of the puzzle – with
all of the levels, it is appropriate and descriptive.
Where In the World Did this Puzzle Come From? In which book and on what page did Joe write about his three dogs,
CELTIC, OZZY, and ALI? What was he explaining? (I might provide a hint later.)
Man’s Best Friend: What’s In A Name? Joe had three dogs named CELTIC, OZZY, and ALI. How did he choose
these names for his dogs? Clue:
Joe was very funny and he loved words and their multiple meanings and interpretations, so you can figure that he gave some
serious thought to choosing these names for his dogs since they were going to be his “best friends” for a few
years. Isn’t that what people say: “A dog is a man’s best friend.” So, perhaps, he chose names that
matched the personality of these dogs. Knowing Joe, there were multiple reasons he chose these names for his dogs. Can you
think of three? One of them is right here on this page.
A Dog’s Name is Worth 1000 Words (this puzzle is good even for very young learners) Teacher Joe had three dogs. Their names were
CELTIC, OZZY, and ALI. See how many words you can make using only the letters in his dogs’ names. Each letter can only
be used once unless it appears more than once in the names, such as ZZ. Ihave found more than 70 words so far!
See how many 1-,2-,3-,4-,5-letter words you can find. Can you find any words with more than five letters? Also, abbreviations,
slang, and proper names can be used, for example, CIA.
Make some sentences with the words and/or write a story. If you don’t know
what a word means, be sure to look it up in a dictionary or online dictionary. Draw a picture to go with the words and/or
story.
Dog Days Crossword Puzzle Now that you have found all of these words, write definitions for them (use a dictionary or online
dictionary) and make a crossword puzzle! Or make any or even several of the cool puzzles at http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/. Solve it and then share it with your friends and family so they can solve it. Give prizes
(just kidding).
Secret
Message from the Secret Agent Dogs Joe did
not stop there. He also encoded a secret message within his dogs’ names, but it is all scrambled up and obfuscated.
Be sure to look up the word, obfuscated in the dictionary to see what it means. Teacher Joe loved that word and he was always
looking for obfuscated messages so that he could decipher them and make these fun puzzles, among all of the other
very important work he did to make the world a happier, better place for everyone.
Here’s how this puzzle works. You have to unscramble the letters to get
to the message. Each letter is used just once. I have a sneaking suspicion that Teacher Joe had some “tricks up his
sleeves” with this one. I know for example, you can use the SOUNDS of the letters to make words. For example, you can
use EZ to represent the word EASY. So this is really a hard puzzle and I have not solved it yet, myself. Again, the letters
are provided by his dogs’ names, CELTIC, OZZY, and ALI.
HINT: It might be helpful to write each letter in capitals on little square pieces of paper
and rearrange them until you discover the hidden message. So far, the closest I have come to any sort of message is TIZ LAZY
CLEO I C, but that is not THE Message. It is just an example of one way to solve this puzzle (Joe always had multiple solutions
to his puzzles so that EVERYONE can solve them). This solution that I have found uses all of the letters once and it
does say something, but it is not the Secret Message. Good Luck!
You might enjoy this short video along with this puzzle:
Well, that’s all for today. I hope tomorrow brings
me a true blue meaning of all of the blue clues. Have a great Monday – oh, and here
is Elvis and his Blue Suede Shoes!
Vanessa
Blue Suede Shoes – Elvis Presley P.S. This is cool. I just now heard
from one of my Master Teachers and he gave me some more clues: My day is going
fathomly well (is that deep or what?) Didn’t you wanna know about the blue suede shoes, or were you afraid to ask? Ah
well, tomorrow, love. It will become crystal clear. Don’t miss it!
PSOA 12 What Do Butterflies, the Wizard of Oz, & Alice in Wonderland All Have in Common? Is the Answer Blowin’ In the Wind?
I finally figured out what my problem is: I’m NOT an “Eager Beaver Critical Pedagogue” (as I have
been labeled in the past, which I knew, anyway) -- I must be a Monarch Slave. That might explain the blue monarch
butterfly I use on this website, why my name is Vanessa, which means butterfly, and why I am obsessive about writing
a blog every single day. I am under total mind control. According to this article, it must have all started when I watched the Wizard of Oz. All children who
watch the Wizard of Oz, especially if they suffer abuse, neglect, or poverty are ultimately Monarch Slaves. I probably would
have been fine had I not also read the book Alice in Wonderland multiple times when I was a little older.
That sealed my fate. Be sure you miss the new movie coming out, folks, even if it does star the most
handsome man in the world, Johnny Depp (I happen to love Johnny Depp, even if I am not his wife -- lol)
– You know the movie I'm talking about, “Alice in Wonderland” coming out in a few short weeks, in 3D, no less!!! Wow 3D in 3D Land; now that is a feat. If you do watch the movie,
be careful; it might just turn YOU into a Monarch Slave.
OK, so I am being facetious, but some people will put anything on the Internet to keep that “fear within”
alive and well. There is no doubt that some nasty mind control has happened in the past and continues to happen to this day,
but let's get real about it and do our research so that we can know what's what. The thing is that, perhaps, some of
these people are so controlled by their own fear and outside sources that they do not know reality from fiction. But then, we can say this about every single living being on this planet. We all construct reality. This is just another
example of how everything you read is biased in some way. How do we get a more rational view of topics as complex as mind
control, as was discussed in the articles above? We have to read, read widely and wisely, analyze, interpret, and factor in
who is writing the article, who they are associated with, what their ideologies are, and why are they writing
it -- and then reconstruct it so that it makes sense. Of course, the reconstruction or the picture that we paint from these
investigations is always tentative and changing because everything they are based on is changing. We must stay
smart to stay ahead of the game, anticipate changes and comprehend Joe's critical immanence, a topic for another day. This
is the heart of the bricolage and hermeneutical analysis.
Just as a reminder, critical evaluation applies
to anything I write as well. I am biased and just as uninformed as the next guy. I have my own reality -- just like you do.
I have never hidden that. I am biased toward Joe's work; I have been ever since reading the first article he so generously
provided me to read. And the second article had me locked in and I literally could not sleep for two nights (and I even TOLD
him so, lol, on his web site), cuz, here is the man with the exact answers I had been looking for all
of my life. Answers I was evolving toward, but could never clarify them in my own FIDURODian-constructed consciousness.
Joe did all of the work for us. All we have to do is read his work and the magic takes place. It should also be noted (and
it has been, quite vehemently, in fact) that I am biased in how I choose to interpret Joe's work. We are still
being told it is a free world, afterall.
A Lesson in Monarch Butterfly Mind Control: Is There a Greater
Lesson Here? If you do the activities in this lesson that follows and
read some of the entries (such as the one cited above) you may want to “deprogram” yourself afterwards. There
are many paths to deprogramming and we each must take our own. One of my Master Teachers -- and, Yes, silly,
I DO have people in my life who I call my Master Teachers because they have so much more knowledge than I
do! These Master Teachers have graciously volunteered their time to help me further my learning and education as I complete
my dissertation. Anyway, one of my Master Teachers has taught me a great acronym for fear that I never
forget. FEAR = FALSE ENERGY APPEARING REAL. When you have fully convinced yourself of that, then nothing can hurt you. Of
course, it is a lifetime feat to do this (and for many of us a multiple lifetime feat – check the statistics: How
many people believe in reincarnation? It's A LOT!!). We just have to keep working on it. You can start by reading these two
blogs, which I recommend before researching certain aspects of the Monarch butterfly, since some of the FIDURODians who write
some of these articles attempt to program your mind with fear. (Review FIDUROD here.)
Also, don’t forget this great song to help alleviate your fears. As you can see,
little Connie Talbot has no fears of the Monarch butterfly! And why should she?
This is a great classroom activity
or an activity you can do and discuss with your friends, if you are not a student (we are ALL learners, researchers, and teachers!!!)
First, research the history of mind control. Where did it all begin? Some people claim that we brought RUSSIA
to America. What do you think?
Next, find at least three articles about the
mind control that is purportedly going on today, or has occurred recently, such as the Monarch Butterfly Mind Control Program. You
also may find it helpful to view some videos on the topic, which you can find by clicking on the Google video tab or
by going to You Tube and searching. You can launch from the articles provided above if you wish, or start a new search.Try to find a variety of articles: citizen, victim, government, psychological perspective, etc. Analyze the articles
and try to classify them. Are the authors providing useful information or simply indoctrinating? Is the information
they are conveying understandable or nonsensical jumble? Are they devised to instill fear or alleviate fear and why? What
clues do you have that support your analysis? You will find different motivations behind the mind control articles. Some of
them are sincerely trying to inform and warn us, some of them purposely attempt to obfuscate, confuse, and misinform, some
of them are written primarily to instill fear.
Spend at least a month (a few
hours a week) on this project and let it go where it takes you, incorporating many subjects along the way: investigate
the history, science, phenomenological evidence (such as personal accounts), political, economic, cultural, religious, etc.
aspects – and pull in some mathematics, too. Go where you are led with this research that is, there
are many different directions one might take. If you are particularly interested in an aspect -- for example, symbolism, esoteric
aspects, spirituality, the science behind mind control, the psychology, how children are being affected, the laws that protect
us from such activities (manmade and/or cosmic), etc. -- then do more extensive research on those. A great web site for science
is www.scirus.net and this is a good time to learn about the DEEP WEB. (Research it!). A great
example of a web site emanating from deep web research is www.thememoryhole.com. You will need to do a search on the site, either with their search function or their drop
down menu. This is typical for deep web research. You find a site and then you have to search on that site and it is amazing
what can turn up, Note: If you have Norton or some other virus software and a message comes up saying the site is unsafe,
just ignore it. The site is safe! I have used it a lot of times. I think something is going here with Norton Internet
Security– maybe someone is “sleeping on the job.” There are many more great
sites for information. Let’s find them and share them.
Each day, summarize
your thoughts in a journal and discuss your findings with others, either in an asynchronous online setting or a classroom
setting or with friends. If you have them be sure you consult with your Master Teachers, because
they will be your guides through this very complex, winding, diabolical experience. Do not hesitate toconsult
them, ever. I did, and one of my Master Teachers gave me a lot more information about all of this, along with reassurance
-- and he told me, “Carry on, Love” which just happens to be a great rock song! The lyricshave some fantastic clues, too which we might keep in mind as we "carry
on" with our research!!!
If your teachers are really
good, they will turn it into a treasure hunt and you will have SO MUCHFUN doing this!
You will find your way out of this twisted, diabolical mess, much in the
way Joe explains with his critical hermeneutics. You will want to review this on pages 245-252 in Knowledge
and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction. The goal is to get inside the hermeneutic circle and spin for awhile, as you
look for ways out (a solution or multiple solutions) that lead to alleviating any suffering people may experience either as
a result of this horrible, evil stuff or as a way to improve the world for people somehow – make the world a better
place – in spite of this evil crap.
Conclusion of the
Assignment Let’s Discuss! Did you find an answer to what
monarch butterflies, the Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland have in common? What do you think? What was the most valuable
thing you learned by doing this assignment? Were you able to rise above the False Energy of Fear? Do you feel you need deprogramming?
What would help you or others who partake in this sort of research? What advice would you give? What are some new skills you
learned as you did this assignment? Did you find some answers or is it much like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez sing the song that
awakened me this morning – the answers are “blowin’ in the wind?” Where do we go from
here?
ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT Not all students will want to tackle the above assignment and some may have differing learning needs and abilities, or they
may be younger students. A great alternative assignment is to have them compare and contrast the orange and blue monarch
butterflies and to learn about the “butterfly effect.” They may want to create a presentation, display, artwork,
music, poetry – encourage them to use multiple means of communicating what they learn. Let them research freely, record
each day what they have learned in their journals (ALL students should keep learning journals with writing, pictures, notes,
etc.!). Pose some questions for them such as: Which Monarch butterfly do you like the best, the orange and black monarch or
the blue monarch? What are the differences (besides color) between these two butterflies? Where do they live? Describe their
habitat (flora and fauna).
Why do so many people love butterflies? What do butterflies represent? Does this meaning span across different cultures? What
is the life cycle of the butterfly? Are the Monarch butterflies endangered? Use an improvisational teaching technique in which
students go in the directions they are most interested in, and ask them probing questions so that their learning spirals upward
and spans multiple disciplines.
I can hear the wind outside,blowing. I can hear the wind
outside, calling me - "I'm going her way." Visions assault my eyes - dreams coming true. Reunions
and arms to fold - Wind winning me back to you.
I'm lying here. I'm trying to stay strong. But the wind
outside, keeps calling to me - Now's my chance, to set my words free. To expose my thoughts, to the cruelty, Of the wind outside, of the antipathy. Visions assault my eyes, dreams coming true.
I'm going outside, I'm
going outside. Wind carry my words, wind carry my love, Wind carry my hope, wind carry my words.
BYE for now! I have some boring prep work to do before I start my GREAT DISSERTATION!!! (Using Joe's bricolage!!!)
Vanessa Tomorrow: We shall
continue with the Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt and more ways we can get to
the other side of that Mersey (Mercy) River.
Photo Credits: Click on the photos, they will
"take you there."
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt Part 7 - Workin' Like A Dog, Great Mersey Beat, & Signs of Love
OMG! This morning it was “It’s a Hard Day’s Night” by the Beatles. Too funny. I have a Master Teacher
who awakens me almost every morning with a song, which only means one thing – it’s the song for my daily blog.
Well, usually the song means more than one thing and this time is probably no different. This particular Master Teacher is
SO FUNNY! I know why he chose this song today. It’s because yesterday (In my blog) I complained about awakening once
again in dreary 3D FIDUROD Land. The reason I complain sometimes is because I am beginning to feel like
my so-called dream life is my happy, joyful life and my “real” life issomewhat of a nightmare
(you will have to read my blogs for the past week to know what a horrible nightmare it’s been lately). You know, some
cultures believe that what we Westerners have convinced ourselves is “real” life is really dream life whereas
dream life is real life and it is very sacred. I really see why, now. Suddenly, when my Master Teacher sent me this
song, it makes such complete sense to me (I had never seen it in this light before): “It’s Been a Hard Day's Night.”
So, my teacher is making a joke because he knows it can be hard work here, but he also knows that I am totally committed to
being here and doing this work and that I can see the humor in it all and laugh about it no matter how difficult things become.
"I’ve been Working
Like A Dog": Can You Solve the Puzzles?
Oh, my. I keep being “reminded” about Joe’s dogs. You know, the puzzle from the last few days. If you notice,
in the above song the lyrics mention “working like a dog.” Well, the puzzle that came from Joe’s book relates
to what he named his three dogs: Celtic, Ozzy, and Ali. I am being prompted to give some clues to this
puzzle. First, Joe was very funny and he loved words and their multiple meanings and interpretations, so you can figure that
he gave some thought to choosing these names for his dogs since they were going to be his “best friends” for a
few years. Isn’t that what so many, many people say: “Dogs are man’s best friends.” So, I am thinking
maybe he chose names that matched the personality of his dogs….I don’t know. I do know there
are more puzzles that go with this, and maybe even four puzzles altogether, but I haven’t figured them
all out yet.
Here is the
second puzzle (children might like this one, but I have been having fun with it, too):
Teacher Joe had three dogs. Their names were
CELTIC, OZZY, and ALI. See how many words you can make using only the letters in his dogs’ names. Try making sentences
with some of the words or writing a story. Draw a picture to go with the words and/or story.
Here is the third puzzle for you: Which book and on what page did
Joe write about these dogs?
Back
to the Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt: The Beautiful Mersey Beat
Did you read yesterday’s blog? It was very, very interesting how the Merseyside was the center of a special, blessed,
and magical form of rock music. When I looked at some of the bands and artists from Merseyside, it was clear that most of
my very favorite music of the era was that great Mersey Beat. In fact, the song called “Ferry Cross
the Mersey” by the Pacemakers was a favorite and I had not heard in absolute ages until it was presented by my Master
Teachers for this treasure hunt. I remember as a young teen of about 15 years of age, I was a passenger with a friend and
we decided to take the shortcut route to the capital city. The shortcut involved taking a ferry across the Willamette River
and we thought it was so cool when the song “Ferry Cross the Mersey” started playing on the car radio as
we were driving on our way to the Ferry. Even back then, my Master Teachers were working with me – if only I had realized
it and had not been so “cognitively handcuffed,” as Joe put it in his book.
I want to research this whole Mersey Beat music scene much more. I think there is so much we
can learn about the way these musicians were able to rise up out of what the author referred to as the “blackwaters.”
That is a huge feat and with the way our world is today where much of the world’s population seems to be living in similar
“blackwaters” we must research all possibilities for creating rising phoenixes in multiple places around the world.
Yes, I will definitely be doing more research on this very amazing historical event. One of the most critical elements of
Joe’s theory is that we choose those interpretations in relation to our “clues” during our treasure hunts
that will alleviate human suffering. This is exactly what gets us out of the hermeneutic circle, as I had demonstrated with
The NEW Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure Hunt and the analysis of “The House of the Rising Sun.”
How better to alleviate human suffering, as was Joe's mission, than if we can learn what was so magical and
powerful during the era of 1958-1964 that led to such beautiful music, dancing, and happy celebrations on the Merseyside?
I do thank my Master Teachers from the bottom of my heart for giving me the clue, “Ferry Cross the Mersey” by
the Pacemakers that ultimately led me to this information. A special thank you also goes to Bill and Virginia Harry for
making so much information available on their website, Mersey Beat and for their work toward the "Mersey Beat Village" that will put Liverpool back on the Music Map where it
rightly belongs! And while I will be researching this some more, Joe’s theory calls for multiple perspectives and
interpretations so that we have many options and choices when it comes to making the world better and alleviating suffering.
This is necessary in a world that has so many problems and so much suffering everywhere – so, I will continue
on with that endeavor in my blog on Monday. Tomorrow: A Public Service Outreach Announcement (PSOA).
Signs of Love, Love, Love, Love
Well, I am going to end this early today. My emotions are running away from me. As he does nearly every morning, when my Master
Teacher parted from our meeting this morning, he gave me one last song for the day, which is his way of making a music
request for the last song in my blog for the day. I just now looked it up on You Tube…it is so sweet and
so appropriate. I hope there is someone in your life you might share this tender love song with. As I stated in a previous
blog, our mission is LOVE and therefore, we hope that there will be many other people who will find these love songs which
I post throughout my blogs helpful in moving their own love life to a much higher and meaningful level. Don’t
denigrate LOVE, please. It is the worst thing you can do for yourself, your loved ones, and for the future of this
planet. Review the blog I wrote, Past the Point of No Return: Money Can’t Buy You Love and what Joe had said about love and other good virtues. Read Paulo Freire’s work
and, most importantly, put it into practice -- LOVE is the most powerful action you can possibly take.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt Part 6. What Can We Learn by Taking the Ferry Across the Mersey?
I awakened this morning still in FIDUROD Land. (If you need to review FIDUROD, here is its definition and here is what it means.) It is always kind of disappointing in a way. I travel many beautiful places, visit with such dynamic, brilliant, loving,
and humorous people, and have such a great time in dreamland, the blissful life...and the next thing I know I awaken to 3D
Land, feeling so alone and forgotten -- again. One of my great Master Teachers immediately
started playing me the song by Willie Nelson, “You Were Always on My Mind” just as my eyes were opening to the
dull “enviros,” -- in his sweet attempt to cheer me up. And he knows this always works for me. It reinvigorates
me and reminds me of the great mission we are working on here on earth to make it a better world. It reminds
me that I am truly not alone at all. As I always do, when I am handed down music, I looked it up on You Tube, and the following
video came right up to the top...I love it!
I am not forgotten, I was never forgotten, and I am never alone.
The great mission continues.
The reason I bring this up is because the same is true for you – and everyone else who is
attending this earth school. We all have people around us every day who we love and who love us...we just need to remember
that and be more proactive in demonstrating our love and acknowledgement. We must escape those “cognitive handcuffs”
and the “ball and chains” I discussed back on December 24 in relation to the “poor boy” who did not
know whether he really wanted to return to “The House of the Rising Sun” because it was so bad there and he knew
he was gonna have some reckoning to do. If you wish, you can review that here. It was quite important and relates to our new treasure hunt as well. We really need to be set free, but no
one is going to do it FOR us, if you know what I mean.
So....I promised to review the CLUES and WISHES for this latest and greatest treasure
hunt, and while I am at it, I will provide hints for the FIDURODian LIES since they have such a role in these treasure hunts
and one of the clues I was given yesterday takes us in that direction. But, one step at a time. We just never know where these
things will take us.
Your Homework Assignment Amazingly, yesterday morning I was given another clue: Page 73 in Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy:
An Introduction. OMG!! On page 73 there is a MOVIE Easter egg and it is significant. Wow the media moguls
should be happy that Joe used MOVIE and MUSIC Easter eggs to promote their work! Anyway, I am surprised I noticed it. I do
not like television or movies and so the MOVIE Easter eggs are going to be difficult for me to identify – but I
noticed this one. So, what is the MOVIE Easter egg on page 73 and how does it tie into what Joe discusses
in this section and how does it tie into the treasure hunt? Also, on that page I happen to have written a a note to see page
87 for some reason. What is on page 87 that relates to all of this? I will analyze this later, but I will give you
a hint: think key codes. You may want to review The New Quest for the Golden Key Treasure Hunt cuz it talks all about key
codes.
SUMMARY
OF THE CLUES The title of the treasure hunt, The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise is a clue which I have already
analyzed to a degree (and you can go back and review those blogs for more information). The deep blue mariner is either someone
who navigates a ship (or a ferry or a spaceship), or he is the man walking down the dusty road as we learned yesterday, or
he is Columbus and we have to figure out and correct all of the lies that were perpetuated by the Imperialists (that could
make Columbus feel deeply blue), or maybe it’s not a man at all, but rather a decked out steel blue Mercury Mariner
(in which I am the “soul surprise,” lol)....OR MAYBE it’s ALL of these or NONE of these....time will tell.
What do you think? Who is the Deep Blue Mariner? What is the “Soul Surprise?” With all honesty,
I do not know yet. I never plan these excursions, but just hold someone’s hand who I cannot see and go where the winds
blow me, so to speak. It is a rather improvisational style that Joe emphasizes is an important way to approach learning, research,
and education. And it is such great fun! I can’t wait to apply it to my dissertation!
Ferry Cross the Mersey We shall start here with the song about the Ferry crossing the Mersey. What is the significance
of crossing the Mersey (Mercy?) River? Is the deep blue mariner the guy who’s taking us across the river? Are we taking
a ferry because the bridge is blocked by those “FIDURODian trolls?” (Joe said that in one of his books somewhere
– your job is to find where). I LIKE the idea of this IRISH Ferry taking me across the Mersey
(mercy) that's shown in the picture, beings that I am of Irish descent and perhaps my kinfolk would provide a great trip across.
We had as a clue,
the song, “Ferry Cross the Mersey” by Gerry and the Pacemakers from 1965 and also from 1992. I suspect these dates are significant. I always LOVED this song, too. There is also a movie and I sure wish
I could see this particular move, but I guess it's not availabe. I did a little research on this. A lot of people think it
is saying Ferry Across the Mersey, but that is not the case. The mariner is ordering the
ferry to cross the Mersey. It’s more like, “Ferry, cross the Mersey!” It was like an order
to take us to “the Merseyside.” And what is the Merseyside? I learned that the Mersey is a river in Liverpool
around an area that is really well known for its contribution to ROCK MUSIC which was later dubbed “BEAT” to differentiate
this music. If it had not been for all of the musicians in the area around Liverpool and the Mersey River – from the
Merseyside, the United States would have dominated the rock music scene. That could have been a bad scene.
Here’s a great and very fascinating history
of the music from the Mersey area during the early 60s, which came to be called The Mersey Beat. (after the newspaper that was developed to report all the happenin's). There were a LOT of Artists and Bands, so this was no small endeavor. And not only that, they rose somewhat like the RISING PHOENIX. In reading
about the history of the area, it had been pretty much left behind after the Manchester Ship Canal was built, causing trade
to bypass Liverpool. It is interesting to note that this author, Barry Hill, claims that the Beatles success may have actually
contributed to the diminishing of this local music scene. It's a complex and interesting story, so
you will have to read the account at The Mersey Beat. (and note that there are several pages to this article). With the new canal, however, Liverpool had become
a “blackwater” (What is a blackwater? What are some advantages to being a blackwater?). How did this give the
musicians there an advantage? The author states the following:
In previous decades, there was no real awareness of ‘teenagers’ (a term which only emerged
in the 1950s).In Liverpool, for instance, youngsters were mini-replicas of their parents....Suddenly, there was an awareness
of being young, and young people wanted their own styles and their own music....On the Merseyside, ‘Mersey Beat’
was their voice. It was a paper for them, crammed with photos and information about their own groups....The newspapers, television,
theatres and radios were all run by people of a different genration who had no idea what youngsters wanted. For decades they
had manipulated and controlled them (see the scene with George Harrison and Kenneth Haid in ‘A Hard Days Night;)...(Hill,
2002)
This is INTERESTING!! They had a cool club there called The Blue Angel. The photo is Bill Kinsley, a member of The Mersey Beat taken at the door of the Blue Angel. Mersey Beat was a newspaper
that was published during the era of 1958-1964 when Liverpool came to be known as “The Rockin’ City” and
bands began referring to their music as “beat” (after The Mersey Beats Newspaper) instead of Rock ‘n Roll
in order to differentiate themselves. Note that they were already active before the Beatles came along.
What Can We Learn from The Mersey Beat? Questions to ponder (you can find the answers at The Mersey Beat): Which artists most influenced the
birth of the Mersey Beat? (the music, not the newspaper).
What
happened to some of these artists and how did it affect their future music?
How did the media moguls kill this
music, which they referred to as “the devil’s music?”
What were the names of some of these media
moguls? Why do you think the media called
it the devil’s music and why would they want to destroy it? How does this relate to our current treasure hunt? Or does it?
Have I been led astray? (I really don't think
my teachers would ever do that to me -- I keep FAITH and TRUST at the forefront at all times).
To conclude
for today: What existed [the music, the dance, the magic] on
the banks of the Mersey between 1957 and 1964 was exciting, energetic and unique, a magical time when an entire city danced
to the music of youth. (Barry Hill, 2002).
Let’s Do It Again! Dance, BABY, Dance!!! BEAT IT!!! – Michael Jackson
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt Part 5 -- Is the Deep Blue Mariner Coming to Our Rescue?
I’m excited! This treasure hunt just turns up all kinds of surprises! Yesterday, I was extremely distressed about
all the (as Joe would put it), well, actually as he did put it in several places in his books, “shit,”
and I was begging to be rescued by the Deep Blue Mariner and Lo AND Behold, I awakened to this song this morning, "I’m
a Soul Man" by the Blues Brothers!! Ya think MAYBE he (now that we know it’s a man) will come to our rescue? Maybe
if we can find the “dusty road” this “soul man” is on we will have a better chance of finding him.
Sumptin’ tells me that the last Easter egg I told you about that is in Chapter 5 of Joe’s book, Critical Constructivism
gives a REALLY GOOD CLUE to the dusty road. Maybe if we find that road and travel it, we will run into him. But then, why
would the deep blue MARINER be travelin’ on a ROAD? I wonder what’s up with that? I would expect a mariner to
be on a ship. I do know that many of my friends and I have been talking about feeling like we're on "sinking ships"
or boats. Will the deep blue mariner be able to find us or do we have to find him?
I will just leave ya’ll today to ponder this for a bit.
You might want to review the previous blogs with the previous clues for this Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure
Hunt. Tomorrow, perhaps this will begin to make sense. All I know is, I am NOT the only one who wants to
be rescued by the Deep Blue Mariner. And we are all getting very desperate. Many of us are unemployed, down on our luck, stressed
out, depressed, and wondering where the next rent payment is going to come from. And did you know that it’s “politically
incorrect” to wish for a “savior.” At least among the elite, but then, what do THEY know about it?
Tomorrow: Reviewin’ the clues and
wishes!!! Fer sure! PLUS: What’s up with the names Joe gave his dogs? (Celtic, Ozzy, and Ali). Have you solved it yet?
(see yesterday's blog). Somethin' tells me there is more than one solution to this puzzle!
Lyrics Comin to ya on a dusty road Good lovin I got a truck load And when you get it you got something So dont worry cause Im coming Im a soul man Im a soul man Im a
soul man Im a soul man Got what I got the hard way And Ill make it better each and every day So honey
dont you fret Cause you aint seen nothing yet Im a soul man Im a soul man Play it steve! Im a soul
man Im a soul man Listen I was brought up on a side street I learned how to love before I could eat I was educated from good stock When I start lovin I just cant stop Im a soul man Im a soul man Im a
soul man Im a soul man Well grab the rope and Ill pull you in Give you hope and be your only boyfriend Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah Im a soul man Im a soul man Youre a soul man Im a soul man Im a soul man Im
a soul man
This Just In!!!
Another Clue!
This song was
just handed down to me and it is significant....I wonder if this has something to do with all of us finding our
soul mates? Our destiny? Just a thought.... There Goes My Baby – Charlie Wilson
More Clues!
There is something about men walking down dusty
roads, which come from the lyrics of "I'm a Soul Man." Here are some more songs that came up when I did some research.
I have no clue as to what it all means....later.
Special Bulletin: I think COZEN O’CONNOR is a Fortune 100 Law Firm PLUS Who Let the Dogs Out? Who? Who?
This is just notification to whomever it may concern that I did, indeed, reply in a timely manner to the request regarding
Joe’s book Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction. Wouldn’t you know it! The
UPS Driver evidently got confused and forgot to pick up the package from the mailing office where it was waiting for him or
her!!! After doing some tracking, it has been found and the package is now on the way. It appears that there are
many people down here (at the bottom of the ladder where I reside), including UPS workers, in need of Joe’scritical complex epistemology so that things can operate more smoothly and efficiently in this rapidly changing,
increasingly complex world. Joe’s
work simply must get out to the masses. We need it down here – and we need to do our OWN interpretation, not rely on
what those at the top of the ladder think is best. What is best for them is not best for us. It is not
even best for them, if they would just stop and think about it for a moment. It is sad that there are a few people
who do not like fun, do not have a sense of humor, and would rather just remain an old “stick in the mud.”
I had to look up “stick in the mud,” by the way. I have never been good with idioms. Joe
was very, very smart to use lots of idioms because the elite use them a lot among themselves and in front of us and
us poor folk really do not know what most of them mean. In fact, they often seem to be very irrational and illogical to us.
By Joe using them, and our studying his work very closely, we can learn them and it helps level the playing field and makes
it easier for us to communicate back and forth and figure out what's really being said about us. Besides, Joe's work makes
it really fun and even hilarious to learn them.
Sometimes, I think people just love to keep things
the way they are, even when it is obviously not working (that is the most recent definition of “stick
in the mud.”) Joe was not like that at all. And he wanted us to be able to read and interpret his work. Why do
you think he packaged it like he did with the fun riddles, puzzles, Easter eggs, key codes, and much more which I am
sure we will soon discover!? I mean really, why? He wanted us to understand what he was telling us in between
the edu-jargon he had also included especially for the formal educators (although he was good at defining the terms
so that we all could come to understand). Joe was a genius.
What else is there to say? My New Year
has gotten off to a very bad start: harassed by someone with money who can afford to pay for a fortune 100 law firm, which
seems like overkill, considering my positioning and lack of money. But I understand that attorneys do have to work, too, and
as one of my master teachers told me "all money is good money." I have to agree with my teacher (I always agree
with my teachers); I just wish I had more of that "good money." So, here I am broke, broken, and blue. And worst of all, I miss Joe. He would know exactly what to say and do to make everything all better. In fact,
he would not have allowed this to happen at all.
Now my dream of a Mercury Mariner and all of my other WISHES really DO look like carrots on a stick and quite
far out of reach at that. It’s OK, I am accustomed to this as it has been the story of my entire life. This is not a
“poor me” story. Why should it be? I am only one among millions – billions
if you count the whole world and, indeed, we should count the whole world -- and most of the other people
are far worse off than I am. My God, people in Haiti are eating DIRT COOKIES. It is very sad. And
it is very UNREAL. I want to help them and now, how can I?
What did
I say in my previous blogs? There are some among the elite who LOVE to stomp on you when you are already on the
ground with your face in the mud (and often they are the very ones who put you there just so they can do this). By God,
if you do not do what they want you to do, the way they want you to do it, it’s the
highway (or the military, or prison). I almost always take the highway before they show me the way. Even with my teaching
job – in many ways, I had left it before it left me. I was teaching students to think (heaven forbid).
We must never teach students to think. Joe writes all about that in Reading, Writing, and Thinking.
This situation with the Easter eggs and such is just FIDUROD once again raising its ugly head. It’s
"formality," "intractibility," "decontextualization," "universalism," "reductionism,"
and "one dimensionality" (pp. 22-23). Just exactly what Joe wrote about in the very book that
is the subject of disagreement. And what did he say? “Some of my saddest moments over the last 40 years
of working toward critical goals have involved observing the pathological egocentric/merciless behavior of those who pay lip
service in their scholarship and social activism to many of the values expressed here” (p. 251). It just dawned on me!
Joe predicted a lot of things in his book. That would make a great activity for younger students: Find all
of Joe’s predictions and see which ones come true. At any rate, I will postpone today’s blog about all of the clues to the treasure hunt and my thoughts on them since
I had to get this emergency message out. I was under a deadline to reply to this Fortune 100 law firm by January 5, 2010,
and I missed the deadline all because the UPS guy/gal has not learned Joe’scomplex critical
thinking and he or she became sidetracked while driving the pick-up route, and totally missed the package. It is
a sad, but true story. In fact, the owners of the UPS office felt so bad about it they were going to refund my money even
if UPS refuses to refund it…but I told them that if UPS does not refund the money for the gaffe, I did not want to
take the money out of their pockets. They are just a small “mom and pop” store. We need more of them around and
we need to cover each other's backs when the going gets tough (and, yes, Joe even talked about this). Thus, with all of this fidurodian craziness happenin’ I do apologize for delaying the review of the clues for the DeepBlue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt -- which is truly the heart of Joe’s work. He loved
treasure hunting. In fact, in Reading, Writing, and Thinking, he stated, “But I’m never too
far away from the postformal treasure hunt” (p. 133) and he would probably be quite appalled about the way things are
being fettered with here. We were just about to launch into his incredibly brilliant and powerful “blue
knowledge.” Well, tomorrow, for sure. Blue Knowledge. I can’t wait. In the meantime, I was told that
one or more of my wishes will come true on this treasure hunt, so I’m gonna wish that the Deep Blue Mariner
comes to my rescue!!!
Who Let the Dogs Out? Who? Who? Oh, and by the way, Joe had THREE dogs and their names were Celtic, Ozzy and Ali, so I think
he would have loved this song. Here’s a puzzle for you: How did Joe come up with these
names for his dogs? It’s not what you think. Have a Great Day, Vanessa (images courtesy of Microsoft)
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt, Part 4. Easter Eggs, the Matrix, A Poem, and Meeting OurTeachers
Half Way
Good Morning! Oh, wow, this is not good for me. A few people were complaining about me finding the
great Easter eggs in Joe’s book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, so I set off in a different
direction (a new treasure hunt) and a different book, and what do I find?ANOTHER EASTER EGG!!! Well, this one is not that hard to find. I would put it at approaching level 2. The caveat is in the
interpretation, which is at Level 3, but I will give a hint.
Is the MATRIX BEING RE-RELOADED??? We
have been studying BLUE KNOWLEDGE in Chapter Five -- the last Chapter of Joe’s book, Critical Constructivism.
I might interject here that this was published in 2005 by Peter Lang Publishing. The Easter egg I found is in the chapter
about BLUE KNOWLEDGE which was our assigned reading for this Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt. Can you find it?
More significantly, how does it relate to the last treasure
hunt and the analysis of The House of the Rising Sun? Very, very important! I am not going to give the answer
right up front, but I will come back to it later in this treasure hunt because all of a sudden I am seeing many links from
this treasure hunt to the last treasure hunt. It must be related to THE MATRIX --- I know what we are doing!!
We are reloading the MATRIX!!! OMG, this is going to be fun. There is actually an interview in which Joe talked about reloading
the matrix – oh, wait....that was just a movie. However, Joe wrote, “While the matrix is fiction, the ‘matrix’ of constructed reality critical constructivists
lay out is not” (p. 149 of Critical Constructivism).
I actually wrote a previous blog about the MATRIX here:
Yesterday,
I did promise a poem from my beloved and very creative cos whose name is Ralph. So here it is:
Love Goes Underground: A Bedtime Story
(for the Deep Blue
Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt)
I tried to
warn people about the ship
I tried to save it before its last dip
Into
the cold deep blue seas
Now all that’s needed is one more sneeze
Sorry
folks, I loved you all
But some of you just had too much gall
If
only you had listened to my pleas and cries
Each and everyone would be so wise
I am sad to see the ship sink
My heart and soul kept it on the brink
No more strength to fight the foe
Who’s determined to give it a go
One more push and it goes down
It makes me sad and I even frown
I
tried so hard to make it all work
Everyone thought I was just a quirk
No one thought for even a moment
That perhaps I broughtNOT torment
But help in the form of divine intervention
Goodness
is ALWAYS my true intention
So sad that people wish to see all gloom
Where
there’s nothing but an open room
To grow and learn and share and love
A wooden chest and treasure trove
A special golden key for you
To
open it and see the truth
All special gifts and a magical surprise
For
everyone who dare open their eyes
Well, stay tuned for the next great feat
It’s
a treasure hunt that will be hard to beat
It comes and goes like fickle weather
In and out of the cosmic ether
Soon to put on its fantastic show,
There’s only one way this treasure hunt will go
It will soon
be in full motion
As soon as teachers have the notion
The
Deep Blue Mariner is on the way
Will the Mariner be able to save the day?
Perhaps
if people turn their tides around
For if they don’t , they will likely hear the sound
Of fathom measurement down to the deep
That reeks of low numbers
for the peep
Too low to come out of this unscathed
Too
dull to see through the thick haze
We tried with great cosmic strength
The
battle went to too great length
And so we quit because we have won
And
now we see the rising sun
It’s too late to turn the tide
All
who are stuck will have to bide
Their time for another great chance
To
participate in the sensual dance
They will have to move for years and years
They
will have to stifle all their fears
The same old chore begins anew
For
now it seems there are a chosen few
Goodnight folks we wish you well
We
hope that life is not too much hell
The time is
up, you’ve heard your cue
Will the Deep Blue Mariner rescue you?
I
don’t have the answer to that query
It seems it may be on that Ferry
You
know, the ferry in the treasure hunt
That will try to pull that crazy stunt
Can it cross the Mercy fast
Or will it make the trip last? Soon the plans
will unfold
The treasure hunt will be bold
It will reveal the
truth of past
That was predicted in the last
Days
of the unfoldment of reality
On earth of living duality
Cant
really say much more
Other than you will need keys to unlock the door
Heaven
forbid should you get stuck
Behind a door down on your luck
The
keys are all right there if you just look
Every key you need is in Joe’s book.
And so we’re on our way back home
To
our palace with many a tome
We love and read and learn and dance
We
have the blissful life of romance
Forever we shall sing under the moons
Forever
we shall create beautiful new tunes
Love, people, love. It’s the ONLY way
I am so sorry you just learned that today
Now it’s too late
to turns things around
Love has been taken underground
Night-night.
A Note about My Great Cos (Do not confuse this with CoS!) Ralph and I have
always been really close; we love each other very much! He is quite a bit older than me, so he dabbles in being a Master Teacher
and he’s getting really good! As you can see by the poem, he also has a great sense of humor. He thought the treasure
hunts looked to be so much fun that he sat in on some of the meetings (the ones I am not allowed to attend since I am still
in the initiation stage) and then he put together this poem especially for this treasure hunt. He said there are a lot of
clues. I only recognize some of them. So, for now I will not attempt an analysis. I do not have a clue as to what it all means....speaking
of clues – we are getting a LOT of clues from EVERY direction, and at some point we are going to have to figure them
all out. I will review them in tomorrow’s blog and see where it gets us.
The only clue I understand so far is the MUSIC Easter egg and it
is truly a saving grace, according to my interpretation. It will really help out the “Poor Boy” who was conflicted
about returning to “The House of the Rising Sun” because it gives him more options (oops, I am giving too much
away here). As for the other clues, I will put out some effort into deciphering them, but I am really hoping my Master Teachers
will meet me halfway.
Speaking
of meeting halfway, today’s song came to me by total accident when I was looking for the song I had heard yesterday
sitting in the dentist chair, “Always Something There to Remind Me” (see yesterday’s blog). This song,
“Meet Me Halfway” by the Black Eyed Peas just popped up in the search out of the blue!!!
(WHOA! There’s BLUE again – I think it’s significant.) Anyway, my teachers do
that. They like to send me on Google and You Tube searches that take advantage of the fractal
capabilities of the Internet and I get “extra points” if I happen to notice these things, which I usually do (they
don’t really score me, if you know what I mean) . If you do not fully understand what fractals are, I strongly urge
you to look it up!!! So here is the song, I love it -- it is so beautiful. By the Black Eyed Peas!!!
Enjoy your day (and find that Easter egg!!!) Vanessa
PS I just had to post this picture of Obama and Biden!
There are HUGE arguments over what Obama’s body language is all about in the picture. These people need
to read my blogs! I TOLD you here and here Obama is going to FLIP the TABLES....I can’t wait!!! Click on this link to read the
article about the interpretation of this photo and all of the goofy arguing between people. It is SO hilarious! OMG Can’t people see what’s
really going on, here? Obama is just “Biden” his time(LOL).
Tomorrow: A Review of the clues for the Deep
Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt Part 3: Can You Fathom How One Might Reach the Deep Blue Seas?
PLUS Down on My Luck – Can I Buy a 2010 Mariner or Save a Tooth?
Yes, we are back on the treasure hunt…I love these roller
coaster rides or as Joe called them, “theme park rides” or was it “amusementpark
rides?” I received another clue from my Master Teacher of Master Teachers yesterday, although it was not a very enlightening
clue. I guess it must be all up to me to become more enlightened. If you are new to treasure hunts or to this treasure
hunt, you may wish to review the following and get “up to speed.”
These rides travel fast
and far and so you really have to “think on
your feet” if you are to “get”
what’s happenin’. We have to use what Joe and others have called “crazy wisdom,”
or his rendition of “blue knowledge” but it does not make you feel crazy – quite the
opposite. It helps you sort through the craziness of the illogical logic that is all around you, which Joe referred to as
“rational irrationality.” All of this will become clearer down the road – or
when we get “out to sea” for this particular treasure hunt. We will need to study
Joe’s concept of “blue knowledge” and how getting into the deep “blue zone” keeps us out of FIDURODian traps (Critical Constructivism, Chapter Five). Here are the additional clues I received yesterday:
You are “right
on” with deep blue knowledge for the treasure hunt. How do you reach the deep blue seas? You are laughing again?!? Didn’t
I warn you early on this treasure hunt that it would be I who has the last laugh? Check out that blue knowledge
again and see where it can get you.
Why
was I laughing? Something tells me that this treasure hunt is going to be quite hilarious all the way through. Don’t
get me wrong, though. There are going to be some amazing “manifestations” and, obviously, some “deep blue”
learnin’ goin’ on.
What struck me so funny about the above clue is, as I was getting the message, I was asking myself the following
questions: How do we get to the depths of the deep blue seas? (ans. fathom). And
how do we get to the depths of deep blue knowledge? (ans. fathom) LOL. And so, of course, the clues
play on words and meanings, making use of polysemy.
Fathom. Boy, Microsoft
Word is stupid. It does not give the definition of the measurement “fathom.” It only gives
the synonyms for the other definition, which it lists as “understand, figure out, work out, comprehend, grasp, make
out, think through.” I wonder if it recognizes the form of fathom that is in a statement such as, the boat's anchor was one fathom below the surface of the sea?
Nope….we still have the same synonyms…I really think Microsoft Word is DESIGNED for “stupidification“
(that’s a word Joe used a lot in many of his books).
Heaven help us and our teachers and students who have forgotten we need to
use dictionaries and encyclopedias. And what is frightening (I know this from my teaching experience at the college level),
is that so many students of all ages do not seem to realize that the Internet is a vast source of information – they
are accustomed to seeking the answers from the teachers before researching it on their own. As I have mentioned, Master Teachers
are very helpful, but only if they know you have made a sincere effort first….and of course, in this case, we are working
on a divine mission, so it’s a little different than just acquiring and constructing knowledge. The fathoms go deeper…
In this quest for more
information about fathom, given that Microsoft Word is clueless, we need to use the dictionary and encyclopedia. So how much
is a fathom?
I
love Wikipedia…it has a LOT to say
about fathom, but here is the brief definition: A fathom
is a unit of length in the Imperial system (and the derived U.S. customary units), used especially for measuring the depth of water.
It is interesting to note that we are dealing with an IMPERIAL SYSTEM
here, and also interesting that, while the switch to the metric system is quite complete, the United States Hydrologic Office
still uses feet and fathoms. Imperialists have a hard time with change. Learn all about fathoms at wikipedia; it is really quite interesting and will help with this treasure hunt. You will want to learn
all about the Imperialism, and NEW Imperialism too.
Now, of course we do need to DRIVE in order to reach the deep blue sea....I am still wishing for the manifestation of that
nice looking 2010 Mercury Mariner. I think I’m worth it. I put a LOT of time into this
divine project. But, my Master Teachers seem to be enjoying dangling that vehicle like a carrot right in front of my nose....reminds
me of how our Imperialist capital-driven society works. I think my Great Master Teachers
are trying to make a point with this, and I have much FAITH and TRUST in them. They are only trying to make a point,
not trying to destroy my hopes, dreams, and wishes. In fact, I was told that with this treasure hunt, one
or more of my wishes will come true, so I will wish for the vehicle and I will be sure to make more wishes along
the way.
This Just In! I just received notification that we will need to learn all about another MARINER
for this treasure hunt. It seems there has been a LOT of deception surrounding this particular mariner all at the hands of
the IMPERIALISTS. Worst of it is, EVEN THOUGH the lies have been uncovered and the truth has
leaked out -- the Imperialists still want to teach the same garbage in schools. This is not sitting well with our NEW incoming
students. They are too smart for this. Part of the Deep Blue Mariner treasure hunt, then, will require a solution to
this unfolding dilemma.
Well,
we will see what transpires next time for this treasure hunt. Be sure to read Chapter Five in Joe’s Book, Critical
Constructivism so that you have a good understanding of how BLUE
KNOWLEDGE, especially DEEP BLUE KNOWLEDGE
that puts you in the BLUE ZONE can get people like me (and you) who are being stomped on while
we are at the bottom of the ladder right out from under the footsteps of those big mean imperialist FIDURODians. (If you do not know what FIDUROD is, please review HERE.)
Can I Buy a 2010 Mariner or Save a Tooth? Down on My LUCK, but I have been reminded that I am NEVER ALONE!
I don’t know about you, but for me it is always traumatic to go to the dentist. Today was no different. I am not certain
whether it is the trauma of the experience – or the trauma of the expense. Today was especially bad since it appears
I'm REALLY DOWN ON MY LUCK. I was supposed to start teaching today and logged in to find that I have been “ALIENATED” once again!!! And what did I say before about this? Apparently people are not “getting this.” WE WHO ARE
ALIENATED CANNOT BE ALIENATED. So anyway, I figure that perhaps I did just a little TOO MUCH teaching last time around and
that is a BIG “NO-NO.” You see, the IMPERIALISTS (who
are a part of this treasure hunt, btw), DO NOT WANT PEOPLE TO BE TAUGHT TO THINK!!! OOOPs I was
doing that -- trying to slip some thinking into my teaching. And on top of that, as Joe said, "it's who you know."
Unfortunately, profit and education do not mix well. I know students who are quite upset about
having a degree, but not being able to pass a simple job entrance exam and so they feel very short-changed by their "education"
What’s up with that? Time to move on.
What all students need is more of Joe's BLUE KNOWLEDGE....Looks like I will not get the opportunity to teach them that at this point --
ah well, as Joe would say (and he actually DID say this to me once upon a time:“Onward and Upward, lol.” Bless him. I needed to hear that at this moment.
Anyway, today I went to the dentist and found I have thousands upon thousands of dollars of work needed....almost as
much as a new car would cost. The terrible thing about this is that most of the work would have been totally unnecessary if
I had not been seen in the past by a “drill happy dentist on heroine.” I kid you not.
He decided to do all of these unnecessary root canals and totally screwed up my teeth very badly. Little did I know and I
had WELFARE insurance at the time so I am thinking I am better off not having insurance
at all. (Really makes me dubious of Government Insurance.) Fortunately, I do have a good, honest dentist now, but treatment
is expensive no matter what dentist you choose. All of this, when I have lost my job – I do have faith. I have noticed
that my Master Teachers are really, really good at turning lemons into very delicious lemonade. I can't wait for that drink!
On a brighter note, my Master Teachers told me not to worry about my job because they have something much bigger and better
planned and they knew that I was beginning to feel that teaching in the manner that I was forced to teach (i.e. being
restrained from teaching too much) conflicted with my values. PLUS they told me to not even THINK that all of the
fantastic treasure hunts are going to end. There will be many more happy and very amazing treasure hunts!!! I am so excited!!!
They said that this “particular treasure hunt”
will be quite “intricate” and that it “centers around blue knowledge”
but that they have plans so that everyone can have the opportunity to experience the truth and freedom that unleashed knowledge
production provides. It has sumptin’ to do with “the
truth shall set you free.” Also, what is quite
amazing, more and more people are joining my “Critical Knowledge Network” (Joe defines this in the first chapter of
Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction. I was so happy to learn that my beloved COUSIN Ralph has joined
in the fun. He wrote a poem that has all kinds of clues, which I will post tomorrow. Be sure to read about BLUE KNOWLEDGE
in the meantime – last chapter of Joe’s Critical Constructivism so you are ready for this ferris wheel
ride. Much like the last treasure hunt, we will be doing some loops on account of having to get inside that hermeneutic circle
and trying to use Joe’s formula for getting ourselves out of it at just the right moment – for just the right
purpose. Of course, there will be other theme/amusement park rides too, from what I understand.
So to conclude for today, I had to get a temporary
filling replaced, which did not cost much at all; the very expensive other work will need to be done down the road.
With all of the “bad luck” I have been hit with the past few weeks, and now losing my job, I was feeling
VERY ALONE and VULNERABLE sitting in the dentist chair....and Lo AND Behold,
a reminder song began playing. I felt like it was just for me. It did cheer me up immensely and put me back
in touch with the reality that I truly am never alone, so I will end with this lovely music I heard
while sitting in the dentist chair. I included the REMAKE version also, cuz it’s pretty cool and is a reminder that
we are comin’ in with the NEW.
PSOA # 11 Past the Point of No Return: Money Can’t Buy You Love
When efforts to build our social world and personal lives around qualities such as love, empathy, trust, intellectual pursuit,
munificence, and the valuing of difference come to be viewed as manifestations of fatuous, immature, sophomoric, naïve
ways of seeing the world, something is amiss. Yet, Western models of modernization and development continue to drive political
and educational objectives – in particular the way the society constructs “higher order thinking.”(Joe Kincheloe (2006). Reading, Writing, and Thinking, p. 112).
It is true. We live in a culture, here in the U.S. and other Western
societies, in which we are surrounded by people who do not value these wonderful attributes Joe speaks of in the above quotation.
Not only do we put these beautiful qualities down and make fun of people for demonstrating them, we become trapped
in our FIDURODian minds and we replace these values with opposing constructs. Thus, love becomes enacted as hate, empathy
becomes a gross lack of compassion, trust is penalized, pursuing knowledge becomes getting “expert” opinion and
we are “dowdy” if we spend too much time learning and getting enjoyment from it, munificence becomes a deceptive
act of obtaining funds to use for parsimonious purposes, difference becomes a justification for labels and making fun of people.
It has become SO bad that, as
Joe pointed out in the above quotation, what we call “higher order thinking” has become the ability to discern
and act upon these now “politically correct” ways of being. Is this what Joe was referring to when he stated that
critical pedagogy is “stuck between a rock and a hard place” as he had discussed in Critical Pedagogy: Where
Are We Now? We are clearly immersed, locked in, even, in programming that begins before preschool and continues onward
that does not recognize ideals or positive virtues and we are so busy trying to compete with each other or to be “politically
correct” (forms of irrational rationality) that we forget what Paulo Freire and Joe demonstrated was the most essential
“thing” of all -- LOVE.
There
is no need to compete in order to love. This is one game where there is more than enough of everything to go around for everyone.
It does require learning higher order thinking. And that means it takes soul to play the new game – and, unfortunately
for some people, money cannot buy you soul. For others, well....we are on a very blissful journey and we are past
the point of no return. There ain't no turnin' back -- cuz we know "we ain't seen nothin' yet!"
Baby Angel Portrait artist Joyce Birkenstock’s children-as-angels series portrays
the joys, wonders, and innocence of childhood in tranquil gardens and ethereal settings. Her style of romantic realism evokes
a dazzling luminous quality, created in her large light-maximizing studio in Florida. Birkenstock’s serenely beautiful
works can be found in many corporate and private collections.
Some People Say, The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways – For Me, It’s My MASTER TEACHERS
Today’s blog is short because I have spent much time in meetings with my Master Teachers due to some important planning
for some special projects we have been working on, and they have assigned me some critical assignments I need to
get out the door early next week before I get too busy with my teaching. I have had extended meetings the past few nights
and then again this morning. My teachers are SO amazing though! With all that they do for me, and for which I am eternally
grateful, one of them (and I don’t know who it was) took time to leave me a special MUSIC REQUEST.
I actually
awakened this morning to a note that was left right on my keyboard to make sure I would not miss it when I got up this morning
to write today’s blog. Apparently, they handed the music to Rainbow Princess and she left it on my keyboard. They just
crack me up sometimes with their amazing creativity and loving surprises; even the little things like special songs are just
so precious and meaningful. What a joy they bring me, along with their amazing knowledge.
Anyway, there was a note with two very specific songs. I have posted
them below, since I gather that it was very important that I include them in today’s blog. They are both so beautiful.
I hope the first song makes other people who listen to it feel great love for the loved one(s) in their lives, the way it
does for me. Paulo Freire and Joe’s work really taught me what true radical, spiritual, and cosmic love is all about,
and so I think of them when I listen to “Looking through the Eyes of Love.”
The second song has an
interesting history. My Master Teachers have mentioned this song numerous times and I may have even posted a different version
of “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” previously in one of my blogs, but I had never come across this absolutely beautiful
performance by Israel "Iz" Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole that was listed in
the note. It will totally alter your opinion of the song (if you had a negative opinion of it, as many people do
from hearing it so many times). It was video-taped in beautiful, sacred Hawaii.
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt Part 2: Travelin’ Across the Mersey
Happy New Year! Today is a super special day of celebration. I call it The Fourth Month because I am on a different
calendar than FIDURODians. I will not explain the mathematics or other dynamics behind it since it is very complex (think in terms of the Aztec calendar).
But in FIDUROD LAND this is a VERY SIGNIFICANT DAY as well: 01/01/2010 and what do you have???
OMG it’s
the SOUL MATE NUMBERS AGAIN, don’t you see? The funny thing is I would not have even noticed this had Rainbow Princess
not pointed it out. She’s into adding numbers ever since she found that her boyfriend’s house address adds up
to the soulmate number – 11 – and there is EVEN a wooden heart plaque hanging right beside it as if to emphasize
this fact. Here again, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole (and Joe wrote that in a many of his books, so I will
leave it to you to find out where and in what context and what he had to say about it). For our purposes today, it must be
totally clear by now: 1+1=3. (or infinity).
As I put forth in yesterday’s
blog, 2010 is going to be a profoundly exciting year for the WORLD. We will be seeing some huge changes. Even President
Obama is not going to be immune to these changes, so do not be surprised when he flips some tables on some of the FIDURODians
at the top.
It is a year of getting off our butts and creating change. Change in attitude: people are
filled up to their eyeballs with all of the negativity that offers no solutions and instead creates discord, dysfunction,
and conflict.
Instead, we will be forming all sorts of groups that are based on LOVING ACTION. Open your eyes.
Look around. Joe’s PERPETUAL REVOLUTION has begun and there will be no stopping it. (I wrote about
this previously in these blogs, if you wish to review).
The Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt Gets Off to a Confusing But Interesting
and Exciting Start
I
would like to put aside all of the negativity and just work on these exciting treasure hunts that keep coming my way. They
are SUCH great learning experiences. With this latest clue I just received, while it is confusing, one thing is clear: We
are traveling somewhere. As noted yesterday, there is also the hint that Mariner may be a clue for a brand new, 2010
Steel Blue Mercury Mariner – so that is VERY exciting. The clue that was handed down to me this morning is the song
“Ferry Cross the Mersey” by Gerry and the Pacemakers and it appears it has something to do with “time travel”
because these two songs popped up for me when I did the search for the music:
Now, what is really
interesting is that, literally, we are to travel across the Mersey here (I wonder where the Mersey is and is that what I will
need the NEW car for?). You might also note that this could be interpreted as “Fairy Cross the Mercy.” I am not
sure what that gets us or where, but it is something to keep in the back of our minds as we do further research. Also, as
noted in the music, this was actually a MOVIE. Thus, one might call this a MOVIE Easter egg embedded in a Treasure Hunt. I
am into the Easter Egg concept ever since I started finding so many of them in Joe’s books.
Joe Hid MUSIC AND MOVIE Easter Eggs (Among other FUN Stuff) I will remind readers at this point in the treasure hunt that Joe cited movies often in his work, just like he cited MUSIC,
BUT and this is HUGE: He also HID MOVIE Easter eggs, and, again they are hidden at various levels of difficulty. While I have
received a few complaints for identifying these features of Joe’s work, I must remind readers, Joe wrote for ALL
OF US.
So, anyone who is offended by these super fun activities built into Joe’s books –
well, my advice is to just pass them by, don’t worry about it. Go on with your work as you
have always done and just use what works for you. Joe was such a genius that he made sure there was something for everyone
in his books. No one has to read at any more than one level (one dimensional) if they do not wish to. Listen to this song
again and don’t feel bad about that, either. I, myself, have to listen to it repeatedly when I need
to overcome worry. This is one of those times. I really do not mean to upset people. At the same time, I am with Joe.
Education simply MUST CHANGE.
The “problem” as I see
it – although, I do not see it as a problem, is that the FUN STUFF in Joe’s
books will NOT go away. And let me clue people in who are interested in this: It is in MANY of his books, not just one. I
guess for some reason, many people have never noticed these little treats Joe left in his work – perhaps not until I
came along and began pointing them out. This is surprising to me, because he certainly left lots of clues.
Anyway, I happen to love them!!! They really make reading and studying his work a delicious treat – that layer cake
I mentioned in another blog where you devour one layer and there is another delicious layer underneath it. And, IMPORTANTLY,
they really do contribute to a greater understanding of his work, his messages, and how we might apply his theory, so it is
not like he just randomly put stuff in his books, not at all. I guess it is my “calling” so to speak to help people
get this new kind of enjoyment out of Joe’s books.
As he had stated over and over again
(was anyone listening?) he wanted learning to be joyous, fun, invigorating, rigorous, funny – even hilarious
at times, sensual and yes, even sexy (heaven forbid). It’s all in his books. There are
no secrets here.That may be what Joe was referring to when he said that we have the “critical kitty”
out of the bag now, sitting on our laps: There are no secrets. As I have pointed out, and as we began to learn from the NEW
Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure Hunt, his work is like the Golden Chalice, but he did not hold back any secrets.
I do wish everyone the best and I am sorry if this new revelation about Joe’s work may be upsetting to some who wish
to maintain the status quo. Change is hard, no doubt about it. We need only use Joe’s work in the way that works for
us – for what we want to learn, write about, and convey to the world. That is the most important thing. And we all must
stop finding fault with those around us. I think we all do this from time to time; it is perfectly natural, but it is still
something we all need to learn to overcome. The key is to realize that the faults we see and point out in others are reflections
of our own shortcomings. One of my Master Teachers always tells me if we point a finger at someone, we must remember
there are three fingers pointing back at us. We have all worked together with our “collective consciousness”
to create this current sad FIDURODian reality and we will all work together to change it. That is why, when I state we must
stop complaining, get off our butts and take real, concrete actions for change – I always include myself in this equation.
I have some very exciting plans for 2010 plus the year starts with this latest and greatest treasure hunt, The Deep
Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise. Is a new vehicle going to be manifested or something else? Or will this be
one of those very complex multilevel, multiperspectival treasure hunts, such as the Pacific Coast Eager Beaver Treasure
Hunt where I found the Eager Beaver Quiz inside the book I found inside the Eager Beaver Thrift Store
while I was on the Eager Beaver Treasure Hunt all after being labeled an “Eager Beaver Critical Pedagogue"….I
just love those multidimensional treasure hunts! HowEVER do they happen?! Seems kinda like some kind of miracle or magic,
but I guess it’s just synchronicity to the max. Joe did talk about that a lot in his work.
I have presented the new clue about
the Ferry Cross the Mersey (or Fairy Cross the Mercy) and I will research this a bit before I ask my Master Teachers for additional
guidance. Here is something I have learned that others might benefit from: All you need to do is put out a sincere effort
on your own and it need not even be a huge effort, but the next thing you know, your Master Teachers will do all of the rest
of the work for you almost magically – just like when the new car manifested the last time and all I had to do was put
in one application for a loan (which did not get approved) and then just waited with FAITH and TRUST and less than 24 hours
later with no work on my part – voila – a car! It’s like magic.
Anyway, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and let’s wish for flippin’
tables (secret code word for “the rules have now changed.”) Just so we are clear here, the old rules
that favor the Status Quo will be rapidly crumbling this year. The new rules are pushing out the old. This is good news for
most of us, no matter what our stations in life might be. I think all of us, even those who think they may have benefited
from the status quo are really very tired of this game and seeing so many people being harmed. You will actually see these
changes happening in your personal lives – old tricks are no longer effective, and ultimately, new rules (or paradigms,
if you prefer) will begin to touch every segment of nearly all societies around the world. Be a part of the change.
Happy
New Year! Vanessa
My Master Teachers are SO FUNNY!!
(Someday, maybe I will bring them to my seminars I will be presenting in the future, but for now they wish to remain anonymous).
This was the song they handed down today. It even shocks ME, cuz I was thinking when they said “The Gang’s All
Here” that they meant a subdued version of the song. They confirmed that they want THIS song. I have my own ideas, so
they said it was fine to post the version which I prefer (the second song). They are very diplomatic and egalitarian and I
love and appreciate them all!!!
The above are links to my blogs. I did not know at
the time of writing them, especially when I first began, that I was recording my Spiritual Journey of Ascension with Joe,
who is my Twin Flame (which I also did not know when I began this journey, but I have provided undeniable evidence in my dissertation and much more evidence since writing it). All I knew when I began this journey after Joe’s death (by which I had
been extremely traumatized) was that I was compelled to write the blogs, every day at first, and I seemed to have been getting
instructions from Joe and from “Above.” I did not understand how the Celestial Spirits were guiding us along our
journey nor the Power they have due to their Love connection to God (as Joe tells us over and over again in his work, there
is nothing more powerful than love). My connection to Joe connected me powerfully to his love and to God’s Love, through
the Holy Spirit. My experiences as recorded in the blogs proves what Joe has taught us about the power of love—over
and over again (I’m a slow learner, for which I feel sad. I was totally asleep when I met Joe and did not even believe
in soulmates. I hope you will not be as slow a learner as I have been). Nevertheless, what an amazing, beautiful journey it
has been! It’s full of adventure, mystery, learning about the world, learning about our past, present and future, and
engaging in super fun and sometime hilarious treasure hunts.
If you want to follow the path and connect to God’s
amazing Love, begin reading at the first link 2009.05.03 and move forward. You will learn a lot!!
I did. And there are millions of Celestial Spirits just waiting to serve as your personal teachers and guides. They want to
take you treasure hunting (they do know where the treasures are) and guide you along your own personal path just like they
did for me. I will not be writing any more blogs here because now I will be teaching Joe’s material “up above”
and continuing along yet another amazing path. You can follow along the next leg of our journey by clicking on the links to
the various courses, treasure hunt quests, etc. We are creating multiple paths now in multiple directions. Are you ready?
There is something for everyone! All you need to do is engage sincerely with seeking knowledge and spreading love
in the world, and then God’s magic will appear in your life too…no more suffering…only love, bliss, joy,
passionate engagement with learning—for everyone, infinitely and eternally. God is Good!! Check it out! 20160227-1330 Rewards Of Developing My Will To Love
“As a child I wanted so
desperately for magic to be real. I would work for hours collecting what I hoped were just the right combination of ingredients
to make some type of magic potion that would provide me with special powers….I found such magic in words viewed in
a postformal matrix and I observe and practice that magic everyday.” (Kincheloe, 2006, Reading, Writing, Thinking,
p. 13)
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Venus & Sanat-Eros-Enki Kumara's
Vanessa’s In Box
Please have a great Sunday and take my Master Teachers’ advice: Don’t worry, don’t stress. It isn’t
worth it in the long run. Focus on enjoying each moment of the day. Close your eyes and envision the 
We are living in a phenomenal age. If we can spend the early decades of the 21st century finding approaches that meet the
needs of the poor in ways 
Vanessa’s Inbox (Trivia, I know: bear with me)
The Golden Chalice Award Goes To . . . 
The Raspberry Award Goes To . . .
I’m still waiting to hear about Obama's investigation into universities that hold students’ financial
aid until mid-semester or later. This is causing extreme hardship for far too many students and there is no viable
justification for doing this. Some universities are even lying to students about their reasons for holding the money so long.
Some heads will be rolling on this one (that means some people will be getting fired).
Joe’s Advice, Oracle-Style
This treasure hunt has been long and winding. Truth be told, all treasure hunts can be long and winding because there are
so many different directions they can go; there are so many choice points along the way with infinite choices. There is no
right way or wrong way to go. Each person who embarks on a specific treasure hunt is likely to take a different route and
end up in a different place.
When this Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt began, I thought I would be manifesting a 2010
Steel Blue Mercury Mariner (and the “soul” surprise was me inside the mariner). You will have to read from Part
1 to see how this treasure hunt started, how it merged with the NEW Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure Hunt, and
all of the places it has been. As it turns out, there are so MANY ways just the title of the treasure hunt alone can be interpreted.
For example, we have the vehicle, we have the “soul man” who travels on the dusty road, we had the blocked bridge
guarded by the “epistemological trolls” (Joe’s words) so we took the Ferry cross the Mersey and found the
site of a musical explosion in Liverpool – a sort of phoenix rising midst the blues which is worth studying more
so that we can learn how to repeat it in other places; we have Blues Highway 61 and Joe’s Blue Knowledge that helps
alleviate suffering; and now we are traveling down Highway 61 over to Route 66 to head up to “Sweet Home Chicago,”
along the way paying tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan a blues musician who was tragically killed in a helicopter crash on the
way to perform at a second blues venue back in 1990. The last song he sang was “Sweet Home Chicago.” 
The important thing to remember about treasure hunting is that we are seeking ways to alleviate human suffering. This
was always Joe's mission. Uncover the source of our pain and search for ways to alleviate it. What is so interesting about
the concept of treasure hunting, in my view, is that it brings right to the forefront the fact that there are many ways we
can get out from under our captors (the elite power wielders) and we have so many choices. This is a huge revelation! So often,
those of us who are vicitimized by the people above us on the hierarchical ladder get to feeling we are stuck and forever
destined to be abused, misused, and violated by those above us for their own narcissistic and greedy purposes. This is
just not true! We do not have to stay frozen in time and feel that we have no options. I encourage everyone to take some of
my past treasure hunts on these blogs and go off in other directions with them. Or create your own new treasure hunts. Find
solutions to your pain that will work for you and solutions to the pain of others who are less fortunate that will work
for them. Don't accept the lies fed to you that severely limit your possibilities and make you feel trapped. And don't dwell
on the pain; that will only lead to what the power wielders have dubbed "learned helplessness," just another
tactic for blaming the victim and keeping them stuck. Experience your pain and move on. Dwell on the solutions and taking
concrete actions! Rejoice in the fact that there are many choices and infinite opportunities. The magic of "treasure
hunting" is that we can become more aware of what those opportunities are. This is just one of the beautiful gifts
that Joe left us in his work. There are many more waiting to be discovered.
There have also been many threads to this particular treasure hunt: some fun puzzles were discovered in Joe’s book (has
anyone decoded the Secret Agent dogs’ message yet?). There have been bogus letters and emails sent to me along with
fires and flames along the trail putting demands on me that are impossible given that I am not the one calling the shots here.
If I were calling the shots, I would have graciously bowed out long before this. These sorts of things cannot be done if you
are all alone. No, I am guided due to the importance of standing up for our rights -- our freedom in both action and speech.
Freedom to dance. This is only part of what I have been told. It goes much beyond that, even. 
I received a most excruciatingly beautiful message yesterday. I would love to publish it in my blogs, but I know most readers
are stuck in fidurod land and would not really get that much out of it and figure that I was just making it all up. I am saving
it for a book in the future when more people are receptive to these sorts of messages. Why “excruciatingly” beautiful?
Because it is such a beautiful message that it literally makes me cry to read it – not out of sadness, but rather out
of joy from realizing the significance of its meaning for setting people free. That was one of the goals of this treasure
hunt, by the way: The truth shall set you free. But as we have also learned there are steps involved in accepting
truth and we are stuck on step two:
It is so cool because right now I have a lot of very special teachers providing me support. I call these extra special
teachers my Master Teachers. They support my ongoing phenomenological research. One of my Master Teachers is just
SO CUTE. I really love him and he kinda likes me…a little bit taboo for a teacher-student relationship, but we don’t
care, which is why I can write about it in my blog. Yesterday, I told him, “You’re too cute for me.” And
he just said “Haberdash!” 
For Joe to have spent 12 years negotiating for a contract that specifies this paperback version of his book
signifies just how important it was to him. The right thing to do – to honor him and his wishes – would be to
get that book published in paperback form as soon as possible. It has now been nearly a year and a half since
the book was first published – three times the length specified in the contract, according to what Joe had said --
and I have seen no sign of the paperback version. This is a shame.
One of my master teachers is just so damn smart and I am really happy I have him as a teacher. We usually meet quite early
in the morning and he provides me with a song for the blog of the day. This morning he was not available, although when I called
I was asking my teachers what in the heck am I supposed to do with all of the thousands of dollars of books
that I bought that were written by critical pedagogues. Of course, some of them are good and very useful. Without a doubt,
all of Joe’s books get a 10-star rating on a 5-star scale (what can I say?). When I think of all of
the books, and there must be several hundred, one that stands out in my mind (besides Joe’s books) is bell hooks’
book, Teaching to transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. I just loved this book and I was so happy to
discover that like me, bell hooks LOVES to dance! Thus, in her book, it is perfectly fine for teachers and students to dance
together. It enhances the learning process immensely. This book definitely gets a 10-star rating right up there with Joe’s
books. She puts it out there like it is and there is no obfuscation or hidden agenda. In fact, when I had to write my philosophy
of education for my Comp Exam, it was influenced by Joe (of course), John Dewey, bell hooks, and my absolutely fav scientist,
Albert Einstein. 
Oh, back to the other books. Like I said, some of them are useful to varying degrees, but most of them I wonder why I bought,
and when I asked my teachers What am I supposed to do with all of these books? -- which they undoubtedly had asked
me to buy for a purpose, they said I had just figured out the new direction (the new TURN?) the blogs are going.
As I mentioned yesterday (see yesterday’s blog), they told me that after this Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise
Treasure Hunt (which is about to go on suspension), that they would like for me to REVIEW all of these
books and give them star ratings. They said they would give me the criteria soon. I’m thinking OMG,
I have to read and review all of these books? “You got it, Cookie,” I was told. And to think that I thought
my job was going to get easier….
My teachers informed me once again that we will be taking a major turn and that it will not be a “postmodern turn,”
whatever that means. I have never been able to figure out what postmodernism really is, even though I have done a lot of reading
about it. I suppose if there were ever to be a word that might gain a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for obfuscation,
postmodernism would win. It is so curious to me why people argue, vehemently even, back and forth about it. I think Joe really
cleared things up, though, in his book, Toward a Critical Politics of Teacher Thinking: Mapping the Postmodern. Apparently,
we can all pick and choose whichever attributes of postmodernism fit our agenda. And of course, for Joe that always related
to exposing power and alleviating suffering (whereas for others it means exerting their power and authority). Anyway, in light
of this turn, for which I have no clues for the time being as to what this signifies, the song v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n was provided
to me when I awakened this morning, as a representation of what is in store after the Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul
Surprise Treasure Hunt winds down. The symbolism in the video is relevant and something that will be addressed in the
near future. Somehow, I do not believe that my teachers are implying a vacation in the literal sense, given that they have
been known to be “Hermes tricksters” but always in a very good and fun way, not like the evil Hermes trickster.
It must be quite a major turn, however, since they deemed an early “warning” or preparation was needed. It sounds
like we need to prepare for FUN, though, on a grand scale, given the songs for today.
Myself, I rejoice in difference because it releases the pain for most of us. We already know how to travel
down that Blues Highway 61 pretty well, although there is always room for improvement for us all. We know that when difference
is celebrated we are all free to be who we wish to be and are no longer restricted by how others attempt to define us. Honoring
difference helps us all learn to be more creative, loving human beings. Fully embracing difference is when we can really party,
celebrate, and “have a good one” as was the message from my master teachers this morning. And as Joe stated in
Critical Constructivism, "The world must change so that we can enter into new egalitarian and eroticized relationships
where we can 'sock it to one another'" (p. 164).
Well, well, it is Saturday. That’s a deep subject for this Deep Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure
Hunt (or is it SOLE Surprise? – you just never know with these treasure hunts how you are supposed to interpret
the words). Anyway, as I was saying I should take Saturdays and Sundays off from writing these blogs, but that ain’t
gonna happen. If it does happen, that means there is problem, so please call Detective Looney for me. If you recall,
I wrote several blogs about a neighborhood issue that I was hoping Detective Looney would help me out with (that’s his
real name and as Joe would say, reality is stranger than fiction). I had reservations about someone with
a name like Looney giving me much help. And as it turned out, the DROID got away (although he’s still gonna pay, on
account of karmic law), but I do have to say that Detective Looney gave it his best shot and he said he learned
a lot in the process, so I am very grateful for that.
And, interestingly, there are always a few who fall into that “power and toughness” category whereby
compliant people tend to rely on the more “egocentric” among them to “exercise power.” This is all
in Joe’s F-Scale list, by the way. He was so smart. And don’t forget the “discomfort with difference.”
You know, I am perfectly happy (even if different) and it is surprising that I was told by someone who is on medication and
in counseling that I needed to do the same. It is quite baffling. The last two items on Joe’s list here, include “projectivity”
and the obsession with sex. Projection is like I said in one of my previous blogs. If you point a finger at someone, for example,
and call them “crazy,” then it’s just like my master teacher told me, you also have three fingers pointing
back at you. I think yesterday’s discussion of how those two professors called Ralph Emerson a “crazy poet”
is great example of how that works. I think those professors will soon be looking for work. People did not like their expose
disguised as something of educational value in a highly acclaimed and widely distributed education tabloid such as The Chronicle
of Higher Education. And last, but not least is sex. Fascism is just so focused on sex that if there is even a hint of sexuality
in educational expression (which, incidentally, Joe strongly advocates for if you were to read his work thoroughly),
well then these things end up drawing “obsessive attention” and get blown way out of proportion from those who
operate out of this fascist mentality.
Well, I was hopin’ to “
This is an example of the ways power wielding educators are able to manipulate, divide and conquer students
all in the name of whatever ulterior, 
I keep hoping (and dreaming) that I can move on down the road – the 
I had a rather strange set of instructions from my teachers. I was told about some various people, like Einstein who was ridiculed,
Wilhelm Reich, who was a great scientist who discovered “life force energy” and did some great research but was
put in prison for what he had discovered (I think until he died – and now what happens? Some other “scientists”
have confirmed his findings and are taking the credit for it), and there was a Ralph Emerson and many people called him a
“crazy poet” because they did not understand his beautiful work, and Michael Jackson, of course, who the media
picked on remorselessly. I was told, “I’m just reminding you of these things because we are at a choice point
in history where we can either continue to kowtow to such frivolity or we stand up and make it through the flames, extinguishing
them behind us so that others who follow do not run up against the same firestorms.” Well, I’m not sure what that
means except that it probably means I just need to remember I am not alone and should move on down the road.
There was this video along with it that talks about mind movies and using them to manifest things. It seems that some people
use movies and music and visualization to make their dreams come true. Oh, yes! Einstein saw in visions and music. He had
commented once that if he had not been a scientist, he would have been a musician because everything comes to him in music.
That’s interesting and it sure seems a lot like Joe given that he has music in all of his work. It got me to thinking,
well…that’s exactly what I am doing with my blogs! There is something going on here. I do not understand it quite
yet, but it’s been very good -- at least until the firestorms all started. If you read my blogs (but step out or your
“one true reality” fidurodian mind when you read them and separate dreams from fiction from fact, if you are able),
it is quite clear that I have “manifested” many great things. I can honestly and truly say that since I started
these “treasure hunts” and documenting them, I have “manifested” some incredibly amazing things
and my life has never been so rich and fulfilling, NEVER. And I have never been happier. Yes, I think if I can get through
the firestorms this could be an incredible phenomenological study.
In Chapter Six of Reading, Writing and Thinking: The Postformal Basics (Thomas & Kincheloe, 2006), Joe expresses
his deep concern about the horrific rate of suicide – the third leading cause of death. He asks why has happiness, enjoyment
and fulfillment devolved 
When a few people at the top, whether an elite power wielder, a so-called “expert,” and elite academic, or anyone
else for any reason dictates to those “below” them how they should learn, create knowledge, and express themselves,
it is a classic example of exactly what Joe is talking about here. It is a classic example of what Theodor Adorno described
as an “authoritarian personality.” More frightening, is his recognition that, as Joe has described, “Such
authoritarian personalities were necessary cogs in the social mechanism that we call fascism” (p. 115). I encourage
everyone to read pages 115-116 and consider how they might be contributing to a frightening manifestation of fascism
in our country today.
So here, today, in our travels which are just beginning, we learn that authoritarianism is a major factor in constraining
people from freedom of expression – thus keeping them in cognitive handcuffs. This of course, relates
to the “poor boy” in the NEW Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure Hunt who is depressed about having to return to
The House of the Rising Sun where he must wear the “ball and chains.” I had made the association in a
previous blog between the cognitive handcuffs and the ball and chains. For this particular treasure hunt, we and the poor
boy (who got off the chantanooga choo, choo), along with Joe's dog, Celtic, are now are embarking on a journey down Blues
Highway 61 with Joe’s Blue Knowledge. We must have our freedom to continue our journey.
Fortunately, there are many people who recognize the danger for our society to continue down this authoritarian, fascist pathway.
For example, there are many laws in effect now that protect freedom of expression on the Internet and so I have decided that
since I am still feeling “blue” and still hearing the song “ring of fire” due to efforts that have
come my way to restrict my expression (expression, which totally comes from my interpretation and application of Joe’s
brilliant theory). Fortunately, more and more people recognize the debilitating and chilling effects such
regulation has on natural, erotic, transgressive expression that is necessary to keep society moving forward toward more democratic
and egalitarian goals. And fortunately, the courts also recognize this and are increasingly paying attention to safe
guarding the freedom our founding fathers had envisioned for us. The following information comes from the Chilling
Effects web site:
Where do I even begin today? There are always people who just do not “get” the fact that there are multiple
realities and that if we restrict ourselves to a one “true” reality, it is harmful for us all. This is the contrast
between the beginning of Joe’s book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, and the end of Joe’s
book: You start with what he calls 
Since there have been complaints about the music on this site, I would just like to clarify that the music is selected for
a diverse audience. You will find all varieties of music on this site. We respect that people have different
tastes in music and we also bring in music from outside Western culture. While there has been a focus on Western music and
there is a reason for that (Westerners are the ones who need to do the most work), there will be a greater variety of music
when the Mission Project gets into full swing, especially when we reach the celebrations.
What does Joe mean by this?
Clearly, our choice for getting to New Orleans where that poor boy is headed will be to travel down 
She provided more information about How Great Thou Art being written by Carl Roberts or someone, 1859-1940. There was also
a little more information about The Little Brown Church. There is a lovely story that goes along with it that dates back to
1857 and there is a REAL Little Brown Church on Highway 346 in Nashua, Iowa. William Pitts, who was a school teacher had a
vision that there was a brown church in a particular place in Iowa. He left for a long time and when he came back, the
church was being built right where he had envisioned it being. There is more to the story on this website my teacher
gave me, which I will have to look at 
I know I have been promising to get to Joe’s BLUE KNOWLEDGE and discuss a way out of this crazy hermeneutic circle.
If you remember, the lesson on hermeneutics during the NEW Quest for the Golden Keys Treasure Hunt explained
that we might keep spinning in circles if we did not look for ways out. (if you don’t remember or are new, please review
that treasure hunt, 
This does take research. I have actually been researching CELTIC for awhile. It all began when I was on the Pacific Coast
Eager Beaver Treasure Hunt. One of my Master Teachers insisted that I buy 
First, I highly recommend Wikipedia. GASP!! Wikipedia? Don’t teachers always tell us NOT to use Wikipedia? And what
is the reason they tell you NOT to use it for your research? The excuse is that ANYONE can change or write ANYTHING for Wikipedia.
Well, EXCUSE ME! Isn’t that the whole point? Have these teachers not read Joe’s work? Knowledge is socially
constructed, and not only that, knowledge is EVOLVING – there are never any final truths. It is 
My Master Teacher gave me the song, “The Way We Were” by Barbara Steisand, for this morning (a routine that I
now expect every morning and if I don’t awaken to music, I ask: What is the song for today?) I weakly
objected to today’s song because I do not care for Barbara Streisand at all. I know: many, many people love her voice,
of course, so I’m different. 
My heart and prayers go out to the people of Haiti following the severe earthquake there. I have brought
up in these blogs several times the point that, economically, things are a nightmare in Haiti. More than 80% of the population
lives below the poverty line. People are literally eating dirt cookies. It is very, very sad and I ask myself everyday: WHY???
My heart and prayers go out to the people of Haiti after this horribly
We call it The 
P.S. I can imagine Joe experienced situations in which people tried to sabotage him or spoke negatively about him just
because he was so brilliant. Some people would rather be destructiviely jealous than rejoice in being around someone so brilliant,
kind, loving, humble, egalitarian, and generous; in fact, he wrote about these situations and people (some of it encoded;
some of it is not). He definitely knew the "Stigma of Genius," which is even the
title of a book he wrote about Einstein with some other people. As I have written previously,
Joe was right up there with Einstein! In fact, I even wrote that "
Ask and ye shall receive. This morning when there was no music to awaken me and I asked what the song was for today,
the answer was immediately, “Blue Suede Shoes.” Hmmm….I wonder what this means. As I am sitting here writing
this, I can only speculate and hope that as my research on this project continues, the significance of Blue Suede Shoes becomes
more evident. Well, there was that Blue Angel Club on Merseyside after taking the ferry across the Mersey River in 
There is definitely a lot of BLUE in this treasure hunt. We have the DEEP BLUE MARINER, yesterday we had the BLUE MONARCH
BUTTERFLY, we have had the BLUES BROTHERS with their song, I’M A SOUL MAN, the 2010 STEEL BLUE MARINER, BLUE COLUMBUS
because we are about to reveal more truth about that history which will not make him such famous MARINER after all, the
many CLUES provided by a TRUE BLUE SOUL MATE, THE BLUECOATS (IMPERIALISTS) – or were they the REDCOATS? AND, of course,
the STAR of this treasure hunt, JOE and his BLUE KNOWLEDGE. And now we have BLUE SUEDE SHOES.
OMG! This morning it was “It’s a Hard Day’s Night” by the Beatles. Too funny. I have a Master Teacher
who awakens me almost every morning with a song, which only means one thing – it’s the song for my daily blog.
Well, usually the song means more than one thing and this time is probably no different. This particular Master Teacher is
SO FUNNY! I know why he chose this song today. It’s because yesterday (In my blog) I complained about awakening once
again in dreary 3D FIDUROD Land. The reason I complain sometimes is 
Did you read yesterday’s blog? It was very, very interesting how the Merseyside was the center of a special, blessed,
and magical form of rock music. When I looked at some of the bands and artists from Merseyside, it was clear that most of
my very favorite music of the era was that great Mersey Beat. In fact, the song called “Ferry Cross
the Mersey” by the Pacemakers was a favorite and I had not heard in absolute ages until it was presented by my Master
Teachers for this treasure hunt. I remember as a young teen of about 15 years of age, I was a passenger with a friend and
we decided to take the shortcut route to the capital city. The shortcut involved taking a ferry across the Willamette River
and we thought it was so cool when the song “Ferry Cross the Mersey” started playing on the car radio as
we were driving on our way to the Ferry. Even back then, my Master Teachers were working with me – if only I had realized
it and had not been so “cognitively handcuffed,” as Joe put it in his book.
Amazingly, yesterday morning I was given another clue: Page 73 in Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy:
An Introduction. OMG!! On page 73 there is a MOVIE Easter egg and it is significant. Wow the media moguls
should be happy that Joe used MOVIE and MUSIC Easter eggs to promote their work! Anyway, I am surprised I noticed it. I do
not like television or movies and so the MOVIE Easter eggs are going to be difficult for me to identify – but I
noticed this one. So, what is the MOVIE Easter egg on page 73 and how does it tie into what Joe discusses
in this section and how does it tie into the treasure hunt? Also, on that page I happen to have written a a note to see page
87 for some reason. What is on page 87 that relates to all of this? I will analyze this later, but I will give you
a hint: think key codes. You may want to review The New Quest for the Golden Key Treasure Hunt cuz it talks all about key
codes.
I’m excited! This treasure hunt just turns up all kinds of surprises! Yesterday, I was extremely distressed about
all the (as Joe would put it), well, actually as he did put it in several places in his books, “shit,”
and I was begging to be rescued by the Deep Blue Mariner and Lo AND Behold, I awakened to this song this morning, "I’m
a Soul Man" by the Blues Brothers!! Ya think MAYBE he (now that we know it’s a man) will come to our rescue? Maybe
if we can find the “dusty road” this “soul man” is on we will have a better chance of finding him.
Sumptin’ tells me that the last Easter egg I told you about that is in Chapter 5 of Joe’s book, Critical Constructivism
gives a REALLY GOOD CLUE to the dusty road. Maybe if we find that road and travel it, we will run into him. But then, why
would the deep blue MARINER be travelin’ on a ROAD? I wonder what’s up with that? I would expect a mariner to
be on a ship. I do know that many of my friends and I have been talking about feeling like we're on "sinking ships"
or boats. Will the deep blue mariner be able to find us or do we have to find him?
This is just notification to whomever it may concern that I did, indeed, reply in a timely manner to the request regarding
Joe’s book Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction. Wouldn’t you know it! The
UPS Driver evidently got confused and forgot to pick up the package from the mailing office where it was waiting for him or
her!!! After doing some tracking, it has been found and the package is now on the way. It appears that there are
many people down here (at the bottom of the ladder where I reside), including UPS workers, in need of Joe’s
critical complex epistemology so that things can operate more smoothly and efficiently in this rapidly changing,
increasingly complex world. 
I had to look up “stick in the mud,” by the way. I have never been good with idioms. Joe
was very, very smart to use lots of idioms because the elite use them a lot among themselves and in front of us and
us poor folk really do not know what most of them mean. In fact, they often seem to be very irrational and illogical to us.
By Joe using them, and our studying his work very closely, we can learn them and it helps level the playing field and makes
it easier for us to communicate back and forth and figure out what's really being said about us. Besides, Joe's work makes
it really fun and even hilarious to learn them. 
Now my dream of a Mercury Mariner and all of my other WISHES really DO look like carrots on a stick and quite
far out of reach at that. It’s OK, I am accustomed to this as it has been the story of my entire life. This is not a
“poor me” story. Why should it be? I am only one among millions – billions
if you count the whole world and, indeed, we should count the whole world -- and most of the other people
are far worse off than I am. My God, people in Haiti are eating DIRT COOKIES. It is very sad. And
it is very UNREAL. 
This situation with the Easter eggs and such is just FIDUROD once again raising its ugly head. It’s
"formality," "intractibility," "decontextualization," "universalism," "reductionism,"
and "one dimensionality" (pp. 22-23). Just exactly what Joe wrote about in the very book that
is the subject of disagreement. And what did he say? “Some of my saddest moments over the last 40 years
of working toward critical goals have involved observing the pathological egocentric/merciless behavior of those who pay lip
service in their scholarship and social activism to many of the values expressed here” (p. 251). It just dawned on me!
Joe predicted a lot of things in his book. That would make a great activity for younger students: Find all
of Joe’s predictions and see which ones come true. 
At any rate, I will postpone today’s blog about all of the clues to the treasure hunt and my thoughts on them since
I had to get this emergency message out. I was under a deadline to reply to this Fortune 100 law firm by January 5, 2010,
and I missed the deadline all because the UPS guy/gal has not learned Joe’s complex critical
thinking and he or she became sidetracked while driving the pick-up route, and totally missed the package. It is
a sad, but true story. In fact, the owners of the UPS office felt so bad about it they were going to refund my money even
if UPS refuses to refund it…but I told them that if UPS does not refund the money for the gaffe, I did not want to
take the money out of their pockets. They are just a small “mom and pop” store. We need more of them around and
we need to cover each other's backs when the going gets tough (and, yes, Joe even talked about this). 
Thus, with all of this fidurodian craziness happenin’ I do apologize for delaying the review of the clues for the Deep
Blue Mariner Reaps the Soul Surprise Treasure Hunt -- which is truly the heart of Joe’s work. He loved
treasure hunting. In fact, in Reading, Writing, and Thinking, he stated, “But I’m never too
far away from the postformal treasure hunt” (p. 133) and he would probably be quite appalled about the way things are
being fettered with here. We were just about to launch into his incredibly brilliant and powerful “blue
knowledge.” Well, tomorrow, for sure. Blue Knowledge. I can’t wait. In the meantime, I was told that
one or more of my wishes will come true on this treasure hunt, so I’m gonna wish that the Deep Blue Mariner
comes to my rescue!!!
Is the MATRIX BEING RE-RELOADED???
A Note about My Great Cos (Do not confuse this with CoS!)
Yes, we are back on the treasure hunt…I love these 
Fathom.
Now, of course we do need to DRIVE in order to reach the deep blue sea....I am still wishing for the manifestation of that
nice looking 2010 Mercury Mariner. I think I’m worth it. I put a LOT of time into this
divine project. But, my Master Teachers seem to be enjoying dangling that vehicle like a carrot right in front of my nose....reminds
me of how our Imperialist capital-driven society works. I think my Great Master Teachers
are trying to make a point with this, and I have much FAITH and TRUST in them. They are only trying to make a point,
not trying to destroy my hopes, dreams, and wishes. In fact, I was told that with this treasure hunt, one
or more of my wishes will come true, so I will wish for the vehicle and I will be sure to make more wishes along
the way.
This Just In! I just received notification that we will need to learn all about another MARINER
for this treasure hunt. It seems there has been a LOT of deception surrounding this particular mariner all at the hands of
the IMPERIALISTS. Worst of it is, EVEN THOUGH the lies have been uncovered and the truth has
leaked out -- the Imperialists still want to teach the same garbage in schools. This is not sitting well with our NEW incoming
students. They are too smart for this. Part of the Deep Blue Mariner treasure hunt, then, will require a solution to
this unfolding dilemma.
I don’t know about you, but for me it is always traumatic to go to the dentist. Today was no different. I am not certain
whether it is the trauma of the experience – or the trauma of the expense. Today was especially bad since it appears
I'm REALLY DOWN ON MY LUCK. I was supposed to start teaching today and logged in to find that I have been “
Anyway, today I went to the dentist and found I have thousands upon thousands of dollars of work needed....almost as
much as a new car would cost. The terrible thing about this is that most of the work would have been totally unnecessary if
I had not been seen in the past by a “drill happy dentist on heroine.” I kid you not.
He decided to do all of these unnecessary root canals and totally screwed up my teeth very badly. Little did I know and I
had WELFARE insurance at the time so I am thinking I am better off not having insurance
at all. (Really makes me dubious of Government Insurance.) Fortunately, I do have a good, honest dentist now, but treatment
is expensive no matter what dentist you choose. All of this, when I have lost my job – I do have faith. I have noticed
that my Master Teachers are really, really good at turning lemons into very delicious lemonade. I can't wait for that drink!
On a brighter note, my Master Teachers told me not to worry about my job because they have something much bigger and better
planned and they knew that I was beginning to feel that teaching in the manner that I was forced to teach (i.e. being
restrained from teaching too much) conflicted with my values. PLUS they told me to not even THINK that all of the
fantastic treasure hunts are going to end. There will be many more happy and very amazing treasure hunts!!! I am so excited!!!
Today’s blog is short because I have spent much time in meetings with my Master Teachers due to some important planning
for some special projects we have been working on, and they have assigned me some critical assignments I need to
get out the door early next week before I get too busy with my teaching. I have had extended meetings the past few nights
and then again this morning. My teachers are SO amazing though! With all that they do for me, and for which I am eternally
grateful, one of them (and I don’t know who it was) took time to leave me a special MUSIC REQUEST. 
Happy New Year! Today is a super special day of celebration. I call it The Fourth Month because I am on a different
calendar than 
I will remind readers at this point in the treasure hunt that Joe cited movies often in his work, just like he cited MUSIC,
BUT and this is HUGE: He also HID MOVIE Easter eggs, and, again they are hidden at various levels of difficulty. While I have
received a few complaints for identifying these features of Joe’s work, I must remind readers, Joe wrote for ALL
OF US. 
Anyway, I happen to love them!!! They really make reading and studying his work a delicious treat – that layer cake
I mentioned in another blog where you devour one layer and there is another delicious layer underneath it. And, IMPORTANTLY,
they really do contribute to a greater understanding of his work, his messages, and how we might apply his theory, so it is
not like he just randomly put stuff in his books, not at all. I guess it is my “calling” so to speak to help people
get this new kind of enjoyment out of Joe’s books. 
I do wish everyone the best and I am sorry if this new revelation about Joe’s work may be upsetting to some who wish
to maintain the status quo. Change is hard, no doubt about it. We need only use Joe’s work in the way that works for
us – for what we want to learn, write about, and convey to the world. That is the most important thing. And we all must
stop finding fault with those around us. I think we all do this from time to time; it is perfectly natural, but it is still
something we all need to learn to overcome. The key is to realize that the faults we see and point out in others are reflections
of our own shortcomings. One of my Master Teachers always tells me if we point a finger at someone, we must remember
there are three fingers pointing back at us. We have all worked together with our “collective consciousness”
to create this current sad FIDURODian reality and we will all work together to change it. That is why, when I state we must
stop complaining, get off our butts and take real, concrete actions for change – I always include myself in this equation.
