The Eternal Student
Ruth Ann is always learning, or at least trying to, usually without benefit of classroom.
A college dropout, she thinks trying to educate today’s digital kids in last century’s school systems is nuts.
She enjoys adding to her databases, both wetware and software.
Her current education comes from the dozens of print and online publications to which she subscribes, TED talks, the occasional class or seminar, fellow humans, and other living and dead things.
Ruth Ann’s educational philosophy, like so much of her thinking, is based on something she saw on television back in the last century. In an episode of All In The Family, a developmentally disabled character portrayed by Richard Masur shows the bigot Archie Bunker a framed quotation: “Every man is my superior in that I may learn from him.”
Think about every person you encounter as your superior in some way, and see what you can learn. (Even if the lesson is “behavior to avoid.”)
Match Game. Leaving ______
Day 185 If you are of a certain age, I don’t need to explain Match Game. but in shorthand, you fill in the blank and try to find the obvious answer that most people would say. Leaving ______. My first instinct is “Leaving Home,” which perhaps comes from the Beatles ’ “She’s Leaving Home ,” which came out [...]
Full StoryTalk To The Hand
Day 182 I am holding my mother’s hand. It is a startling sight. My hand now looks very much like what I remember of my mother’s hand. And hers looks just like I remember her mother’s hand. A few nights ago, I was in a cashier’s line and I couldn’t help noticing the young woman’s tiny, perfect hands. [...]
Full StoryAm I In A Car Toon?
Day 181 My husband and I are trying to do our patriotic duty by contributing to the economy through the purchase of an American car. We did our internet research, as a majority of buyers do these days. We knew what we wanted and we had a pretty good idea of what it would cost. We went to [...]
Full StoryGo Fish!
Day 171 On a recent visit to a museum, I was surprised to find a little video viewing area in a specially ticketed exhibit. Comfy furniture, throw pillows, and other casual seating created the impression of a TED Simulcast Lounge, and surprise! The venue had been set up to show Edith Witter’s TED Talk on bioluminescence . She said that fish [...]
Full StoryMothers Day
Day 170 Yeah, I know what day it is. But the new baby came home from the hospital today, and I’m still in awe of the grace and fortitude of her mother. So this is a salute to the physical and mental courage of every laboring mother who refuses the repeated entreaties of the hospital personnel [...]
Full StoryAre We Having…..
Day 168 I’m in the process of doing something that I didn’t expect to be doing. It probably looks like “work.” But before I accepted the challenge, I took a few minutes to do a gut check and ask myself whether this would be “fun” or if it would inevitably be “work.” I jotted a few [...]
Full StoryReap What You Sew*
Day 166 When I was a kid, most women sewed. Most girls had “sewing kits.” You could buy sewing supplies almost anywhere back then – the 5&10 cent store, department stores, even drugstores. The displays were like beautiful rainbows. Very attractive to children. My grandmother and my mother both sewed. They bought hundreds, if not thousands, of spools of [...]
Full StoryWhat Am I Missing?
Day 165 When something piques my curiosity, I’m off like a cat chasing a spot of reflected light on the wall. What I’m pursuing might be pointless, but that hasn’t often stopped me from chasing it anyway. Example: I received an invitation for an artist’s show at a New York gallery. When I saw that the gallery was called ”Haunch of Venison,” well, what [...]
Full StoryRetail Therapy
Day 164 It might not seem like such a big deal, but it was: I got great service in a store in a mall. It was amazing! I was greeted warmly. (I’m on the road and nowhere near home, so it wasn’t because I’m a regular customer.) I got help with what I needed. Checkout [...]
Full StoryComing?
Day 163 Earlier this year I wrote about “thons,” and if I were going to have a Blog-A-Thon today, these are the posts I have on my To Write list: Something about the philanthropic leadership of Diana DiMenna - my longest-running “I intend to write this post” post. Going on two years now, I think. She [...]
Full Story
