In reflecting on some thoughts by Steven Biko, Brian Alger has this to say about the role of language in learning: “Language is often a tool leveraged in cultural warfare, but it also represents a battle for the mind. The preservation of a language is frequently viewed as a means to preserve both cultural and individual identity. By imposing a language on people that is not native to their intelligence they are disadvantaged. But this is not to say that they are not intelligent, it is merely a way of placing them at a disadvantage. Language and learning are intimately …
From Jim Lehrer’s comments at the opening of the presidential debate: Tonight?s will last 90 minutes, following detailed rules of engagement worked out by representatives of the candidates. I have agreed to enforce their rules on them. The umbrella topic is foreign policy and homeland security, but the specific subjects were chosen by me, the questions were composed by me, the candidates have not been told what they are, nor has anyone else. For each question there can only be a two-minute response, a 90- second rebuttal and, at my discretion, a discussion extension of one minute. A green light …
Nushu text which reads “Beside a well one does not thirst, beside a sister one does not despair.” From Intersol Nushu, a secret language of Chinese women, has lost its most accomplished and perhaps last surviving writer and speaker. Yang Huanyi was a well known speaker and writer of the language which evolved 400 years ago as a secret script used exclusively by women to communicate with each other usually about initmate and domestic issues. Many Nushu songs and poems were composed and the written legacy of the language survives in letters and embroidered handkerchiefs. Some Nushu resources: Yang Huanyi’s …
Recently I have received phone calls from CIBC Visa, TD Canada Trust, Telus, and a few smaller companies asking me to buy things. (I’m not providing links to these companies. They can generate their own markets.) I would like you to know, if you are a telemarketer, that I don’t like cold calls. I consider it phone spam. If I’m looking for a line of credit, or a cheaper long distance plan or a VISA card with 5000 bonus airmiles, Google and I are perfectly capable of finding it. So if you do call please be aware that I will …
Apropos of what I blogged the other day on vision, Johnnie Moore has posted a nice piece at finding where the true potential lies. Change is often spoken of as something to be done elsewhere, by other people. I think the effect is to make change some hypothetical process, and perhaps to give the speakers a kind of illusory sense of power. Turning the conversation to the one thing we can change – ourselves and the ways in which we interact with the world – creates a more empowering and realistic set of tasks, and works from a vision that …