Samhain Winter Moon
I have posted before about sharing this land with other animals. A good while back I posted photos of an opossum who visited me late one winter night. Well, here’s a few photos from this afternoon, taken from my study window. This guy did not mind the camera at all.
Samhain Winter Moon
Samhain Winter Moon
Posted on a facebook page devoted to Alexandria, Indiana, my hometown. Larry is a local character.
Larry Maynard was stopped by the Alex police around 2 AM and was asked where he was going at that time of night.
Larry replied, “I’m on my way to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body, as well as smoking, and staying out late.”
The officer then asked, “Really? Who’s giving that lecture at this time of night?”
Larry replied, “That would be my wife.”
Samhain Winter Moon
“…the Penn survey found that in the United States and developing countries alike, most Coursera students were well educated, employed, young and male.” NYT
(Whitman. My new beard model.)
I have it half right. If you’re retired, a self-guided learner and expect challenge and high quality, then MOOC’s are perfect. In addition the cost is favorable. They’re free and can be taken with no driving on your own schedule. Yes, there may be some expense for books, but if you’re a self-guided learner already, what’s another book or two or three?
As the quote above shows, the learning communities, usually in the tens of thousands have a predominantly young makeup. This is invigorating to me. Let’s me see what the next generation’s up to. O.K. Maybe it’s the generation after the next generation.
Of course, you have to enjoy structured education. I don’t always, but when I’m taking only courses that address my interests, as opposed to those of a curricula, I find the upside of considered readings and condensed material in lectures suits me.
If my dream were to manifest in this realm, there would be enough variety of courses to allow a college major’s depth and breadth in a particular discipline. Right now they’re very hit and miss. Greek Mythology, ModPo, Modern-Post Modern and History for a New China, the MOOC’s I’ve taken, are humanities courses, but there is no way to follow any of them with narrowers courses, say in Homeric Epic, or Whitman, or the Industrial Revolution or Early Dynasties of China. In this sense the MOOC experience is less than satisfying.
That only amounts, however, to wishing that a very good thing was better rather than a true critique. Keep’em coming, Coursera and EdX. My computer’s on.
Samhain Winter Moon
Latin. Session with tutor today. Greg says I’m doing the right things. We’re discussing nuances of translation now, not always my missteps with grammar or case. Not even mostly. Latin and writing novels both require a view that goes beyond the immediate horizon, far beyond it. At least for me.
(Zeus overthrows Cronos Van Haarlem 1588)
My first session with Greg was on January 28, 2010. This January I will begin my 5th year as a Latin student. I’m much, much closer to my goal of translating the Metamorphoses; in fact, I’m doing it, just not at the level of proficiency that I want. I can see getting there, now; though in October, when I began again after spending the summer with the garden and the bees, I despaired. The lesson from that, I think, is not to stop. It requires constant practice.
Feeling good about it today.
Samhain Winter Moon
Mandela. King. An American and an African. Different, so different in background, but similar in their life work and impact. No, not the same path, at least not at first, but similar in the end. Leading with an open heart, an organizer’s toughness, an idealist’s hope and the clarity of true seers. One assassinated in the land of the free and the home of the brave, the other dead of old age in the land of apartheid.
(I was not born with a hunger to be free; I was born free. Nelson Mandela)
Both, it turns out, were human. As should be known from the beginning since no one descends from the womb into this life a virtuous person. Neither, it turns out, will be forgotten. As it should be. We need men and women who teach us about the possibilities for those of us with flaws, with dreams, with passions for justice.
MLK got a national holiday. It would be a stunning gesture to give Mandela a national holiday here, too, wouldn’t it? Say on Juneteenth, balancing King’s winter with Mandela’s summer. So, from this day forward, Ancientrails will celebrate June 19 as Nelson Mandela day. Maybe others will, too.