So, no surprise that I’m posting another guitar thingy for my Fridays post. It’s not even Friday.
I hope no one was waiting for the review of Peter Block’s Community book. Honestly, it’s still on my bedside table but I am completely unmotivated to finish reading it. He went tripping down the alley ways and he’s so far out there that I’m not sure I’m interested in going back to him. I really wanted to like the book and I think I did until the last 1/4 of the book. It turned more hippy-dippy than practical and I find myself just not caring enough to go back to him right now. Perhaps the book needs to sit somewhere else for awhile. I need to make room for a book that has to go back to the library in a few months: On Organizational Learning by Argyris.
I’ve been known to say that I steal ideas from everywhere. I do. I was sitting in the hallway one night waiting for a class to start and the class before mine did a clever training exercise in the hall. I’ll eventually use that idea…just need to find the right application. I will give credit to those nameless students when I finally do use that activity.
I have been reading and skimming Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko (2nd edition). I’m working on an instructor-led course and wanted some fresh ideas on learning activities.
Page 329 borrows so heavily from Harrison Owen’s Open Space Technology that I’m not sure why there hasn’t been an outcry of plagiarism (or whatever the word is that means he stole that idea from someone else and gave the originator no credit). The words “idea marketplace” and “law of two feet” are used. The way Michalko’s Open Meeting is described is straight out of Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide. I’m appalled and am not sure that I’ll use any of his ideas because now that I’m suspicious of one, I’m suspicious of all.
In my work I have to clearly document where ideas come from and we go through a copyright process to make sure we’re not treading on anyone’s toes. You’d think an author who is making his living on the idea that we can all be creative would be a little less creative about where his ideas come from. Shame on you Michael Michalko.
I think it’s appropriate for Bon Iver songs to sound a little raw when he plays live. The album is one of those that you listen to when you are feeling low or feeling high. The emotion comes through equally well.
I guess that’s what happens when you hole up in a remote cabin and work on music, or essays or whatever. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a cabin in the woods.
There’s something comforting about finding books in my mailbox in August. One of these will be skimmed and the other will be pored over. Guess which one I’m going to be most excited to read.
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