Change of Place

When meanings are conflicted, the soul is stifled.

I need a change of place. Sitting at the pool has helped, but it's not quite the answer. I want to think alone in the midst of people. I want to go from here to there and back again. I want a change of place.

Place is so much more than location or geography. Places gain meaning as we live in them. The mountain house means relaxation. The point patio means concentration. The Starbucks dining room means focused reflection. The train means thinking and writing. My campus office means human and institutional context. I am realizing now that the living room had meant evening relaxation but now has the conflicting meaning brought by remote work.

I need the modulation of tone that comes with a change of place. If hotels were open, I do a solitude retreat. If shopping centers were open, I'd sit at the blurp fountain, feeling the sun warm my skin as random thoughts flowed. If campus were open, I'd sit at my window and work.

I need a change of place.

Do I need to understand the chicken or the egg? [phenomenological ponderings]

Wait...those aren't chickens!

Since I'm using a phenomenological design for my dissertation, some basic understanding of the underlying philosophy is essential. But this is not a philosophical dissertation. It is an educational studies dissertation. The philosophy of phenomenology is the egg and methodology/method is the chicken. I need to understand the chicken. Phenomenological philosophy is that which forms the context from which the methodology has sprung. Understanding the basics of the formation and heritage are critical to correctly understanding the methodology, for these guide the types of thinking and data reporting that best fit the methodology. These guide the general ways in which data are collected and understood. But an intimate understanding of Husserl, Heidegger, and Gadamer is not required. To conduct the research, one needs an intimate understanding of the mental stance and range of methods that best fit within phenomenological research. Frankly, I need to know enough about the philosophical formation and heritage to make sure someone's not passing off a duck as a chicken. After that, I just need to trust a deepening knowledge of the chicken.  



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(C) Laura Springer

Musings of a peripatetic wannabe-sage by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License..

Seven Skills Students Need for Their Future

Seven Skills Students Need for Their Future | Asia Society:

• Critical thinking and problem-solving
• Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
• Agility and adaptability
• Initiative and entrepreneurialism
• Effective oral and written communication
• Accessing and analyzing information
• Curiosity and imagination

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(C) Laura Springer

Musings of a peripatetic wannabe-sage by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License..

Life needs people and solitude

Lessons learned 5/1 through 5/7

• Justice can be messy, yet it is necessary.
• Sometimes God brings perfect people to get you on the rails when you freak out.
• Think better.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Centering the wild strands of thought

Lessons Learned 4/24 through 4/30

• My mind was all over the place this week-- stress is going up --but some of the tangents became models.
• Biblical reflection must become habit.

Some Fruit of the Tangents

• Dancing in the overlapping neighborhoods
• Reading is so much more than lapping up goodness

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

I think I should share more thinking

Lessons Learned 4/17 through 4/23

• I think in models and I should probably share them.
• Learning is a mostly unseen combination of intentional and automatic, conscious and unconscious.
• Blog it.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Might be time for another look at the intellectual development plan

Lessons Learned 4/9 through 4/16

• Christian scholarship has the capacity to be scholarship in its fullest form.
• Worldview development requires persistent input and careful self-reflection.
• My social skills need work.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Wouldn’t planned simplicity be better?

Lessons Learned 4/2 through 4/8

• Apparently, I refine processes in the midst of doing them.
• My most common process refinement is simplification.
• If only I would simplify during the planning.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

And the march to critical thinking continues...

Lessons Learned 3/26 thru 4/1

• Before critical thinking can be natural, it must be practiced.
• Elucidating my perspective must precede critiquing that of another.
• Reading involves critiquing and being critiqued.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Becoming myself is apparently lifelong

Lessons Learned 3/19 through 3/25

• Scholarship is hard work and mere smarts don’t cut it.
• Fulfilling my calling requires caring for body and soul.
• Be me, with courage, without arrogance.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

What’s a Tangentrider to write?

Lessons Learned 3/12 to 3/18

• witwaw may forever be in flux.
• Someone who earned the name Tangentrider may have a tough time sticking to a topic.
• Are tangents a problem?

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Thinking up a framework for thinking

Lessons Learned 3/5 to 3/11

• Analysis requires more thinking time than I currently provide.
• Wolters' structure and direction model with Ramsey's glory definition may be a good witwaw pondering platform.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Everything longs to be what it is

Lessons Learned 2/26 to 3/4

• Everything in existence has an inherent creational structure that longs to be discovered, but is hidden by human mutiny.
• My need for intentional community grows.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Christ-centered desire brings rest

Lessons learned 2/19 to 2/26

• Desire is good in itself, but the object determines its worth. Do I desire Christ above all else?
• I need margin and the storm’s eye.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Self-care must precede other-care

Lessons learned 2/12 to 2/18

• I don’t need more solitude; I need more silence and intention.
• I tend to have too much input and too little pondering.
• I need rest.

--- Twitter - Facebook
(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

True learning is a soul in love

We dare not confine learning to our notion of “mind,” for true learning, true knowledge, is always affection, always volition, in addition to being intellection.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Learning to know is iterative

Lessons Learned 2/5 to 2/11

• Knowing is a complex, multi-aspect process, worthy of study.
• Thinking is a huge part of knowing and I must plan ample open space for it.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Communal learning is learned.

Lessons Learned 1/29 to 2/4

• Working with a good adviser is more than a good idea for doctoral students; it is necessary for depth and success.
• Peers are also needed.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Developing expertise in context

Focus

A friend, who is also an upper level manager who mentors young engineers, shared an invaluable rule: go deep in one field, broad in all.

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Faith takes all of me and all of us

Lessons Learned 1/23-1/28

• Intellectual knowledge is insufficient; it must partner with experiential knowledge.
• Christian nurture is enculturation, so it takes time and effort in community.
• Jesus is snarky.

--- Twitter - Facebook
(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.