Joe was an exceptionally complex man. He was all pure goodness and love, and very, very complex, which was exemplified in his writing, notably in his last book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction. I would wager there are many people who do not understand some of his writing, if not much of his writing. I am one of those people and I am seriously working on the understanding of his work. It does take an immense amount of effort and study and it appears to me that Joe was so advanced in his conceptualizations that it is now time for the world to catch up to him and his ideas. What was he really saying? How are we to hermeneutically interpret the multiple possible meanings of the complex messages from this man who everyone readily asserts was a genius? And how might we apply his ingenious ideas in education?

I strongly urge people to read what, perhaps is one of his most prescient works, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, along with the equally complex work he and Kathleen Berry wrote on the advanced conceptualization of the bricolage and his work with Thomas, which is a powerful explanation and application of cognitive theory, Postformalism. (Kincheloe & Berry, 2004; Thomas & Kincheloe, 2006). Also, note that he had written an additional article on the bricolage taking it even further in conceptualization (Kincheloe, 2005). These are just a few of his works, and I have provided links to some lists of more of his works, including some he coauthored with others on the About Joe Kincheloe page of this website.

In order to really know Joe and how much he has contributed to education and to fully grasp the potential - the gifts - he has left us for improving our world if we apply his work, we must take time to read, interpret, and understand it – from multiple perspectives. And then we need to read, interpret and understand his works again. And again. Only then can we truly know who Joe was. He was much, much more than a “critical theorist,” or any of the other “monological” labels that one might be able to attribute to him, which just exemplifies why we should never attach labels to anyone. All of us are so much more than what a few labels we might attach to ourselves or to others can possibly represent.

We do owe Joe the time and effort to develop a deeper understanding of the complexity he spent so many thousands of hours trying to put across to us. We need a deep understanding of that complexity if we are going to function rationally in the increasingly irrational world of this Twenty-First Century. It does take time and effort, but it is precipitously essential, and even this, Joe has made abundantly clear in his work. If we choose to remain simplistic in our thinking -- monological and positivistic -- we are doomed as a world society, a universal society, or as Joe has put it, a “pluriversal” one (Kincheloe, 2008, p. 209).  Joe’s work spells this out. He patiently spent his thousands of hours explaining and re-explaining this as it was one of his most critical messages to us….and yet we do not heed his advice. Why?

Joe was an activist, and again this can not be explained in a simplistic or easily definable way. However, if we do not take our understanding of Joe’s work to the level of actively making changes in the world around us – while acknowledging and proactively addressing the complexity of this world -- then we do not understand the person Joe was, what he was working toward, or what we need to be doing. He clearly states this in his work, and he clearly stated this in personal conversations I have had with him, and he clearly demonstrated this in his own actions that appeared almost superhuman in terms of how much he was able to accomplish during his too short lifetime. He wrote, “Complex critical thinking is always concerned with what could be and what is immanent in various ways of thinking, It should move beyond the comtemplative realm and lead to concrete social reform….Immanence in complex critical thinking involves the use of human wisdom to bring about a better and more just world, less suffering, and more individual fulfillment instead of helping students and teachers adapt to the world as it is” (Kincheloe, p. 31). And how should it move beyond this contemplative realm? How do humans achieve the wisdom necessary to accomplish these tasks? Again, Joe has some exceptionally brilliant answers in his work.

As I am attempting to convey, Joe knew complexity. His work is not meant to be interpreted only one idiosyncratic way. Nor is it meant not to be. We must start somewhere. We can each start in our own way. Joe would have loved that, but he knows that any demonstration of his work will take time and will be complex and this is why I ask my readers to Please Bear With Me. Any demonstration of Joe’s work, ideas, concepts, philosophy, theory, creativity, will necessarily be extremely complex and multifaceted, even if, in my case, it is highly idiosyncratic and merely my own interpretation. We do have to begin somewhere and not allow his work to be stuffed in the “dustbins” of history (I think I read that word in Joe’s work somewhere) or limited by simplistic descriptions of Joe’s personality that obscure the great and complex man he was and how his work can serve to create some of the enormous changes in education – and ultimately in the world – that are so desperately needed today.

Anyway, this is what I am attempting to show here. That Joe’s ideas were exceptionally complex but the contribution they have for improving the world by addressing and working with the increasing complexity and rapidly changing conditions are mind boggling. In that spirit, then, my work in these blogs will be multifaceted. Therefore I will write blogs that are serious, humorous, interpretative, instructive, creative, multidimensional, etc. They may be creative representations of ideas, they may be narratives, they may be fantasies, they may be instructional materials, or anything else that my creative imagination comes up with. It can be no other way. I concur wholeheartedly with Joe’s contention that “We are lost if we are not imaginative, exploring entities” (Kincheloe, 2008, p. 250).With time, you will see that I do pull in many other contributors and their creative and imaginative contributions because we are all a part of Joe and he is a part of us all. So I ask that you bear with me, be patient and watch the evolution of something new. It will emerge and I cannot predict exactly how or when it will emerge, but Joe’s theory predicts this. I will discuss at another time how Joe’s theory that synthesizes complexity, enactive, and chaos theories within the bricolage supports my strategy or methodology for presenting my interpretation of Joe’s work. It is completely improvisational, but great and beautiful things can be created by using this methodology. I know that in my heart. I would not be – as Joe had done – spending thousands upon thousands of hours on this if I did not truly believe that something great and beautiful can evolve.

In conclusion, I just want to reiterate that educators and teachers who are serious about making a difference in education do need to put forth the time and effort to gain a deep understanding of Joe’s work so that it can be applied appropriately and the great rewards from doing so can be reaped. It is not that I believe any one interpretation is going to be the right one. It is not that we leave out the great and brilliant ideas of other contributors to our understandings of education. Joe was far too ingenious to force those requirements upon us, and in fact would be repulsed if we did so. And so I ask that you please bear with me. Be patient. This is going to be a good thing. And I do know without a doubt that Joe would only wish for interpretations that lead to “good things” --  love, peace, goodness, social justice, “jouissance,” sensuality, charity, compassion, freedom – including freedom of expression -- and total generosity that takes us out from under the grips of capitalism. Good Things! All of the most “delicious” things in life.

Have a wonderful weekend and be happy!

Vanessa

References

Kincheloe, J. L. (2008). Knowledge and critical pedagogy: An Introduction. Amsterdam: Springer.

Kincheloe, J. L. (2005). On to the next level: Continuing the conceptualization of the bricolage. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(3), 323-350.

Kincheloe, J. L. & Berry, K. S. (2004). Rigour and Complexity in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage. New York: Open University Press.

Kincheloe, J. L. & Weil, D. (2004). Critical thinking and learning: An encyclopedia for parents and teachers. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Thomas, P. L. & Kincheloe, J. L. (2006). Reading, writing, and thinking: Postformal basics. The Netherlands: Sense.

Photo courtesy of Microsoft.

I am so excited! I spoke to my friend on the telephone last night – you know, the long lost one who turned out not to be lost at all and came back to me -- the one who knows everything there is to know about the valley where my assistant and I have been looking for clues to find the Lost Treasury Notes. Last night he told me to get right over to the House of the Forlorn and search for gold!

I guess I had better back up a little and tell you the complete story. When my assistant and I had taken all of those clues he had given us – the ones I wrote about on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 – and went to the valley looking for them all, well we found them all and then some (more about that later). One of the places we ended up at was an old house, built in 1929 we learned later, that was just absolutely wretched! It was very hard to notice because it was off the main road just a bit, almost hidden from sight behind some trees, but we were on high alert that day because we were looking for abandoned, gutted out houses with barns. This house also had what we thought was a barn but turned out to be a carport-like structure with tons upon tons of very old farm equipment. Well, the house was just wretched, absolutely wretched. I have included a photograph of the house, but please understand that this particular photo was taken quite a few years ago. I found this photo at the County Assessor’s office, but I will post some better photos here later – I am STILL waiting on my camera cable to arrive in the mail.

At any rate, we thought the house was SO wretched that day, that of course, we assumed that no one could possibly be living in it. We looked at the farm equipment and sky high piled up steel stuff and I thought immediately of my daughter's friend who makes a living from picking up steel and old cars and hauling them for recycling. He actually does ok doing this. He is not rich of course; his income is far below the poverty level, but he does keep food on the table for his family and that’s important since his family is my older daughter. So here we are, looking at this old, wretched house thinking that maybe it was the one that matched the clues, but the problem was that it did not have a barn – or so we thought. I will say, we learned later that it does have a barn -- sort of.  Since we did not know that the first time we came upon the house, we had begun suspecting that what we were looking for did not have to match all of the clues, which this one did not, that maybe it only needed to match some of the clues. We were hoping and we were going to research it further.

It was amazing what my research turned up. I learned that someone did, indeed own the house, which later became known as the House of the Forlorn. He was 80-something years old and I assumed he had been placed in a nursing home, because something kept telling me this was so and that this man was not happy in the situation he had found himself. So I continued my research and discovered that a relative owned the property right next door. The original larger land track had been divided just a few short years ago, in 2004, and a new house was built up the hill just a bit on a section of the property. Since the last names of the owners of the properties were the same, I assumed that the younger owner was the son or at least a relative of the elderly man. I kept feeling that something was not right with the elderly man and I kept getting nudges from whence, I am not sure, to keep following up on this. The county assessor’s office gives all of the contact information, but there was no number provided at all for the wretched house, so I decided to call the younger person, still thinking at that time of course that the old house was abandoned. Well, it was abandoned all right, but not the way I was thinking. Turns out an elderly man, 84 years old, still actually lives in that wretched house alone, according to this relative! And so, I am wondering how this relative can drive by the house each day and not see that it is in absolute dire need of repair. There was something drastically wrong with this picture. The front porch of the house has fallen off completely now with it’s portico hanging precipitously and dangerously low, leaning downward due to the thick green carpet of moss growing on it. It is going to fall off at any moment. The siding shingles are buckling away from the house all the way around it, some of them are missing entirely, and many of the roof shingles have fallen off. Some of the windows appear to be missing and are covered with plastic. It literally looked as if the house was in grief, just horrible grief and was falling apart – evidently from the outside in, since now I had been told someone actually lives inside it, but I do wonder what the inside must look like. Thus, my good friend gave the house the name, The House of the Forlorn. And does that ever fit! I had to look the word forlorn up in my Oxford Dictionary and found that it means 1. sad and abandoned or lonely 2. Pitiful state; wretched appearance. This house -- as occupied -- met all meanings of the word, no matter how you look at the situation.

I had told the relative that I was interested in a summer project to clean up someone’s property – someone in need, perhaps who was not able to do so for themselves. This was very true. After I had seen the property the first time, I wanted to gather up some helping hands, contact some community businesses, and clean up this property for whoever owned it. At that time, I was thinking for sure the owner was elderly and stuck off in some nursing home and unable to do anything with the property and so this was totally hanging over their head. Someone needed to help them. This relative assured me that the elderly man was just fine and that he would be offended if someone offered to help him because he was very proud of his property. He did tell me I was “very sweet” to offer to lend the hand, but no thank you, “it would not be a good match.”

Most people who know me know I am somewhat of a “rebel.” I am not really, I am a good person, but if something does not “smell right” then I dig deeper. This is what Joe, as my "Master Teacher" taught me to do, especially if it appears that someone is hurting and suffering. We must do what we can to alleviate that suffering. And so, I look beneath the surface and make use of the cracks and crevices to help those who are in need. If someone was living in this house, which I had learned that someone was, they clearly needed some kind of help. So I was determined to be that help. And what I found was quite amazing. "A treasure," as Joe would say. The next time I visited the property, out of the house came this sweet, elderly man with garden gloves on and his medium-length white hair disheveled, and the brightest blue eyes one could imagine. I was with my assistant and we introduced ourselves. We ended up having a long, friendly conversation. He clearly enjoyed the company because he loved telling us stories in that famous Irish tradition. He would get a cute smile on his face, which told us the story was going to be quite humorous and then he was off and running with his story. He is a total joy to be around.

The very first story was about the huge calico cat that was brushing up against our legs. He said he had had a cat exactly like it, but it had died. His nephew, who lived in the house up the hill (the man I had spoken to on the phone previously) had gotten the dead cat and buried it himself. The very next day this identical-looking cat just showed up on Mel's (I will shorten the elderly man’s name to protect his privacy) doorstep and became his friend, companero, pet. So now he takes care of it. The next time his nephew came over, he saw this cat that he thought he had buried and it just totally freaked him out. We all laughed, and I commented, “Well, they do say that cats have nine lives.”

I have gotten off track here about the real story. About a couple of weeks ago, my special friend told me that Mel has a “meadow springs” on his property and that we best look for gold. I honestly could not imagine where there was a meadow springs on the property, but the next time we visited Mel, I did ask him. But I think I used the word “creek” and he pointed to the edge of his property and said that yes, there was a creek between his property and the adjacent road. However, a few moments later he launched into another one of his stories and this time it was about the “mountain stream” up at the top edge of his property. I will cover more details about his story later, but the point is, my friend somehow was right – there IS a stream on the property. So when I told my long lost friend that his recollection was indeed correct, he told me, “There’s gold up in those hills” and I had probably better go looking for it every week until I turn up this delectable treasure.

It is of utmost import that I follow through. As he said, it will buy Mel a lot of food and even take care of helping him fix up his house. Mel needs food, I had learned, the first time I visited him. I just loved him so much and felt so bad about his living conditions that I asked him if there was anything at all I could bring him.  “I could used some canned food,” he mentioned, “some fruit and jams and jellies.” So my assistant and I have made a couple of trips up to visit him, taking him a large bag of groceries each time with the food he had requested and much more. The last time we visited, he said that next time, if the weather was nice and not pouring down rain like it was that day, he would take us on a trek up the hill to the mountain stream. Given my friend’s message: “There’s gold up in them thar hills!” (he was trying to be funny, but I took him seriously) so we are very excited. In fact, we are making our next trip out to see Mel over this three day weekend! The metal detector we have (which we used to look for the diamond ring in our yard, but found the yin-yang silver disc instead, as I mentioned in my blog on Wednesday, May 20, 2008) actually has a gold detector and it is waterproof so it can be inserted in the water to look for gold. If you get a detection, you can scoop up the rocks and then scan them again for gold to determine whether the scoop might contain gold nuggets. Yikes! That reminds me that I need to do a little research about panning for gold before we head out to deliver Mel some more food and go on our exciting and adventurous treasure hunt. By the way, we have since learned that gold has often been found in the valley and also that there IS a barn on the property. The barn was just so decrepit it had collapsed totally, so now we are getting hints to look for the treasury notes back behind it while we are there.

So I am off to look for gold and treasury notes in the valley and the hills for the weekend, take Mel some more food, and hopefully, gather the resources to help him improve his home and property. I do need to keep in mind that, again, the bricolage and postformalism has us keeping a very open mind, viewing situations from multiple perspectives, using multiple forms of research and analyses, including hermeneutics which has us examining words and clues. Nevertheless, it will be exciting to report what postformal treasures we have uncovered this time.  So, check back next week and, in the meantime, I hope you will look around for your own postformal treasures -- and help someone in need at the same time.

With Love,

Vanessa

 

Joe loved poetry and in his educational writing he encourages the use of poetry as a postformal tool for learning. He wrote poetry, himself, as well as lyrics for his music. The poem below just came to me yesterday morning when I first awakened, so I quickly wrote it down. I have had many dreams of walking with Joe beside the ocean, which inspired the poem. Other cultures place high value on dreams, whereas Western culture devalues their significance. Joe believed that it was important to teach students that dreams can be an effective tool to aid their learning and to help resolve life problems. He had learned much about the practice when he worked on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in his early years of teaching. As Dreaming Bear Baraka Kanaan (2009) points out,

 

Although many scientific & technological advancements have developed from dreams such as Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Edison’s light bulb, & others too numerous to mention, western society has largely ignored the value of dreaming as an arena for experimentation & exploration. Instead of tapping into the latent potential of our dreams as a direct line to the Source of all information, we have relegated dreams to being merely a phenomenon or byproduct of biology.

 

In a future blog, I will discuss the significance and importance of dreams in greater detail, especially as related to how they assist the learning process. I plan to meet with Dreaming Bear this summer to learn more.

For now, this poem, as inspired by my dreams, by Dreaming Bear's exquisite poetry, and by Joe himself --  is dedicated to Joe

                                                                            IMMANENCE

The peaceful bliss

of misty sprays

and gentle soft kisses

of fragrant ocean breezes

sensually teasing our skin

beneath the stars brightly

piercing the darkness

to reveal hidden treasure

in the deep blue mysterious waters

that match the depth of your

beautiful blue, love-filled eyes.

I see your soul.

I feel your spirit.

Inspiration surrounds me

and empowers my outstretched arms

to embrace your unconditional love

and your infinitely-shared wisdom.

Anything -- and everything is possible.

Joe speaks of critical immanence in many of his works. It is a concept that essentially provides hope and helps us create the vision we need to change the world – and, of course, to “alleviate human suffering,” as he has expressed often in his writing. And as he has stated, “When Horkheimer and Adorno’s concept of immanence (the examination of what is in relation to what should be) is added to the complex dynamics surrounding decision making and interpretation in the realm of research, critical pedagogues as bricoleurs move yet to a higher domain of complexity. Reflecting on the research process from a perspective shaped by these concerns, critical bricoleurs gain new insights into the ideological consequences of reductionism” [emphasis added] (p. 16 in Critical Pedagogy: Where Are We Now? Kincheloe & Mclaren, 2007).

In other words, by employing techniques of the critical bricolage whereby we analyze conditions using lenses of multiple perspectives, we are awakened to what is and expose the harsh realities forced upon us by dominant groups or people who wield their power over us, as well as our own complacency and complicity. Once we accomplish this revelation, we can go a step further to imagine and create the reality we would prefer – a peaceful, socially just, blissful world. Creation and maintenance of this improved world requires “perpetual” revolutionary actions (Kincheloe, 2008, pers. corres.) Some of us, as Dreaming Bear exemplifies in his work, can create realities that are so beautiful and magical that everyone around them is in awe. The golden key is unconditional love, but there are other keys one must have before being able to achieve that. Joe held those keys for education -- and those are the gifts he left the world in his writing, research, music, teaching, and in the way he touched people who crossed his path. All we need to do is to take the keys and unlock the doors. Bliss is ours.

Eternally Devoted to the Love Mission,
Vanessa

References

Dreaming Bear Baraka Kanaan (2009). Message on lucid dreaming from DreamingBear. Loveolution Newsletter, May 20, 2009.

Kincheloe, J. L. & McLaren, P. (2007). Critical pedagogy: Where are we now?

As I said last time, you can “call me crazy” but I don’t know exactly what this education mission is going to bring about, where it’s heading, how it’s evolving. And so I have put my faith in the fact that I am being led somewhere and that the somewhere is spectacular and time will bear this out. And so I am very, very committed. I realize most people like plans and direction, but I do not need this in order to continue on the journey that is unfolding for me without my effort, even. I can not only accept this, but I can totally relish, enjoy, and find an ecstasy in this experience due to my understanding and interpretation of what Joe has said about these sorts of postformal treasure hunts. He loved them. And as he explained,

Relationship is the central notion in postformalism. In postformal thinking we move into a new dimension where our focus on relationship moves us to a new realm of consciousness. In this dimension historical and social relationships appear to us in poetry, social theory, and phenomenological analysis – even in the living of everyday life. Theme emerges as we engage in the stories of life….The postformalist emphasis on relationships moves us to look for patterns as the nature of the relationship under scrutiny….It is in the recognition of the synergy of different components of the relationship that the genius of postformalism begins to reveal itself” (Thomas & Kincheloe, 2004, p. 133).

These concepts become extremely critical, I have learned, as I actively engage in postformal treasure hunts. One must be able to embrace multiple perspectives at all times and avoid being locked into what Joe calls monlogical thinking so that we are free to make various interpretations. This is the only way we can see the treasure that is often right in front of our very eyes or have a remote chance of reaching the treasure that is hidden from us.

So, we are fully engaged in that multilogical perspective on our mission. At the present time we are in the initial preparation stage. A more long-term mission will begin following the “kick-off” celebration on April 3, 2010. This preparation stage will evidently extend past summer on into fall and winter -- and entails a lot of hard work. I learned about this phase and the gist of what it will entail from a few isolated clues that led me to an emerald rich valley with an absolutely fascinating history (little did I know!) not far from my home. I was given some interesting clues which I have been following up on and it appears that I will be working in this valley all summer. But this is good! I will be busy and now I have the good Angels, Keenan and Daniel to help me and I am sure I will pick up more help along the way and most of the work is really, really fun: Treasure Hunting!

Just to bring you up to speed, this adventure all started with some very interesting clues that happened to fall into my hands a few short weeks ago from a dear, sweet, long lost friend, or so I thought he was long lost, but to my pleasant surprise and delight, he looked me up again. He is familiar with the valley and in his unique postformal way, he gave me some interesting clues. Of course, with postformalism, things may not be exactly what they seem as there are always multiple ways to interpret them, but they always, always result in the discovery of treasures along the way nevertheless, so it doesn’t matter all that much how one interprets the clues -- which my assistant and I found out when we went searching. We made the mistake, first, of taking his clues too literally, but once we overcame that, we were off and running in multiple directions and we now have multiple projects relating to the mission that will last all summer, perhaps beyond. I will share the original clues at this time and I will describe the details of our treasure hunting thus far, which has been very rich and very exciting, at another time.  Here is what he said:

Today I was out scouting for the Project and I came across the most peculiar of circumstances. The ground beneath me gave way and lo and behold there was a metal box just under the surface. So I dug it up out of the ground and in it were all of these treasury notes, which I am not sure whether you know this or not, treasury notes are good for an eternity. This was behind a barn on the Old Orchard Highway at mile post 79 in the valley over toward the Oregon Coast and I really think it will be quite easy for you to find it. The barn is very dilapidated, nearly falling over and there is a gutted farmhouse in front of that. Evidently the farmer who lived there had buried these notes long ago and no one has discovered them. The property is totally abandoned, but I do think you will be able find these notes easily. I put them back under the soil – the box that is and if you walk back behind the barn, you will see loosened soil. Just dig about a foot beneath the loosened soil and you will find the box. Any bank should be able to cash these in. I do recommend you at least attempt to locate the property owner and offer to share the notes; split them 50-50. Legally, since the property has been abandoned, you are not required to do so, but it would be the right thing to do and I believe the owner is quite elderly and would be very happy to have some financial assistance as well as share the money from these notes. It appears that in today’s terms the money is about a million dollars or more. I know you are doubting me, but it would be worth your time and effort to try to locate this tomorrow. It would be a great adventure trip!

And so the great adventure has begun.  My assistant and I have made multiple very enjoyable trips to the valley finding clues and we have turned up some things and met some remarkable people; true treasures. No, we have not found the treasury notes, but we have multiple mysteries and missions that will keep us busy all summer as a result of our searching and additional clues continue to be handed down to us. In addition to the Hidden Treasury Notes, we have the House of the Forlorn, The Mystery of the Old Grist Mill, and we have discovered that there are lots and lots of interesting dilapidated barns and houses in the beautiful valley. Plus our good friend is constantly coming up with something new and exciting for us to investigate or engage in. For example, he has us searching our yard for a diamond ring, using a metal detector. The interesting thing about that was, the diamond ring ended up being delivered to my door, which I had written about in my blog back on May 12, 2009. But, we are still finishing up the yard search and we have found some very interesting treasures there, including a silver disk with an engraved yin-yang symbol which is quite exquisite and very meaningful. For those who do not know, yin-yang is a powerful symbol representing multiple perspectives, as different cultures have attached different meanings to it. For example, the Koreans used it during the wars to represent good luck (Ancestry.com, 2009). The Celtic yin-yang symbol has been used for centuries.  In fact, the disc we found looks to be very Celtic, much like the pendants, shown here, but much more detailed than these are: http://www.sanandaspiritualcenter.com/Yin_Yang.html. It is also smaller than a pendant and almost looks like the types of discs they used on pins. I'm not sure what the pins were used for; perhaps, they pinned the decorations on their clothing. They liked symbolic decorations and used them to decorate their clothing and for combs in their hair.

The yin-yang Celtic knot is of special significance. According to LucyFishArt.com (2009), this symbol signifies “the intertwining of two lives, two hearts, two loves become one.” This is special. It reminds me of finding your one true soul mate, getting together and living your lives together forever in eternal bliss – I will write more about that another time, but this is significantly and even personally relevant on many levels. I have recently engaged in a lot of research about soul mates and have turned up some amazing facts that I think people should know about. I will definitely have to discuss that in the future.

Here is a more complete description of the significance of yin-yang:

YING YANG: BALANCE  Symbol Yin-Yang represents the old ancient understanding of how things work. Yin and Yang are usually held in balance - One cannot exist without the other. For example, day cannot exist without night. The shape of the Yin and Yang sections of the symbol, actually gives you a sense of the continual movement of these two energies, Yin to Yang and Yang to Yin, causing everything to happen. The principle of Yin and Yang is the foundation of the entire universe. It underlies everything in creation. It brings about the development of parenthood; it is the root and source of life. Those who seek wisdom beyond the natural limits will retain good hearing and clear vision. Their bodies will remain light and strong. Ying Yang is a STRONG Symbol to Balance LUCK and Fortune for its Owner, Attracting Positive Energies from the Universe. (wowamulets.com, 2009).

As soon as I am able to, I will post a photograph of our Celtic treasure and perhaps readers can help us solve the mystery of where this piece may have originated (I am just waiting on the delivery of my camera cable which I had to purchase due to my original one becoming lost -- so then I will be able to upload the photo to my computer). I will provide more details at that time. I expect to be able to post a photo later this week. As I mentioned in my last blog, my mission assignment now has me posting a blog each day at 6 AM.

And so, our summer begins – educational, adventurous, exciting, mysterious, and we hope productive! My assistant and I became so excited about all of our adventures and potential adventures that we are providing a special opportunity for children in our community to take part in them. We will be helping many children learn about the history of this special valley and taking them along for treasure hunting, panning for gold, searching for the lost treasury notes, locating the site of the grist mill, visiting the old Indian fort, even assessing the environment and coming up with ways to ensure it is protected, and so much, much more!  So, stick around and we will share more with you as we continue to engage in this exciting postfomal treasure hunting – and what is for me, my assistant, Keenan, and Daniel also the hard work of our pre-project/mission training -- but for the children it should make for a great summer activity, especially as we discover more treasure. I can imagine the excitement on their faces when we discover  ancient treasures! This is only the beginning, I guess, as I have been told the real project begins with the April 3. 2010 “kick-off” celebration.  It is so exciting now, I cannot imagine what will happen after the kick-off, and I really can’t wait!!! Oh well, I will be so busy that the time will fly, I am sure.

And of course, as a final note, all of this serves a great purpose. As we utilize Joe’s critical complex epistemology during our mission, which of course becomes essential when traversing in multiple directions at once as we are doing here, we are assured by Joe, himself that this holds the “key to discern the multiple realities obscured by Western science that can help unlock the door to a new vision of humanness and human action” (Kincheloe, 2008, p. 233). As he said, he had literally spent thousands of hours addressing these issues and explaining this in his work. Of course, critical complex epistemology is only one of the important keys he has provided to help us discover hidden treasures. As time goes on, we will be using more of those keys -- the gifts Joe left for the world -- during our mission, so I hope you stay tuned and maybe even join us.

Until Tomorrow,

Vanessa

References

Ancestry.com (2009). WWI Shoulder Patches/Sleeve Insignia. Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~worldwarone/WWI/insignia/shoulder.html

Kinchele, J. L. (2008). Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction. Springer.

Thomas, P. L. & Kincheloe, J. L. (2006). Reading, Writing, and Thinking: The Postformal Basics. Rotterdam: Sense.

LucyFishArt.com (2009). True Love Knot. Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://www.luckyfishart.com/trueloveknot.html

Wowamulets.com (2009). Yin Yang. Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://www.wowamulets.com/Protection-Talisman-Lucky-Eye-and-Yin-yang-Red-Jade-Keychain-1.html

"Call me crazy" (Joe said that to me once, lol. Of course, he was keeping his sense of humor surrounding the lack of understanding people had about his bricolage theory) so call me crazy, but I am on some sort of mission that is yet to be defined. It is a good and worthy mission, however, and derives out of love for the world and all of the people in it. That is my announcement for today and about all I can say about it. We never use blueprints or instructions or linear directions because there are too many complexities for any of those things to work. I just take someone's hand who I really cannot see and go with the flow with the understanding that there truly is a worthy mission here if I just sort of follow along with the tasks that get set before me. It becomes like putting together puzzle pieces. Joe would describe it as bricklaying or being a handyman using whatever tools are available -- in the same manner that his conceptualization would have us building knowledge through the bricolage using and synthesizing multiple perspectives (Kincheloe, 2008a; Kincheloe & Berry, 2004). Or as he also once described it to me, we might view this process as cubist artwork which has us looking from all different angles, yet it all works together in the end and you know what you have ended up with when you stop. Of course, Joe also pointed out there really is no ending, or as he put it, "The Conclusion Is Just the Beginning" (Kincheloe, 2008b, p. 227).

Engaging in the process of a mission is much the same. We are taking it moment by moment and using the improvisational technique of the bricolage and incorporating multiple perspectives with many interpretations as we blaze our trail during this mission. The trail might go in any direction at any given point in socially constructed time. I am very happy that I have picked up a few people to accompany me along the way and I hope more will join me. I started out alone, or so I thought. Now I have many loved ones supporting me on this mission, even though some of them have more information and cannot share it with me. I understand that some information is to remain hidden at least for the time-being, but that is for a good purpose, not a bad purpose, and so that makes it all ok.

Anyway, I am glad that I have many loved ones supporting me and that Daniel, Keenan, Kathi, Jennifer, Jason, Kristin, Darrick, Leta, Andrew, Grandfather, Grandmother, and many others are behind this mission, whatever it turns out to be. I have been informed that the mission is evolving rather than being planned, and that I am to just go with the flow, keep lots of faith, and to begin writing here every single day, at least M-F at 6AM. I will see if I can live up to that. I will make that attempt tomorrow and each and every morning providing I can get up that early.

Have a great day!
Vanessa

References

Joe Kincheloe, personal dialogue

Kincheloe, J. L. (2008a). Critcal Pedagogy Primer (2nd ed.). New York: Peter Lang.

Kincheloe, J. L. (2008b). Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction. Springer.

Kincheloe, J. L. & Berry, K. S. (2004). Rigour and Complexity in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the Bricolage. New York: Open University Press.

Phoenix photo courtesy of Microsoft

You guys are ANGELS!!! Soul mates. I just KNEW it! I am so excited. Keenan, you are my soul brother. And Daniel, my soul pupil...maybe you remember. Thank you so much for coming into my life to help me with the mission. You will be richly blessed, I am sure. I hope as richly blessed as I am having you two in my life. Mucho mucho gracias...

 

 

 

 

 

 

THESE SONGS ARE DEDICATED TO YOU, KEENAN & DANIEL