A Framed Copy of an Article in the Community Section of the Houston Chronicle, October 2006
What began as the “Reading Series” at Montgomery College in 1993 evolved to become the “Writers In Performance” series conducted by the Montgomery County Literary Arts Council (MCLAC). Over the years, many local poets, as well as national poets, have read their poetry at Montgomery College. Since moving to Tucson 12 years ago, I haven’t had too many opportunities to attend the series, which continues under the leadership of Cliff Hudder and Dave Parsons.
A ’70s Self‑Portrait (At my desk at Southern Illinois University.) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
In the early 1970s, I worked on a grant program called Career Development for Children Project (CDCP). The project’s core theses were founded on the concept of an educational serving the community through direct attention to individual citizens’ needs and goals. It intended to refocus the learning and related services of public education toward the individual’s development.
In the early 1970s, I worked with Dr. Larry J. Bailey, my friend, and mentor, on the Career Development for Children Project (CDCP). Several of us worked on the project to produced a career development curriculum for elementary school children. In 1973 I went to work at McKnight Publishing Company to help produce project materials. Career development is not obtaining knowledge in preparation for living, but rather it is a process of experiencing living.
Before leaving CDCP, I prepared a paper titled, “A Theory of the Functional Self.” The paper reviewed self-theory that explores self a being a product of social interactions. From this theory, we have seen that self-information is a developmental process that takes place within the social system. A social system may be a peer group, a single classroom, school, community, occupational establishment, or any other organized group of individuals.
It is also assumed that a social system has two dimensions, the individual and the institution, and the patterns resulting from the interaction of these dimensions are social behavior. The individual’s inferences from his behavior define his self-concept, and a self-concept that has career relevance is the functional self.
The functional self, like the self-concept, is a self-process, a process of being and becoming. It is the functional self’s developmental process that should enable educators to develop a process career developmental curriculum, rather than a content occupational information curriculum. Career development is not obtaining knowledge in preparation for a living; rather, it is a process of experiencing living.
— kenne
“I think every man is his own Pygmalion and spends his life fashioning himself. And in fashioning himself, for good or ill, he fashions the human race and its future.”
What made Joe the best boss ever, he didn’t insist on you always agreeing with him. He once said to me, “Kenne, you know what your problem is, you’re too damn argumentative.” A characteristic that may have created some enemies, but not with Joe. He was one of the most self-assured, understanding people I’ve ever known. We both continued to work together after retirement — a true friend.
Equity and Excellence (Bydee People) by Brian Joseph the Bydee Man
In 1994 I was attending an education conference in Austin, Texas.
While there at the conference I met a local artist, Brian Joseph
and through him, became aware of the fun-loving, happy Bydee People —
Bring You Delightful and Entering Experiences.
His message to the educators is “Equity and Excellence.”
Beyond the challenge
We must teach our children
That each one is special
As we provide equity
For their excellence.
“Thank Heaven For Little Girls” (Hoping they grow up with an appreciation and respect for nature.)
— Image by Their Classroom Teacher
“Thank heaven for little girls
Thank heaven for them all
No matter where,
No matter who
Without them
What would little boys do
Thank heaven
Thank heaven
Thank heaven for little girls.”
— from Thank Heaven For Little Girls by Alan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe
When Earth’s last picture is painted, And the tubes are twisted and dried, When the oldest colors have faded, And the youngest critic has died, We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it — Lie down for an eon or two, ‘Till the Master of all good workmen Shall put us to work anew!
And those that were good shall be happy They’ll sit in a golden chair; They’ll splash at a ten-league canvas With brushes of comet’s hair; They’ll find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter, and Paul; They’ll work for an age at a sitting And never be tired at all!
And only the Master shall praise us, And only the Master shall blame; And no one will work for the money. No one will work for the fame. But each for the joy of the working, And each, in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It. For the God of Things as They Are!
“That’s Super Stuff!” “Make Stuff” “I Love Free Stuff” “The Good Stuff” “My Stuff” “Stuff in My Life” “Stuff That Works”
“The Right Stuff”
“How’s Your Stuff?”
There are so many variations on the use of the word stuff. This last May we attended the last “Ken and Mary’s Blues Project” house concert in Porter, Texas. Before the music started, Kenneth Harris told the story of how the Project came about from his listening to Sunday blues on Houston’s KPFT. One Sunday he was listening to Nuri Nuri’s Blues Brunch.
“. . . he [Nuri] was interviewing this guy, and they played some of his stuff, and I called Nuri on the phone, and I said Nuri do you know anybody in the Houston area that can do that type of stuff, and he told me you meet me at Billy Blue’s like next Saturday night.”
Long story short, Kenneth found that stuff in the form of the Moe Hansum Band.
As I listen to Kenneth’s story I couldn’t help but think of Guy Clark’s “Stuff that Works.”
Stuff that works, stuff that holds up The kind of stuff you don’ hang on the wall Stuff that’ real, stuff you feel The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall
Continuing on this theme of “Stuff,” in the 1970’s there was a jazz-funk band called “Stuff.” The members were Gordon Edwards (bass), Richard Tee (keyboards), Eric Gale (guitar), Cornell Dupree (guitar), Chris Parker (drums), and later Steve Gadd (drums).
There is good stuff and not so good stuff, because of what we do with our stuff. We have too much stuff. Earth’s beauty is being scarred by the stuff we throw away daily. As someone who spends a lot of time outdoors admiring nature’s beauty, I see stuff on our trails, hanging in trees, blowing in the wind, in our lakes and streams.
In December of 2007, a short documentary was released. The documentary was critical of excessive consumerism and promotes sustainability, which has gone from a movie to a movement over the last ten years — a Community of more than a million changemakers worldwide, working to build a more healthy and just planet. This land is our land! You can join the movement.
Somewhere in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Continuing the Process of Becoming
I may not know where the trail leads, which is what inspires me to take it.
Knowing and Not-Knowing
We are all concerned with our competence and the competence of others. Most people are interested in being more competent and surrounding themselves with competent people. The key to our level of competence is our level of knowledge.
In Zen practice, knowledge involves the interplay between knowing and not-knowing. However, it is crucial not to conclude that not-knowing means you don’t know. On the contrary, not-knowing means not being limited to what you know.
Maybe things are this way, but perhaps they are not. (Philosophically, it can be important to help people realize what they do not know is a necessary part of knowledge. But such a paradoxical thought, from a learning and teaching point of view, is confronted with the inarticulate expertise of not knowing that you know is a dead end. Thus, we are left with the only position for developing competence being that of knowing what you know.)
Accessing information can help us cultivate our interplay between knowing and not-knowing. As an information seeker and frequent Internet search person, I know we can find information on all things thinkable. Today we have access to more information than ever before, but not all information is reliable.
I shared some thoughts on “Teaching in the Age of Google in an earlier blog entry.” So, if you have a question, want to know how to do something; like to learn how something works; or research a topic, well, just “Google It!” But, how do we determine who are the reliable authorities?
Panning for Garnets In Sabino Canyon Creek — Imaged by kenne
(Click on any of the tiled images for larger view in a slideshow format.)
The Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists will be conducting the final week of the spring semester for Elementary School children in Sabino Canyon. It has been another great year for the national award winning program, now in its 40th year.
On Thursday of this past week, Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists were teaching two first grade classes about predator and prey in a program we call “Now You See It.” My responsibility for the month of April is to coordinate the Thursday schedule with the teachers. Once the children are in the canyon, my job is one of “managing by walking around.”
While in the riparian area near the creek and dam I could hear a nearby cooper’s hawk. Following the sound, I spotted him on a dead limb high above the creek where he had caught a small bird. What a “real time” example of predator and prey for the day’s lesson. What follows are images and a video of the encounter, which I shared with the children.
— kenne
(Click on any of the tiled images for a larger view in a slideshow format.)
Cooper’s Hawk Images and Video by kenne
Predator And Prey — Cooper’s Hawk
The varying modes of flight exhibited by our diurnal birds of prey have always been to me a subject of great interest, especially as by means of them I have found myself enabled to distinguish one species from another, to the farthest extent of my power of vision.
This little guy is not normally found here in the winter months. When spotted near the top of a mesquite tree, he didn’t seem to be bothered by our large group of nature walkers. Even so, I was reluctant to move around nearer to him for a better angle since others were enjoying the view.
This week’s Presidential election has reminded me of Marshall McLuhan’s trademark, “The Medium In the Message.” From it, I recall his belief that we go through life looking through the rear-view mirror, and becoming aware of our environment only after we have left it and that what is communicated doesn’t count as much as how it is delivered.
Of course, the medium that exists today is much different than that of the sixties, they still alter our sensory life, therefore what we know. As a result, our society is like the driver who sees neither ahead to the future nor outside the side window to the present but looks only to the past in the rear-view mirror — “Make America great again.”
McLuhan believed that education must serve as a defense to the media fallout. He likened our society to the mariner in Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “A Descent Into the Maelstrom.” The mariner is caught in a whirlpool, but he figures out the relative velocities of currents and saves himself. The question remains whether, as a society, we are educated enough to save ourselves.
“TIME FOR MORE ACTION”
January 17, 2003, Peace Demonstration In Houston, Texas — Photo by Joy
In some ways, I feel as if I may have been in a trance these past eight years, kind of a passive free feeling. It’s now time to stand. Social justice, like art, requires an effort. It’s time for those who have half a heart for poetry, half for life to stand for truth. Those who have continued learning and have been sharpening our weapons by night to clear their throats and stand, becoming the voices of truth.
Equity and Excellence (Bydee People) by Brian Joseph the 
“Thank Heaven For Little Girls” (Hoping they grow up with an appreciation and respect for nature.)
Soleri Figure Geometriche — Computer Art by kenne
Kenneth Harris (May 20, 2017) — Image by kenne
Children, a Stream, and Connecting with Nature — Computer Art by kenne
Somewhere in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Continuing the Process of Becoming
Verdin (Sabino Canyon, January 3, 2017) — Image by kenne
“Self-Portrait” — Image by kenne
“TIME FOR MORE ACTION”
Becoming is Superior to Being 