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Where Your Deep Gladness and the World’s Deep Hunger Meet
This was made with love in Procreate, January—March 2021. [Note: You can now paint 3D models in Procreate 5.2!] The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. – Frederick Buechner. Walter Brueggemann had this to say about Buechner: “Buechner uses words with such transformative power that any comment on them is like the moon palely reflecting the sun.” A writer uses words; a painter his strokes and colors. As a designer of learning experiences, I want my design works…
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Latest Read: Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro)
Since graduate school, I’ve read mostly non-fiction books. Fiction is a genre I’ve returned to lately because I remember how they stretch my thinking and spur my imagination. It was what I would read as a child. Those reading days were formative times, and I want to say they contributed to making me who I am today. Thank you, ma, for bringing me to the public libraries, and borrowing English books for me even when you didn’t understand English. You are the best mom, and I miss you so much.…
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Olafur Eliasson: Nuggets from The Art of Design (Netflix Design Series)
Where have I been?!? I just discovered Olafur Eliasson, the great Danish-Icelandic installation artist, by watching the first of the Netflix series, Abstract: The Art of Design. Here are some quotes from the show: Carol Becker, Professor of Arts and Dean of Faculty at Columbia University School of the Arts, about Olafur’s installation, The New York City Waterfalls: He must be so sure of his ideas to take that risk. Her words made me think about my ideas. Am I confident about my vision? How confident am I or do…
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The Joke’s On Them
You’re feeling nervous, aren’t you, boy? With your quiet voice and impeccable style Don’t ever let them steal your joy And your gentle ways To keep ’em from running wild They can kick dirt in your face Dress you down, and tell you that your place Is in the middle, when they hate the way you shine I see you tugging on your shirt Trying to hide inside of it And hide how much it hurts Let ’em laugh while they can Let ’em spin, let ’em scatter in the…
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About That Poster Presentation at AECT 2019
If you had read my previous post, you’d know I was heading to Las Vegas to meet up with my virtual friend and collaborator at AECT 2019. And we met! It was unreal and real, to us, and to those who had heard of our story in my previous post. At the poster gallery walk, some folks seemed more incredulous of our partnership across space and time (without having met at all in person) than they were of our poster. Of course, the poster received a lot of traction…
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Anti-Spam Poetry Relay
The ginger ale teemsFrothing over First the counterThen dinky ash carpet Panic nag ensuesFrom Bob, rainy wet stoopHe stands , soddy hidFrom ha! Heated digs Quick call to Dr. PragueEerie fix-ers of carpet Whisk him forthSings mod roomie Thanks to Charlene Doland for the use of her blog to generate anti-spam phrases for this poem.
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Art vs Access: Thoughts on the Art of Making Beautiful Boy
Yesterday was the final showing of Beautiful Boy at a local arthouse movie theater here. I HAD to catch the movie. I couldn’t let it end its brief run here without making an effort. I had read Beautiful Boy (by David Sheff) and some of Tweak (by Nick Sheff) to prepare myself to watch the movie. (P.S. I also cared about the message of the film, of course.) Does that sound odd? Maybe it does –sound somewhat odd. It’s that chicken or egg argument. Do you watch a movie first to enjoy…
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Arts-Based Research, Post Qualitative Deleuzian Inquiry, and Other Vignettes from ICQI 2018
[Marj (aka Marjorie DeVault) was my dissertation supervisor.] Dear Marj, I attended my first International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry last week. It’s been a while, you know, since you last told me that ICQI takes place right at my doorstep, on my campus. I finally took the plunge and attended some sessions while juggling a busy work schedule. The opening keynote was a call to action; a call to resist and experiment using critical qualitative inquiry in these troubled times. Bronwyn Davies and Karen Staller spoke eloquently about the “spectacle” we…
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The Hundred is There: Sunday Play
A hundred, always a hundred ways of listening of marveling, of loving a hundred joys for singing and understanding a hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream. – Loris Malaguzzi Note: It took me 3 Sundays to finish this. I’m not liking the medium as much as pastel because it was hard to get the values and hues right. But it was fun. So I’m not going to beat myself down. I didn’t paint the ring – it was too complex, or maybe…
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In Dying We Live: Thoughts on When Breath Becomes Air
When Breath Becomes Air written by Dr. Paul Kalanithi is a magnificent book. It’s so powerful and deep that it made me want to write about it. As some of you may know, not many things or ideas can move me to blog these days due to my hectic schedule. Thank you, Dr. Kalanithi. I first came across his book in 2016 when I was at the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Singapore. I started reading the first chapter there and knew that I would buy this book and finish it. It took more…
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“Beautifying” Slides
I have some resistance to that phrase, hence the inspiration for my reflection today. It carries some connotation that the work is meaningless (this may not be the intent of the speakers) and that is not what I’m doing or my intent. Part of my job as an online ID involves reviewing slides that instructors use in their videos. My review entails looking at all dimensions of slide design, not so much the content, but I try to check if the phrasing is understandable to me, the outsider. At times, I create icons and graphs that don’t…
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For Papa
Two years ago today, you left us suddenly. We miss you, papa. I often hear you hum and sing this old Chinese pop song vividly in my mind. So, in your honor, I played it on the guzheng (Chinese zither). I’m not good at it; I’m just an amateur, who hasn’t played for the last 20 years. It’s not the best version, but it’s MY best effort, thus far. I hope you enjoy it, with mama. The night is dark and obscure , it covers the expanse At the horizon, the…
