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New Directions in Virtual Space
This will be a short post. I just want to say … This city girl is back in the city! Yes, I’m in Singapore, my birth country. To keep being connected to my learning network, I try to tweet and stay in touch with as many Twitter pals as I can. It wasn’t and hasn’t been easy. Due to some home renovation, I had no electricity and water for a few days. I still have no kitchen cabinets or a sink to wash dishes. I have 2 bathrooms though and…
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Global Citizenship & the Embodiment of Connected Learning
Venue: FedEx office. Yin: How much will it cost to ship this to Singapore? FedEx: Where is Singapore? In China? Although I’ve heard such comments before, repeatedly, it doesn’t mean I will get used to it. The truth is a majority of Americans do not own passports nor do international travel. More than half of the American population can’t travel to Canada or any other country in the world. If we analyze the numbers state by state, “the state with the highest percentage (of passport holders) was New Jersey with 62%, followed…
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A Time to Mourn: Farewell Mr Lee Kuan Yew
There are commentaries expressing surprise at why many Singaporeans are grieving so visibly and in several instances, unselfishly, at the passing of our former Prime Minister, and founding father, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Is human identity ever a simple concept, let alone national identity? Singaporeans are a highly hybridized and still hybridizing people. We grieve the loss of the past, the pain of the present, the perplexity of the future, and more that we don’t understand or can’t even articulate. Mr Lee connects me to my entire life, one that…
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Photowalks
The above two photos were taken on July 30, 2014, on my first photo safari with my colleagues. The next 4 were taken on January 16, 2015 with my new colleagues, Emma and Max, with Tom leading. All photos were taken using my Samsung Galaxy phone. I find this throne-like chair that is blocking the doorway curious. I have a penchant for snapping pictures of trees — blooming, withered, snarling. They are easily symbols of life and death. Architecture is another fave subject. “Don’t they all look the same after…
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The Canvas Babe
Once, there was a little girl who slept on a white canvas bed with wooden legs. Every morning, she woke up and made her own bed. She folded the white canvas bed and leaned it against the bedroom wall. She also liked to sing and dance. One day, she came home from dancing in a school concert. Her teacher had made up her face with some pretty colors — blue on her eyelids, orange on her cheeks and red on her lips. She saw papa talking to a man…
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Smiles of a Summer Day
[Blog title inspired by Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, adapted from Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night] Curiosity, yes (What a story one could write using this picture prompt!). But more so, gratitude. Moments of beauty and curiosity have ways of showing up when they are the least likely qualities I’m holding in my heart. Driving home from Syracuse University, we stopped to unfurl(?) — our folded bodies contorted within our sedan for some hours and to have a bite. Walking into the woody rest area, I espied…
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Online Icebreaker: A Life Story Album Cover
As an online introduction, Tina Seelig invited us — participants in her MOOC — to design an album cover of our lives to construct a narrative of who we are. Add to that the creation of a 10-song playlist, fictional or actual songs, and we’ll get some bonus points. I created two album covers. Which one do you think I submitted? A or B? I think these ideas are excellent as icebreakers in online teaching. They afford students multiple means to participate in course conversations. It helped me to reflect,…
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Enduring Passion: Letters to a Young Scientist
I became aware of this book by Edward O. Wilson in early August 2013. I had participated in the Arts and Passion-Driven-Learning Summer Institute. During the Opening Concert, Yo-Yo Ma (yes, the world-renowned cellist) read a few lines from the book on stage: [P]ut passion ahead of training… Decision and hard work based on enduring passion will never fail you. [Wilson, 2013, p. 25] Intrigued, I returned home from Cambridge, MA, determined to read the book. Fast forward two months. I’ve finished reading the book out of a pile of…
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Another Year Beckons
Adieu, 2010, and salut, 2011. The year was packed with several academic accomplishments. I leaped onto the treadmill of dissertation writing, hitherto a much longed-for state. Now, I’m decidedly less sure if it’s the magical playground I had so desired, just like Narnia is to Lucy and Edmund. The thought of reading Lewis’ Chronicles stirs up greater excitement in me. Perchance I might move past this fog I seem to be suspended in? The drudgery of it all is that I have to distill exactly what I’m studying, yet again…
