I discovered he has a really great sense of humor and he and
his video game programming friends speak a different language. I learned that
his friends give him support on creative treks. They discuss the pros and cons
of newly released games and the broken codes in them. They share industry talk
and information. They compare the companies they work for and the jobs they
have. They are completely wide open and raw about who they are and where their
place is in the world. I have learned a lot about my son’s abilities to
successfully function in the world. And all of this blossomed in front of me because
of Facebook. I don’t think I would have been so at ease about him being away at
school if I had to rely on only a landline phone as in years gone by.
As for me, it’s been nice to find lost friends. I left my
home in San Francisco and the opportunity of bumping into someone decreases
when you leave your home base. So catching up with people has been fun. But I
don’t post or check Facebook often. I don’t play any of those games either. Who
has time for all of that? I am not here to have fun. I don’t have time for fun.
When this program asked us to do a video biography I was
fine with that. Then we were asked to post that video on the web. I was a
little upset. We hadn’t been told we would put it out there publicly. I would
have done things a bit differently had I known it would be public. I can do it
over, but again, time is a big factor, and when can I find it? Over the last
couple of months, every time I was asked to post something, I had to stop,
pause and think. Then I would tell myself it was fine and post it. I am now
just posting. Writing a blog? Here we go again, pushing my limits. Stop it Full
Sail, you are tiring me out. The in-fighting in my brain is getting too loud.
Now I see almost everywhere on the web, “sign-in using
Facebook”. I really don’t like that. I don’t want to be so intertwined and
totally connected to everything, or have Corporate America track me. I feel
some of the evolution of the web has lead to some very real concerns about
civil liberties, protection of speech, and invasion of privacy. We have seen
too many examples about the possibility of losing your job as a teacher because
you are exercising your constitutional right to free speech. America holds
teachers to an 18th century set of standards and morals. The entire
world has moved ahead except the educational system. We are still operating in
the dark ages.
I am adjusting to the invasion of my privacy from the EMDT
program. I am trying to over come my suspicion of the wide openness of the
Internet. We are asked to do projects and then let the entire world view it. I
am old school and I step lightly and cautiously as I venture out into the
unknown. I am starting to have fun again.
I hesitated when asked to be creative, I was scared, unsure
and thought, I can’t do this and they want me to advertise that by posting it
“out-there”. Then I started really
playing with the tools and low and behold, from somewhere down deep
un-squishing happened. I started to remember I was a creative individual and I
had done great projects in the way-back time.
The educational system I have been working in lately had
squished the creative right out of me. Full Sail has forced me to pull the
other me out into the light and jump into the public community of the web. I am
trying more and more tools and producing creative material. I am rediscovering
who I was, who I am and I am curious about who I will become.
Photo from Microsoft Office Images
I am becoming more confident now and it is getting easier to
expose myself. So I fly through cyberspace, feeling naked, but getting over it.
I am joining a community of wonderful interconnected learners and, I think I
may be having fun!
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