The Purpose of Gossip

by Aiona

During the past week Ann and Sylvia organized a couple of our morning trainings around the theme of sexual harassment, which brought up some interesting responses from a few people, myself included, about harassment in general, and teasing in particular. Then, this weekend, I read an interesting article in Scientific American Mind about the purpose of gossip, teasing included, called Is Gossip Always Bad.

The short of it is, no, gossip has a real evolutionary purpose and that’s why everyone does it. The idea that impressed me the most is that the threat of gossip and teasing can act as a negative incentive for acting outside of the implicitly aggreed upon group norms. It’s a strategy for keeping people from acting in ways that negatively impact the group, or that allow one person to dominate. In this way, small communities encourage altruistic behavior and prevent power hierarchies.

Do we do this in our group? Absolutely. As an explainer I am very clear on the fact that I will be ridiculed and humiliated until my ego is ground into the dirt if I do not behave myself. It’s actually a very effective system, and not a negative one if it promotes healthy values. So here’s the real question I have. Please help me answer it if you have some thoughts”:

What group values are we reinforcing through this system?

Adult Curiosity

by Aiona

I’ve been thinking lately about what it means to grow up, because I feel like I have spent most of my life wishing that I was bigger and older, that I was more knowledgeable and mature, and now, as I see that transformation actually taking place, I turn around, look back, and am suddenly afraid of losing my child-like wonder and trust.

Ryan’s quote by Kurt Vonnegut inspired a reaction in me, because I think I have a tendency to hold up “childlike playfulness” as an ideal without really understanding what it means. Sometimes I interpret it as the ability to spend hours transfixed by a few blocks or a bouncy ball, to approach a simple object with fathomless curiosity. When I fail to do this, and become bored, it feels like it is because I have lost some critical part of my soul, and am already on my way to becoming one of those terrifyingly dull and unimaginative adults.

What I forget, when I start thinking like this, is that children are approaching many experiences from a fundamentally different point of view. That child playing with a bouncy ball might be playing with one for the very first time. When I play with a ball, it’s a relatively familiar and predictable object, but if it were the first time ever, of course I would be enthralled.

I believe that as an adult I have retained the same curiosity for novel experiences that fueled my playfulness as a child, it’s just that as more of the world becomes familiar, I have to travel further and deeper to find that edge into the unknown. That edge is where I play.

Inspirational Quote

by ryan

As I was doing some research for my thesis this morning, I came across this quote by the late, great author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and felt like I had to share it with you all.

“…the two most potent spiritual forces

in contention today

have nothing to do with nations,

political parties,

or economic philosophies.

The opposing forces are these:

those who enjoy childlike play-fullness

when they become adults

and those who don’t.”

-Kurt Vonnegut

Shocking Roof Secrets Revealed

by ryan

On Friday, a few of us lucky souls, still ‘working’ at 4:00, got to hang out up on the roof of the Exploratorium to check out the fleet week Blue Angels show. It was a pretty scary climb up the ladder, but at least I knew that if I slipped, Marcus would break my fall with his body.

Once we got to the top of the building. We noticed that it was pretty big and covered in gravel. There’s a lot of space up there. It’s not a living roof, but it would probably be a pretty good place to run laps for a workout.

One of the coolest things that we saw up there was the start of the Sun Painting Exhibit. There are two mirrors which have to be adjusted every day to get the correct angle of sun reflected down into the building. We had to watch out for that trap door next to it.

There were some other exhibits up there too like the refraction patterns that create rainbow patterns on the walls, satellite dishes, and this weather monitor set up for research.

Then we turned the corner and saw the secret jacuzzi. Unfortunately our camera ran out of batteries right then and we didn’t get to take a picture. It was pretty nice though.

More Smashing

by Ann Bartkowski

Since I was home sick from work last week, I spent an inordinate amount of time watching TV (aka The Discovery Channel).  I got super excited every time they played this commercial for their new show, Time Warp, which reminds me of Smashbat.  My favorite part is when the green balloon explodes on the dude’s face.  What do you think? I mean, it’s no Gladiators, but I want to watch it.

Boredom

by Aiona

So basically I consider it a fundamental responsibility in my job to inspire curiosity in those around me. On days when my mind has just discovered amazing new things about the world around me, and is reeling in expanses of new inspirational territory, this is easy. That’s not what I want to write about. What do you do on days when you are in training, and it feels like it’s exactly the same thing you’ve seen three times before, and you already know everything that’s being said, and your eyes start to glaze over, and with pangs of guilt and frustration you are forced to admit that you are bored? At first I struggle to pay attention. I pinch myself to stay alert, but in the end this is not a successful strategy. I’ve thought a lot about what are better strategies, and here is what I came up with.

Prerequisite: Admit that you are bored. Take a deep breath. Forgive yourself.

Strategy #1: Facilitate Others’ Learning
If you are working in a small group or with a partner this is not too hard. You can help by structuring the exploration or you can show off your knowledge to your friends. If there is a large group, you can help by asking questions that you think might be getting left out. Warning: beware of overloading the group with cool facts. They will probably just dislike you for being a know-it-all. Instead, ask guiding questions. If you already know the answer to the question you are asking, practice humility by pretending you don’t know.

Strategy #2: Meta Analyze the Situation
If you are in a particularly postmodern mood you can jump up a level in analysis. Instead of focusing on whatever it is the group is focused on, focus on the group being focused on it. How does the facilitator lead the exploration? What works and what doesn’t? Are other people interested? What kinds of questions are they asking? What kinds of strategies are they using? How can you apply these techniques later? Are any of them meta analyzing your behavior?

Strategy #3: Ask Advanced Questions
This is best done in your own head I think, or on a piece of paper. Start asking yourself more advanced questions about the topic. Write them down to answer them later, or try to work them out in your head. Sometimes the things you come up with will be interesting to the group later on. Warning: This is essentially just a directed form of day dreaming. You are checking out of the current situation to find refuge from your boredom in your own mind, but in certain circumstances I think it is okay, and will often, eventually, lead you back into the exploration at hand with a deeper feeling of curiosity.

Strategy #4: Meditate
When all else fails, allow yourself to simply exist. Focusing on your breath, and then perhaps moving on to some loving kindness meditation, will help you feel more relaxed and more capable of simply enjoying the beautiful learning process that others are going through. Maybe this particular morning is just not something that you are going to get a lot out of, and that’s okay. Letting go of your attachment to constant stimulation is a central theme in Buddhism. Take this moment to recognize your attachment and let go.

That’s it for now friends. Please add your own strategies for dealing with boredom. I would love to hear them.

Smash Bat Fever

by ryan

I picked up the newspaper this morning and turned to the magazine and saw this awesome picture of a cob of corn being pulverized. I thought to me self that that looks very similar to the smash bat gallery that Walter and Luigi created. Since they just got interviewed by MAKE TV, I guess this is the hottest new thing in photography.

Check out Luigi’s new gallery on Flickr for more pictures of exploded fruits and veg.  Here’s the link to his flickr page! And while the photographer with the cover shot, Martin Klimas, “is somewhat guarded about his technique”, the instructions for how to make your very own LuiWal Slugger can be found here and here

Sand Drawing Board

by ryan

Here are some of the best pics from our trial run with the sand last Monday! Hopefully we can make some really cool patterns next week on the floor!