A few months ago my friend Scott wrote about compliments.  In his post, he referenced the saying “Gratitude is the best attitude.” As Scott notes in his post, this world is full of a lot of complaints. Those of us in the teaching and service professions often absorb quite a bit of blame and frustration – not only from individuals but from media and the public at large.  Sometimes fielding those frustrations can get you down. I’ve learned so much and developed strategies for understanding and dealing with these scenarios (both personally and professionally) over the years.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m still working on these strategies, it’s a constant self-reflective learning process.

Yesterday, I returned to my office on campus after being away with our overseas program for several weeks.  In my mailbox was a hand addressed letter.  This is not extraordinarily uncommon as sometimes transcripts or bills/invoices come in a handwritten envelope.  When I opened the letter, my eyes welled with tears – tears of humility and appreciation. The letter was from an Irish teacher who had attended the #GREAT12 conference which was put on by our Year 2 MAET students in Dublin.  Here is a small snippet from the letter:

I immediately scanned the letter and passed it on to the overseas students in our Facebook group – and the expressions of appreciation and joy continued there, brightening the days of our students from every corner of the globe who worked so hard to put on a large-scale educational technology conference for their peers and the educational public at large in Ireland within a short 2 week time frame. This was a task that at times, felt insurmountable/impossible and was (as you can imagine) a very stressful endeavor for the conference organizers.  Thank YOU @john_heeney for refilling our proverbial buckets of emotion with the gift of appreciation.

So, a few days ago I got a tattoo.

I have no other tattoos – I have been thinking of this one for over 7 years.  One night while hanging out with friends we were discussing what we would get if we ever got a tattoo – my friend Brad said “think of something that you would never ever want changed for your entire life.” Right then, the idea for a creative commons tattoo was born.  I have been thinking about it ever since our conversation many years ago and I told myself if and when I finished my Phd (which I did, yeah!) I would get the tattoo.

The only person I would trust with giving me a tattoo is Jeff Bates. I met Jeff over 12 years ago when Scott and I first moved into our house. Jeff (and his awesome wife Tra) were friends with our roommate Ken. Facebook has allowed us to peer into each others lives for the past several years and I have followed Jeff’s work on the page for his shop – 51 Tattoo – he did an amazing job and I highly recommend his work!

There are 3 symbols inked into my foot  – the creative commons logo, by attribution, and share alike. Many people have asked me what they mean…

What is creative commons?

Creative Commons Mission
Creative Commons develops, supports, and stewards legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.

Creative Commons Vision
Our vision is nothing less than realizing the full potential of the Internet — universal access to research and education, full participation in culture — to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity.

By attribution means that you let others copy, distribute, display and perform your copyrighted work – and derivative works based upon it – but only if they give credit the way you require.

Share Alike – means you allow other to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

The creative commons is something that is very, very meaningful to me (thus the indelible ink.)  I have made amazing connections to others via technologies born from Creative Commons.  By sharing my work, my photographs have made it to the Freakonomics blog, the Guardian blog in the UK, and the Pure Michigan blog. Since I am aware of my wider audience and I have learned so much about photography by sharing my photos with others. I create assignments using the Creative Commons – and on and on – it’s what I do and what I will continue to do.  The open network and the platforms upon which the network is built (like WordPress) inspire me and I hope I can contribute and give back a portion of what has been given to me.

While I was getting my tattoo, Jeff said the best kind of tattoos are the ones that start a conversation and he thought mine was one of those tattoos – I’m looking forward to many more conversations about the Creative Commons :)

To learn more, you can read (and remix, reuse) Larry Lessig’s books on free culture and the Creative Commons:

The Future of Ideas – http://www.the-future-of-ideas.com
Free Culture – http://www.free-culture.cc/
Remix – http://www.scribd.com/doc/47089238/Remix

I also credit Yochai Benkler’s the Weath of Networks for deepening my understanding of creative culture and open content.

 

In June 2006, I stepped foot on my first international flight. I flew from Detroit Metro to London Heathrow to teach with the Master of Arts in Educational Technology overseas program in Plymouth, England. I was 30 years old and the extent of my international travel was a Nova Scotia to Vancouver road trip (in 2 parts) with my husband.

After I landed in London, I had to rent a car (a tiny Nissan Micra) and drive 4 hours from Heathrow to Plymouth. This was pre-GPS/international data plan days and I had a Great Britian Atlas and a Google maps print out of the step-by-step directions. I hadn’t slept much on the plane but was so pumped and excited at my new found freedom and exploration skills that I drove that little Micra, on the wrong side of the road (for me), all the way to Plymouth.

Eventually I made my way to the Bowling Green Hotel and parked in the tiny parking space, not far from the infamous Plymouth Hoe.

After I parked my car, I dropped my bags and walked down to the Hoe and was greeted by the explorer Sir Francis Drake.

After 2006 I returned to Plymouth for 4 consecutive summers to teach with the MAET program, each summer getting to know the West Country more and more intimately.

Fast forward 6 years – I have many other countries and adventures under my belt, and I’m waiting at the airport to return to Plymouth to present at PELeCON 2012. I know I will not have the time to revisit all of my favorite places on this brief adventure – but – I am beyond excited to return to a place in this world that holds a very special place in my heart.

Just received a really nice little surprise in the mail:

It’s a “welcome to the family packet” from Fiat. I immediately noticed that the package the packet came in was the same color as my car (really nice touch, bonus points for attention to detail!) Inside the packet is some information about the history of the Fiat 500 and a Fiat branded USB dongle that collects data from my car that I can upload to Eco:drive. HOW COOL is that? The Fiat is not in the “luxury car” category, however, in all of my experiences with Fiat so far (purchase, maintenance, this packet) have made me feel like I’m appreciated as a customer, part of a larger experience and certainly luxurious.

It really has me thinking about the “value added” things we do for our MAET students – I need to brainstorm ways to take it to the next level so they feel the same connection/appreciation I just felt from Fiat.  (Suggestions welcome!!)

Lately I have been feeling quite down and defeated. I have emailed and called my legislators, signed petitions, to what feels like no avail. While I was at SXSW a few weeks ago, I had the chance to hear U.S. Sen. Al Franken speak on Net Neutrality. While this issue is not directly related to the NWP funding crisis, Sen. Franken did inspire me (and I believe many others in the crowd) that if we are passionate about an issue, we need to continue to speak up – it does make a difference. I can’t sit idly by – so I’m taking a few minutes to #blog4nwp during my lunch hour today.

Spend two minutes on the NWP website and you’ll immediately see how deep and wide the National Writing Project runs – http://www.nwp.org

The recently launched Digital Is site – http://digitalis.nwp.org is a groundbreaking repository for teaching. While it is “a collection of ideas, reflections, and stories about what it means to teach writing in our digital, interconnected world” the site goes well beyond the “traditional writing classroom” and serves as a cross curricular resource for any teacher – PK-12 and beyond.

My PLN (Personal Learning Network) on twitter is composed of several NWP alumni and champions (to name a few @yoopertechgeek@paulallison @poh @pkittle @MrChase @erinwilkey @budtheteacher @paulawhite @AWhite100 @kchichester @AprilJNiemela@CBethM @MsEstep @mrami2 @AndreaZellner @miztech @hickstro) While I may not interact with these individuals on a daily basis, their expertise and “lens” provided by their work with NWP enriches my own writing and scholarship.

Others interested in supporting the #blog4nwp initiative – please visit http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/the-blog4nwp-archive

Additional suggestions can be found at: http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/3-ways-to-help-blog4nwp/

Thank you for listening.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, 1733-34

It’s been a rough week – and not just for me. It seems as if my entire network is in a bit of a funk.

Yesterday, when I was walking into work I saw what I thought was a new shrub planted in front of the main entrance to Erickson Hall.  Since I arrived a bit late, I walked in the side door and didn’t pass by the new shrub.  A faculty member stopped by my office later in the day and asked if I was up to my normal shenanigans. Confused – he asked if I was the one that planted the flowers outside.   I went downstairs to take a closer look at that new shrub.  Someone took the time to lovingly tie oodles of little plastic yellow flowers to the tree.  Of course, due to the stress on my shoulders, tears began to trickle (and quickly freeze) down my cheek.

Even if spring isn’t here, as we are frozen in the depths of the winter and cold, (or frustration and fear,) we can create our own spring.  And, if you are in a place where you can’t muster the energy to create your own spring, take a minute or two find comfort and joy in unexpected places – spring is all around us.

Inspired by Howard, Colleen, Andy and Kari, I thought I would give you some insight into my medical story.  The story started almost 4 years ago when I was diagnosed with endometriosis and hopefully, after yesterday, has come to its final chapter.  In talking with my close friends, many also suffer with the disease.  After much prodding and procedures it was determined I had an especially delicate case since it was suspected that the disease had entered my colon.  As you can imagine, this caused quite distressing pain.  I had great fear of going into surgery  – as the risks were quite overwhelming.  So, as an initial treatment plan I was advised to try hormone suppression therapy (i.e. forced menopause).  I tried that for about a year and while it stopped the worse symptoms of the disease, it caused a plethora of unpleasant and unbearable side effects.

I quit the medication for almost a year and 1/2 and then, towards the end of last year, things boiled back up to being unbearable again.  In December, I made the decision to take care of myself and go the surgical route.  I was referred to Dr. Tommaso Falcone at the Cleveland Clinic. From our inital meeting, to the surgery yesterday, I never had a single doubt or fear. Dr. Falcone is an amazing professional and the staff at the Cleveland Clinic, from the front desk, to pre-op, to the recovery room was and is world class.

During the surgery yesterday – Dr. Falcone removed the endometriosis from my ovaries, bladder, and bowel.  He removed my appendix which was completely covered by the endometriosis and another specialist was called into the surgery to assist with my colon, which had been bound and twisted by the enodmetriosis.  No wonder I was in so much pain! Though I am rough around the edges after the surgery, I’m confident that I made the right decision and that my insides have finally been set straight!

I can’t thank all of you enough for the outpouring of support – I often proclaim my love for my social network and all of the messages/tweets/posts sure do make me feel loved.  There is one very special person who deserves public thanks (over and over) – my husband Scott.  While I focused hiding my pain at work and school, I did not hide it at home.  I thank and love him for sticking with me, especially during the low points over the past few years.  I look forward to getting back on track and being healthy and happy!

I’m staying low-key for the next couple of days (hard for me to do!) – I look forward to getting back at it very soon! xoxo