CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Rob & Marsha
Writing & Subject Indexing, 910418, 930118

0504 -    ..
0505 - Summary/Objective
0506 -
050601 - Followed up work at ref SDS 9 line 26 and ref SDS 1 line 19.
050602 -
050603 - Marsha wants to use the Davis Ct address to support admission of Brien
050604 - to a hospital in SF.  I agreed.  We considered a variety of family
050605 - matters, religion, and learning challenges.
050606 -
050607 - Submitted ref DIT 1 line 30 confirming these understandings. Included
050608 - the meeting with SCU, ref SDS 10 line 76.
050609 -
050610 -
0507 -
0508 -
0509 - Discussion
0510 -
051001 - Marsha said she and Rob are trying to get Brien admitted to a hospital
051002 - in San Francisco to help with his drug and emotional problems.  They
051003 - need a San Francisco address and want to use mine.  I agreed.
051004 -
051005 - Marsha is still working at the school for gifted children.  She
051006 - mentioned a psychologist who works for the school who is also a
051007 - convert to the Mormon church.  This led to a discussion of religion
051008 - and the NWO paper because Marsha asked if I have heard any of the
051009 - Joseph Campbell interviews with Bill Moyer.  I told her about getting
051010 - the idea on 940320 for the NWO paper from this series, ref SDS 5 0000.
051011 -
051012 - Marsha seemed to indicate that Eric has religious leanings, but
051013 - different from Sally's and Mike's approach.  Sally recently wrote to
051014 - Eric urging him toward a different direction in his life, evidently
051015 - citing some aspect of religion to encourage the change.
051016 -
051017 - This resulted in Eric not visiting with the family over Easter. Sally
051018 - has apologized to Marsha for impacting an occasion when Marsha could
051019 - have visited with Eric. I mentioned the likelihood that in 10 - 15
051020 - years, there is a good chance Eric will be much more dependent on his
051021 - Mother's sensible and sensitive interest in Eric and his ideas,
051022 - because there is a strong potential for him to become isolated
051023 - intellectually.  He may seek emotional support and refuge to sustain
051024 - his efforts, as I did with Lucille, ref SDS 2 0000.
051025 - ..
051026 - Today, we considered the potential for writing to draw out of us
051027 - more than is apparent from simple mental reflection, per POIMS paper,
051028 - ref OF 1 line 503.  I mentioned discussions with Jeff Jones to write
051029 - to his teacher and principal with his objections and ideas to improve
051030 - the school English curriculum. Recently Jeff said he did that.  Marsha
051031 - commented that the school where she works teaches these ideas.
051032 -
051033 -     [On 991107 mentioned this idea to Ross for his sons Hutch and Stu.
051034 -     ref SDS 11 0812]
051035 -
051036 - We considered the prospect of drafting a letter for Eric to consider
051037 - in responding to Sally, showing how to maintain a relationship without
051038 - agreeing with Sally's particular prescriptions or the grounds for
051039 - same.  My thought is to help him recognize the advantage and interplay
051040 - between verbal and written skills, and to see a way to build bridges
051041 - between opposing views, per analysis on 930112 that emerged from the
051042 - Prodigy dialogs about writing. ref SDS 3 3443
051043 -
051044 - Here is an example:
051045 -
051046 -     Dear Sally,
051047 -
051048 -     Thanks very much for your letter urging [thus and so].  Your time
051049 -     and effort is deeply appreciated, since I know it reflects your
051050 -     affection for me and interest in my future.  Initially, your
051051 -     strong feelings moved me toward withdrawing from the family, since
051052 -     at this time my direction in life appears to strike a significant
051053 -     departure from others in the family.  I don't want to make others
051054 -     feel uncomfortable with my presence, so I tend to withdraw.
051055 -
051056 -     Talking to Mom, though, she points out that families always have
051057 -     ebbs and flows in feelings that reflect the larger community.
051058 -     Family differences really present an opportunity to be ourselves
051059 -     in a setting of confidence that there is genuine love and respect
051060 -     for one another, even as we disagree from time to time.  I guess
051061 -     this means we have to work to keep the family together as a first
051062 -     step in keeping the larger community together, striving to find
051063 -     common ground, yet remain individuals.  This sounds like the
051064 -     social contract they talked about in school where communication
051065 -     creates civilization.  Your letter shows this commitment.
051066 -
051067 -     Anyway in this spirit, I like a lot of your ideas, but disagree
051068 -     with your point about [thus and so].  It seems to me that [...],
051069 -     because my experience shows [...].  For example [ ].  Recently
051070 -     this point was underscored by an article in [...], and a
051071 -     discussion with my friend revealed [...].  In your letter you say
051072 -     [...], but do not mention an example.  I realize it is extra
051073 -     effort, but when you get time, you could jot down what you have in
051074 -     mind and possibly give an example to illustrate where this has
051075 -     occurred and with what results.  It would help me see the error
051076 -     you feel I am making.
051077 -
051078 -     These thoughts are intended to engage your interest in the ideas
051079 -     reflected in your letter.  Of course as a young man I am still
051080 -     working through a sense of the world.  I respect your added
051081 -     experience and the wisdom it brings.  That is why I was so pleased
051082 -     to get your letter.  If you write back, I promise to keep working
051083 -     with you on these important views, and look forward to discussing
051084 -     "stuff" soon.
051085 -
051086 -
051087 - Marsha said Eric is a good writer, but does not enjoy it.  I recalled
051088 - the same perspective at his age, until circumstances arose where
051089 - writing became integral to my work, i.e., there was writing to do that
051090 - related to my interests.  This is a challenge of educators.  My sense
051091 - is to get people to write about anything, because it builds a skill
051092 - for continual learning that is critical to personal and community
051093 - growth, i.e., writing is the core analog of what Cognitive Scientists
051094 - call "connectionist theory."  I was reluctant to write in school,
051095 - because no one showed how to write what was in my mind.  However, a
051096 - professor in college did this one day.  One day, that was all it took
051097 - to grasp the method of writing to work out correlations between
051098 - different views.  We talked, then he wrote out a short paper that
051099 - showed how to construct formal language that reflected our discussion.
051100 - This simple effort provided a template, a pattern, that enabled me to
051101 - grasp how powerful writing is to craft "understanding" and grow
051102 - knowledge.  I never had a teacher in high school "jump start" my
051103 - writing skills.  Of course one anecdote does not establish a universal
051104 - truth.  Timing and circumstance impact when insight clicks.  Maybe it
051105 - is not cost effective for teaches to "jump start" students on an
051106 - individual basis, so I was just lucky to have a unique experience.
051107 - This is why Marsha's work and commitment to effective education is so
051108 - important in discovering the range of methods that can open young
051109 - minds to their potential.
051110 -
051111 - Marsha also indicated that conventional public schools are spending
051112 - more time on directed training in SAT material.  This is one reason
051113 - Eric says he has stepped away from completing his formal education; he
051114 - feels form is given greater weight than substance.  I suggested we
051115 - might submit the NWO paper to him to give more substance to consider
051116 - under the "continual learning" theory of Communication Metrics.
051117 -
051118 - Marsha mentioned publications, perhaps some from folks at Stanford,
051119 - who identify different learning and/or knowledge capacities, one being
051120 - language, another spatial, and so on.  Marsha said there is an
051121 - "Emotional Quotient."  I mentioned coming across this in a piece by
051122 - Jeannette Cabanis who did some editing on the NWO paper, ref SDS 9
051123 - line 493.
051124 -
051125 - We visited a bit about the modern reality of "virtual marriage" which
051126 - I suspect is, and has always been, more universal than is indicated by
051127 - the perspective of permanent impairment of relationships.
051128 -
051129 -
051130 -
051131 -
051132 -
0512 -