Meanings That Change With Time

August 28, 2013

Today I had an amazing time in our dialogue with Bert. We reread a quote by Michael Oakeshott that we had read last year, and I found it to be a very enlightening experience. One of the things that surprised me the most was how I found so much more meaning in the quote than I had the first time we read it. The first time I saw it I remember thinking that it was a really nice quote and we discussed it, and at the time I thought the dialogue we had about it was great. But now having reread it and having all of my experience at the MPC behind it, it was much deeper and more moving. I think that something like what the quote is trying to transmit happened to me. Between the first time I read the quote and now, I learned new things and had more experiences, and these made me respond to the `occurrence´ of reading the quote a different way and made me give another meaning to the quote. I didn’t know that my impression of a quote like this could change in a relatively short amount of time.

Another thing that shocked me and I failed to grasp the first time I read it, is that the world we inhabit is the one we understand; it doesn’t matter how the rest of the people see the world, we can only see it in our own way. This is something that at first might seem so obvious, but once thinking it over a bit it becomes kind of scary. We can’t change our view of the world, we can’t have more than one perspective; we will always have our own perspective and our own meaning for things. And on top of this we can only see the world through our human perspective, even if there could exist another one. And all of this because we can only give our own meaning to things or occurrences; because we respond to occurrences differently. This is because each one of us learned things in a different way, with a different meaning, with a different past behind us. We all see everything because of our past. In other words, the world we know has been made entirely by ourselves. We all have a unique view and understanding of the world.

What I also learned from the dialogue is that even though our past is behind us, our past is always inviting us to new interpretations of it, to a new way of seeing it, it calls for refinement. As we are constantly learning and experiencing thing, our meanings can change. Just as my interpretation of the quote changed after my second time reading it, my past can also change if I look back on it and try to interpret it. One of my classmates (or Bert) said that sometimes, when we look into our past, things that we thought to be sad in the moment turn out to be joyous.  And here comes one of my great discoveries of today, the importance of documentation. It is important to document our feelings, our thoughts, our learning each day because it is an easier way to go to our past, to relive our history, to reinterpret it, and possibly to learn something more from it. They documentation gives us an easy way to access our past and to have a better picture of it. With this also comes the task of documenting correctly. I noticed how important it is to document thoughts and feelings. Last year, most of all, I documented what went on in my daily life at the MPC, never really worrying much on how certain things made me feels or of certain thoughts I had. Now I notice that it is also important to document these, because it gives me a chance to reevaluate the situations and understand them better. Now I know for certain that each time I go over my documentation, it is an invitation to interpret my past at the MPC and give it greater value. 

Day 2 of Boot Camp

September 27, 2013

Our second day of classes started out with a morning meeting, in which we explained to the newcomers what a morning meeting is. I am anxious to see what ideas they come up with and how they will organize themselves, who knows maybe we might even learn something from then. I only wish that we could’ve had the chance to actually do an activity and get the new students to participate in it, and actually show them how a morning meeting goes. After our morning meeting we took a test which evaluated our critical thinking. I enjoyed taking this test, although I expected it to be a bit more difficult; a challenge is always welcome.

 We later proceeded to discuss part of Aristotle´s De Anima. I found this extremely interesting, although I have to say that the first time I read the paragraph we discussed, it left me a bit confused. I think we all handled that dialogue well. Instead of reading along, we concentrated on the first paragraph, and examined sentence by sentence. I think that we reached a mutual comprehension, although we could’ve improved in some aspects. One of the main things that I believe we need to improve on is the way we express ourselves. I noticed in some of my classmates, and especially in myself, that we have a hard time getting our idea through. It was sometimes difficult to understand their arguments or we sometimes understood them wrong. I do believe this is something in which we will improve more and more in the future.

Our next and last activity was watching a documentary on Mark Twain´s life. I enjoyed the documentary very much and learned a lot of things from it. One of the things I enjoyed the most was actually getting to know Twain´s background and what influenced him to write his stories, it kind of gives you another perspective on the stories once you have read them. I really find it incredible how he seemed to notice everything that he did and went on in his life and then applied it to his books. It reminds me of when we took our drawing class last semester and we had to learn to observe in order to draw; well how I see it is that Twain observed in order to write and recreate those observations in his books. And he didn't only do it with the places and the characters, but he actually took into account the way that people talked, and wrote his stories exactly as people pronounced the words in those days. Another thing I enjoyed about the documentary was the way Twain achieved everything in his life: how we wrote his first books, how he gave the lectures, how he got rich, etcetera. I found it amazing that many of the things he wanted out of life, like getting rich, he achieved and struggled to maintain.

One thing that really impressed me was comparing Mark Twain with Benjamin Franklin. I think it would’ve been hard for me to see a connection there at the beginning if it wasn't for the help of my classmates. But now that I think about it, they have so much in common, that is actually shocking. I believe that many of Benjamin Franklin´s values apply to Mark Twain, although maybe Twain used them a little different, like in his way of being honest and telling the truth. Well, I guess the main point here that I am trying to make is that I believe that Mark Twains life and his stories can be related to so many more things that we have learned at the MPC and I have no doubt that we will keep finding connections with his life.

First Day of My Second Year

September 26, 2013

My first day of my second year at the MPC was an incredible experience. I hadn’t realized how much I missed going to class, seeing my classmates and my professors until I actually got there. My day started with a great breakfast with everyone, which I enjoyed and later there was a talk about Liberal Arts. I think that this talk is a great way to start the semester, especially for the newcomers; it is just the kind of information and reassurance that one wants to hear once entering the MPC or starting something new.

Another thing that I really enjoyed was having to meet all of the students, old or new, and say something unique about ourselves. I thought it was interesting to greet my old classmates as well as the new ones. I learned that even though I have been with my peers for a year, there are still thing to learn about them, and things that can surprise you. I also thought this activity was a great way to get to know the newcomers and to get them more comfortable with the MPC environment.

I do have to say though, that my greatest “adventure” of the day was doing a small play on Huckleberry Finn. This is where I realized that I had really missed the MPC, we all got together in a circle and started discussing the book and how the play should be done. I was glad to see that, even though we had a long vacation, our rubrics still remained and still applied. Another thing I learned during this activity was that applying advices from the books in our former semesters work, and that The Well Educated mind does give good advice. While I read Huckleberry Finn, I wrote a sentence or two describing the main events of each chapter and a guide to the books characters. This really came in handy, for me and for the activity. We read my notes out loud and got a great deal of the play out of those. I was also very glad to see the energy and emotion that my classmates where putting into doing the play. Well, I got to act as Huckleberry Finn (maybe because of my southern accent), and I had a blast doing it. I actually believe that it all turned out well, except for the fact that we went about a minute over time. I guess we all still have to work on our time management skills.

Our last activity was going to Ropes (cuerdas) and doing two exercises. I was really amazed at how quickly we managed to solve the first one. I think we get the idea of “Thinking outside the box” quite well. Our second activity was a little bit harder; I had already done the exercise so I had to keep my ideas, in order to let the rest be a little creative. This was a little hard for me. It is hard to see people struggle trying to solve something and you know the answer to it, but I know it was for their best that I didn’t say anything. My classmates still managed to solve the exercise, and in a totally different form from which I had solved it before. It’s really amazing to see the ideas that everyone comes up with. Although at times I felt it got a little chaotic, I still felt that we all sought  each other’s help and supported others ideas.

My greatest lesson today was that I am really happy where I am and that I am glad I joined the MPC.