Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden

This was a fifty cent find at the Santa Clara Library. It's the story of two young women who move west to become school teachers in rural Colorado in 1916. It's fascinating, mainly because it's TRUE, and so many things about life then were so different! It was written by one of the teacher's granddaughters, and is infused with direct quotes from their letters home. 

The author did tons of additional research about the technologies of the period, and goes into great (and sometimes boring to me) detail describing it...the railroads, the mining, the towns. What was most interesting to me was the way the people lived. The teachers boarded with a family, shared a bed upstairs, and rode horses to school. They fought the cold, snow, and ice. They met the local people and became integral to the community. What they ate, how they danced and partied, were all very interesting and charming. They were indefatigable! Always cheery, despite the hardships.

I loved too, the descriptions of how they taught, how their classroom was set up, and what their students were like. I usually don't like nonfiction as much as fiction, but this was fascinating. I am somewhat fed up with made-up stories of famous people like Mrs. Lewis (C.S. Lewis' wife), Marjorie Post, etc., This author let her subjects speak for themselves. They are the real deal, and very admirable! 

I found it a little hard to keep track of who was who, but I decided to just let the story drift on and enjoyed what each person was doing. I also liked the many photographs that  helped bring the milieu to life...

It also made me very grateful for my comfy life. And maybe I would benefit from a little more hardship...

Red Notice by Bill Browder

My sister Jane recommended this book to me, probably because she's interested in finance. It was hard for me to grasp the financial ideas, but the suspense and the corruption of the Russians was clear to me... An interesting book, a depressing book, one that held my interest, but not one I would read again...

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier by Thad Carhart

This little book is amazing! It opened up a musical world, a piano world, and a Parisian world all at the same time! I probably never would have picked up this book myself...but my friend Sally handed it to me one day and told me she thought I would enjoy it. She was right! She guessed I would appreciate it, even if I wasn't quite what one could call musical. She was right! What I learned about is the marvelous complexity of music, particularly classical piano music. How to play it, how to feel it, how to appreciate it, all came into play. And layered in amongst all that complexity, the author weaves in the history of the piano and its various manufacturers. And this is all told as the author experiences his Parisian neighborhood with its intriguing cast of characters. This is a very enjoyable, engaging read because he's an American who appreciates and describes beautifully his Parisian experiences. It's nonfiction writing at its best, in my opinion. My only frustration was the occasional French quotes that he didn't translate. Many quotes he did; but others, inexplicably, he did not?! And me, with my one quarter of college French, couldn't get it. However, that's a small criticism and my only one...

The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz

My sisters got to see David Lebovitz when he hosted a dinner in the Bay Area. They avidly read his blog before they went to Paris last summer. They both heartily recommended this book to me, and I was not disappointed!

This is nonfiction writing at its most entertaining. Often witty, often ascerbic, always insightful, his view of all things Parisian is very enjoyable reading. I could readily relate to the people he describes after having spent quite a bit of time with Parisians in Berlin in the 70's, and in Paris itself on several occasions. Love it, love it, and, like, Lebovitz, find myself also perplexed!

I also learned quite a few tricks in the kitchen and would enjoy trying out some of the recipes. However, I decided Sierra would enjoy this for her birthday, and so I gave it away. If I ever borrow it back, I would like to try some of the simpler dishes.

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston

Both my dad and my sister Jane recommended this book to me. My dad is famous for his love of redwoods, and that's what this book is all about. It's one of the most engaging nonfiction, scientific books I have ever encountered. I also learned a lot about my home state of California. It was interesting to me that Reed College students figure prominently in this tale, which focuses not only on the redwoods, but also on the people who pioneered climbing them. The story of different climbimg methods and the world they discover up in the canopy is enthralling. There are also good illustrations that help clarify some of the descriptions.

I was also hoping to use this book to increase my knowledge and understanding of nature. There is so much to learn and so much applicability to LIFE! For instance, I know redwood roots are very shallow...but they are interconnected and entwined to help support each other. How long would it take you to come up with a metaphor for THAT!? The problem is, I read this book on a very long flight...and while it made the flight go very quickly, I was also tired, and didn't take notes or do as much focusing on the nature lessons as I should have. I will definitely have to give this a second read and glean more. It will be a pleasure!

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Len gifted me with this book, thinking it would appeal to me, and he was right! I enjoyed it all the way through, despite some nagging gaps in the author's thinking. They were nagging to me, because Rubin draws on some excellent research and ideas, many of which resonated with me, and yet she missed so many other possibilities! The biggest miss for me was the idea of happiness being derived from service and unselfishness. These are similar ideas and were pretty much lacking throughout the book! However, her commitment to be happier in order to create more happiness in her family is somewhat unselfish and related to a sacrifice, I guess. And she is young! She only has two small children! Her life will get more complicated and her ideas more sophisticated. More wisdom and less self-centeredness will hopefully evolve! Having said that, there are many tips and tricks worthy of emulation...making and keeping resolutions, setting goals, and being consistent are among them. She admits in the book to being relatively untested and untried by tragedgy and serious challenges, so maybe this depth will come in time! Worthy of a read, and I plan to at least visit the website to see if the online tools might be useful for me. She encourages everyone to create their own "Happiness Project" and offers tools to get going. We'll see...some nuggets are definitely here...and I especially enjoyed the excerpts from the readers who contribute to her blog. One idea that has power is to "Be Gretchen." In other words, really find out what she enjoys and what brings her happiness. This becomes a theme throughout the book as she struggles to find out who she really is. I liked the openness of this struggle and her honesty about wanting to like things that she does not. That theme was refreshing and insightful and one from which I can learn!

Leadership and Self-Deception by The Arbinger Institute

This book builds on the powerful ideas in C. Terry Warner's book, Bonds that Make us Free. The ideas are explained in a scenario of a new employee in a company. As he is being oriented, the ideas of self-deception are illustrated and explained. It's a quick read and it's easy to follow the idea of the "boxes" we put ourselves in. It feels just a little pedantic or forced in some ways, but still, the ideas come through. And the ideas are quite freeing. This list is helpful (page 105):
Self-Betrayal

1. An act contrary to what I feel I should do for another is called an act of "self-betrayal."
2. When I betray myself I begin to see the world in a way that justifies my self-betrayal.
3. When I see the world in a self-justifying way, my view of reality becomes distorted.
4. So--when I betray myself, I enter the box.
5. Over time, certain boxes become characteristic of me, and I carry them with me.
6. By being in the box, I provoke others to be in the box.
7. In the box, we invite mutual mistreatment and obtain mutual justification. We collude in giving each other reason to stay in the box.

Now here's the list for knowing the material:
(page 174)

• Self-betrayal leads to self-deception and "the box."
• When you're in the box you can't focus on results.
• Your influence and success will depend on being out of the box.
• You get out of the box as you cease resisting other people.

And here's the list for living the material:
(Page 174)

• Don't try to be perfect. Do try to be better.
• Don't use the vocabulary--the box-- and so on, with people who don't already know it.
• Do use the principles in your own life.
• Don't look for others' boxes. Do look for your own.
• Don't accuse others of being in the box.
• Do try to stay out of the box yourself.
• Don't give up on yourself when you discover you've been in the box. Do keep trying.
• Don't deny that you've been in the box when you have been. Do apologize; then just keep marching forward, trying to be more helpful to others in the future.
• Don't focus on what others are doing wrong.
• Do focus on what you can do right to help.
• Don't worry whether others are helping you. Do worry whether you are helping others.

Sometimes these metaphors are too "cutesy" for me, but this one makes sense. It's tough to explain to people, and even tougher to live. But I am trying, and I am succeeding. Hooray!!!

The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute

I listened to this book on my way to and from a trip to Casper, Wyoming. It is another book (besides Leadership and Self-Deception) built around C. Terry Warner's powerful take on "I and thou" philosophy articulated back in the day by Martin Buber. Wonderful, powerful ways to think. The book unfolds as a drama where parents are dropping off their teenagers at a "reform" experience out in Nature. It can be annoying as stereotypes unfold, but it is mostly very intriguing and entertaining as the ideas are explained through parental dialogue with the camps' founders.

"Getting in the box" is the way self-deception is described, and the misguided thinking it leads to. There are many "boxes" included in the discussion, and they are universal archetypes. "I'm better than..." and "I know more than..." are two that I related to. There are many others. I need to listen to it again to reconnect with this content. It really helped my thinking and my personal change process.

Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge

My great reading buddy Mary lent me this book after sharing it with our book club. I hadn't had a chance to read it, but I enjoyed her enthusiasm for it and borrowed it after our meeting in the park. It is an amazing book that challenged my thinking about helping people in "developing" countries. I have always been skeptical of the negative influence the so-called developed world has on others, but I thought there was a contribution that could be made, or at least an exchange. Now I'm not so sure. This author powerfully describes the destruction of the contentment and health of the Ladakhi people have experienced as they enter the "modern" world. Here's a quote from page 196:

• In the past few decades we have seen a narrowing of vision--in effect, an insidious dumbing down of society--at the same time as economic activity has globalized. As we become further removed from the sources of sustanence and other needs, it becomes increasingly difficult to see our impact on the rest of the world. How do we know that the food we buy hasn't been grown with slave labor, using toxic herbicides and fungicides? Because of the huge scale of the economic system, even those who want to do good can unknowingly participate in activites that have brutal and destructive effects.

And from page 195:

• The so-called global village--hailed by government and industry as uniting all nations in pursuit of the fruits of the global economy--is in fact a highly volatile monoculture based on on community or connection to palce but on universal consumerism.

And from page 194:

• Beyond these widely recognized problems, another crisis is only now beginning to be acknowledged. This is the human suffering--the psychological and spiritual poverty--of people pushed to produce and consume at an ever-accelerating rate. The resulting stress and time pressures are proving almost unbearable...

This book is powerful because the author describes in great detail the life of the Ladakhi people and one can see what a hard and yet satisfying life it is. Then she describes the effects of the developing world on the people in this isolated area and it's heart-rending. In the Afterword, quoted above, she brings it all together in a way that made me wonder at the wisdom of even offering medical care to developing countries. If a life is hard, healthy, and self-sustaining, it doesn't make sense to interfere. She also describes policies that are having a negative effect on these countries. It all reminded me of what I see very close to home--life on our Lakota Indian Reservations.

To me, this is another voice in the cry for more local living in smaller communities. I think of big high schools and how kids are lost there. I think of our urban cities and how people feel lost there. Living in smaller communites with food produced nearby seems to work on so many levels! Another connection I am thinking about is how in my church, we have a built-in mechanism to stay small and local--wards are divided when they get too big, and they are based on geography so one is always with one's closest neighbors. This makes sense!

Choose to Learn: Teaching for Success Every Day by Russell T. Osguthorpe and Lolly S. Osguthorpe

These authors are incredible people, so it's not surprising their book is, too! I love the Osguthorpe's, and got to know them when they presided over the Rapid City Mission for three years. Their love and enthusiasm comes across in this "tiny but mighty" book. Russ teaches at BYU and Lolly teaches sixth grade, so they alternate voices and examples in the book, giving plenty of variety in experiences and levels.

They assert that learning and success are inseparable. A powerful idea that has changed my thinking...

They take "The Three D's of Success" (Desire, Decision, and Determination) and illustrate how to use them to achieve success--all kinds of success. I think it's a good template for changing, overcoming addiction, or whatever you want to LEARN.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Do your very best and your best gets better." (page 88)
"...excuse-making is limiting their own power to choose. Each excuse a person makes causes success to be a little farther out of reach...Those who choose to learn choose not to whine. Rather, they find ways to solve the seemingly unsolvable. They work their way to success in spite of any obstacle that confronts them." (page 91)
"We are always moving in the direction of our most dominant thought." (quoting Waitly, on page 9)

I also appreciated Chapter Two that differentiates between PRESSURE and URGENCY. One creates stress and the other creates energy. This is a great dichotomy that has helped my thinking.

The Osguthorpe's gifted us this book in 2009, and I've read it and reread it over and over. It's one of my "go to" books for motivation and direction.

The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander

This book was recommended to me by Lois Zachary, mentoring guru, who was in South Dakota recently advising us on one of our projects. After she recommended this book to our group, she told me, "It reads like buttah!" She was right! It's very insightful in so many ways, and it's a joy to read. Each chapter has a different "practice" that helps transform one's life and thinking. It's very accessible and full of great little stories. I love the music metaphors!
One of the more powerful ideas is, "It's all invented!" The practice goes like this: Ask yourself, "What assumptions am I making, that I am not aware that I'm making, that gives me what I see?" And after you answer that question, you ask this one: "What might I now invent, that I haven't yet invented, that would give me other choices?" This line of thinking opens up all kinds of possibilities!
Something I underlined: In the measurement world, you set a goal and strive for it. In the universe of possibility, you set the context and let life unfold." I'm pondering this one to see how it might apply to my driven self!
Other ideas in this book coincide very nicely with one of my all-time favorite books: Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves by C. Terry Warner. The me vs. we, the barriers we build, etc., etc. Powerful ideas that have transformative powers if I would live them! When I do, I feel their power!
Rule #6 is also a delight--to take yourself lightly. Remember this one!
A very motivating chapter is called "Giving an A" and would resonate not only with teachers, but with everyone! I liken this idea to unconditional love, and the authors give wonderful examples of how this plays out in individual reactions to being loved and motivated this way. Here are some quotes I underlined in this chapter:

• Standards can help us by defining the range of knowledge a student must master to be competent in his field. It is not in the context of measuring people's performance against standards that we propose giving the A, despite the reference to measurement the A implies. We give the A to finesse the stranglehold of judgment that grades have over our consciousness from our earliest days. The A is an invention that creates possibility for both mentor and student, manager and employee, or for any human interaction. The practice of giving the A allows the teacher to line up with her students in their efforts to produce the outcome, rather than lining up with the standrads against these students. In the first instance, the instructor and the student, or the manager and the employee become a team for accomplishing the extraordinary; in the second, the disparity in power between them can become a distraction and an inhibitor, drawing energy away from productivity and development.

Early in the book, on page 21, this quote stopped me in my tracks: "In the measurement world, you set a goal and strive for it. In the universe of possibility, you set the context and let life unfold." Definitely food for thought for this goal-driven person!!!

One place where I strongly disagree was with Roz when she advised one of her clients to ask her mother for money...although it illustrated her point of opening up possibilities, I don't agree that giving money helps those who don't seem to manage it well. Just had to go on record here about that!

I have really enjoyed picking up this book for an uplift from time to time, and now that it's all marked up, I enjoy it even more. My friend June sent this book to her musician son, who knows Ben, so his reaction will be very intriguing!

Drive by Daniel Pink

Drive notes – Daniel Pink

Carrots and Sticks: The Seven Deadly Flaws

1.      They can extinguish intrinsic motivation

2.      Then can diminish performance

3.      They can crush creativity

4.      They can crowd out good behavior

5.      They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior

6.      They can become addictive

7.      They can foster short-term thinking

From the flowchart on page 69:

Concentrate on building a healthy, long-term motivational environment that pays people fairly and that fosters autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Avoid “if-then” rewards in almost all circumstances. Consider unexpected, noncontingent “now that” rewards. And remember that those rewards will be more effective if:

1.      They offer praise and feedback rather than things people can touch or spend

2.      They provide useful information rather than an attempt to control

P. 174: “We’re bribing students into compliance instead of challenging them into engagement.”

P. 178: Offer praise the right way (Carol Dweck):

1.      Praise effort and strategy, not intelligence

2.       Make praise specific

3.      Praise in private – one on one

4.      Offer praise only when there’s a good reason for it

Page 194 – Peter Senge quote:

            “People with a high level of personal mastery are able to consistently realize the results that matter most deeply to them—in effect, they approach life as an artist would approach a work of art. They do that by becoming committed to their own lifelong learning.”

Page 73 – Behavior scientists Deci and Ryan: Human beings have an innate inner drive to:

1.      be autonomous,

2.      self-determined, and

3.       connected to one another.

And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.

Page 79

Type I behavior is made, not born. These behavioral patterns aren’t fixed traits. They are proclivities that emerge from circumstance, experience, and context. Type I behavior, because it arises in part from universal human needs, does not depend on age, gender, or nationality. The science demonstrates that once people learn the fundamental practices and attitudes—and can exercise them in supportive settings—their motivation, and their ultimate performance, soars. Any Type X (extrinsically motivated) and become a Type I (intrinsically motivated.)

Pink’s 3 elements:

           

1.      Autonomy

2.      Mastery

3.      Purpose

The Motivated Student by Bob Sullo

My notes...

Page 33:

Every time we learn something new, master some difficult concept, or increase our level of competence, we are internally rewarded. When we achieve success, our brains release endorphins…that make us feel good. The natural reward for learning is the good feeling we experience when we accomplish something. Paradoxically, working for external rewards diminishes the power of the internal reward system already wired into us. When we externally reward students in the classroom, we devalue learning and interfere with the body’s natural mechanism for rewarding learning and achievement.

Students thrive on feedback, and letting them know how close they are to achieving individual or group goals is helpful. Because students are naturally driven to achieve, it is helpful for them to see their progress. Keep the charts and posters, but let the excitement of achievement be the reward, rather than contaminating the joy of learning with a movie, pizza party, or even worse, a homework pass… When you recognize and celebrate learning for its own sake rather than providing external rewards, you will support your students’ natural deire to learn.

Monumental difference between rewarding and affirming. Rewarding is externally imposed and unintentionally implies that hard work and learning are not valuable in and of themselves. (p. 34): Affirmation is a very different, powerful way to support the drive to achieve. Ask: How do you feel about that success? Say: You have every reason to be happy and feel proud of yourself. Congratulations. I’m happy for you. This is affirming.

By affirming rather than rewarding, we are helping our students discover that learning feels good and that we are there to celebrate with them. Let them OWN the experience first. Then ensure that they make the connection and support them in their natural desire to become increasingly competent.

Maintain your celebrations, but give up reward programs that diminish the joy and value of learning.

page 38

Quotes Maslow…

All behavior, from birth until death, is purposeful, engaged in so that we can meet five human drives:

1.      To survive and be safe and secure

2.      To connect and belong

3.      To achieve power and competence

4.      To be free and autonomous

5.      To play, enjoy, and have fun

The difference in need strength among our students highlights the importance of differentiated instruction.

Page 39: When we introduce fear into the educational environment, the need for safety and survival dominates the attention of our students, and they are less driven by the need to develop academic competence.

Page 40: Individuals with an especially high need for safety and survival tend to avoid taking risks.

Regardless of the strength of their need to connect, all students have some drive to belong and connect. Since students are driven by a social imperative, effective teachers structure their lessons so students can meet this need while engaging in rigorous academic work. Failure to offer students a chance to interact for long periods only invites off-task behavior that compromises learning.

…you intentionally provide some choice and autonomy within a structure that supports your teaching objectives and the highest academic standards.

Page 48 (summary)

As we live our lives, we encounter people and engage in behaviors that help us satisfy these needs that drive us incessantly. We put need-satisfying people and behaviors, as well as values and beliefs, into our unique internal world, the source of all motivation.

We can move beyond the carrot and stick model of external control psychology and intentionally create environments that will inspire more students to do higher-quality academic work.

Maybe use this process below to brainstorm our project goals with our partners:

Page 155

WDEP – Bob Bubbolding (1989) created this tool:

            W: Identify what you want

D: Determine what you are doing to achieve your goals (both now and in the future (p. 159)

            E: Evaluate your progress

            P: Plan how to maintain your success or improve your performance

Page 160- Remember that effective self-evaluation depends upon both a well-defined picture of what you want and an accurate perception of what is happening. You have to know exactly what you want in order to know if you are being successful. That is why it is necessary that you develop specific goals for yourself. Then, to self-evaluate in a way that promotes growth, you must be completely honest with yourself about how things are going.

What makes the WDEP process such a powerful tool (p. 161) is that it ensures our self-evaluation is conscious. Many people go through life without full awareness of what they want, what they need to do to succeed, if they are being as successful as they would like, and what plans they should make for future action. The WDEP process allows us to bring intentionality and consciousness to our lives. 

Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart

At a Laramie boomers' reunion in October of 2010, Lona brought each of us a copy of this slim little book. She loved it and wanted to share it with us. As I read it, I understood why Lona loved it so. This homesteader is a lot like Lona! She's resourceful, brave, and a very hard worker.

I love the fact that these are a real woman's words describing her real experiences. It gave me a greater appreciation for all of my creature comforts! This woman was also incredibly brave and generous as she interacted with her neighbors and her harsh climate. In one chapter, "Among the Mormons," she encounters a polygamist group and the description is lamentable... It does give a glimpse, though into their lives and shows perhaps some of the reasons the practice was discontinued.

Here's an excerpt showing how this pioneer spent her days: "I have done most of my cooking at night, have milked seven cows every day, and have done all the hay-cutting, so you see I have been working. But I have found time to put up thirty pints of jelly and the same amount of jam for myself. I used wild fruits, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and cherries. I have almost two gallons of cherry butter, and I think it delicious... There was a tang of sage and of pine in the air, and our horse was midside deep in rabbitbrush, a shrub covered with flowers that look and smell like goldenrod. The blue distance promised many alluring adventures, so we went along singing and simply gulping in summer."

That description is SO Wyoming! It probably stood out for me, because after living ten years in Laramie, I knew what she meant about "gulping" in summer! It's entirely too short there, so you savor every moment. A truly joyous book, rich desciptions, and wonderful real people as characters. This is a treasure. I only wish she had written more letters so we'd have a deeper look at her life and thoughts.