Some more self-reveal. We’ll return to politics later this week, when we can discuss Professional Pork Butchering and Sausage-Making. Til then… I ran across this earlier this week in the "Pocket" reads that pop up on my homepage. I would say, from looking back with 20/10 hindsight on the past 40 years of my life, that this is absolutely some of the best advice I have ever read. I know for a fact that "pursuing mastery" in things that interested me led directly to the successful life I have, doing exactly what I love, and paying the bills with it.
Tonight, again, you have gifted us with an amazing story of yourself. Sharing such details of your life can leave you vulnerable, but I think in this case you're letting us know who you are and what shaped you. That brings us to a better understanding not only of you, but of us, as we all share some of the same things that were in our pasts. Why is that important? Because, I think, we share many similarities if only we would recognize them. Once we recognize them, we can more easily band together and move forward. Thank you.
As a retired school librarian, I couldn’t let the world wars Dewey number slide. World War I is 940.3, World War II is 940.5. Dewey 545 is quantitative analysis. 500s are science, 900s are history.
"My mother used to love telling the story of how I, at age ten months, said my first word (Another marker! Early vocalization. And why Asperger’s is NOT Autism, no matter what the DSM V says; autistics are non-verbal.)"
I agree with your Aspergers vs. Autism insight. I grew up in Midland (Dow Chemical), Michigan where our high school mascot was The Egghead, and where brilliant, if awkward, kids were cool. So glad you found your successful way!
Oh TC, I am so glad you were able to become the fine writer you were meant to be. Thank you for sharing more of your story with us. People are “smart” in many different kinds of ways, and we have trouble understanding why people who not are smart the way we are can’t do what we do. “If l can do it, anybody can” is not really true. My grandmother always said anything worth doing is worth doing well. We don’t start out as experts, but we improve our skills over time. Someone else said, “It is the right of every child to burgeon out all that is within him.” I am grateful that you were able to find ways to do that. Today as I have read parts of your personal story, tears have welled up in my eyes for your difficulties. But I have read your fine writing telling your story and felt hopeful because of your endurance and perseverance to get where you are now. I truly appreciate all that I have learned from your posts here and on LFAA. Your irreverent profanity often cracks me up. Thanks for sharing with all of us the TC that you are.
I enjoyed this read as much as your last biographical piece on generational trauma.
I was a voracious reader growing up and could NEVER spell. Math was a mystery to me. As an adult, I learned that I am dyslexic in an almost spacial sense. Reading is harder for me now, for some reason, however.
I’m late to this letter and not sure, Ally, if you will get this. I worked my entire career in public education and learning disabilities always a part of my certification. If you have never heard of colored overlays, I suggest you pursue it. There were a few students I tested for it that found it a miracle. Part of their disability in reading was spatial. It was introduced to me by a brilliant optometrist that worked with a few teachers. He taught me a lot of things with ocular muscle balance, tracking, and crossing the midline.
I am firm in testifying that there is no excuse valid for not finding the correct method of teaching a child with learning disabilities to unlock the code of decoding to mastery.
Kids that were sensitive would literally jump up when I put a colored overlay over text when testing them. They would exclaim different things such as “Miss, the letters just stopped moving.” Or, “My eyes can go straight across now!”
Amaze. A single sheet of colored, transparent film made all the difference.
Thanks for this. I had actually heard of an application of this from a friend of mine who is the principal tuba player for an orchestra in a southern state. He prints his music up on paper that is in the muted orange to red color spectrum to combat his dyslexia. Once he learns it, he’s able to use traditionally printed music.
I’m going to share this with him. He’s active on several fora and I wonder if a screen cover in that spectrum might help his speed with typing.
2) I wish I had known more about how people learn when I was teaching. What I DID learn and tried my best to practice (I got out when standardized tests ruined public education) was that everyone learns differently and that a cookie cutter approach to ANY subject matter was doomed to failure.
3) As a high school nerd, I was lucky enough to find four other gal nerds to hang with. One ended up the first woman to rise to leadership in OSHA (she aced every single chemistry assignment and test to the chagrin of the rest of her classmates) - one became a nurse - one became a teacher - one raised Arabians and some sort of weird dog and taught equestrienne lessons for her income.
4) This quote meant a lot to me: "Other research shows that when people throw themselves into an activity for the sake of the activity itself — and not for some sort of external reward, like money or fame or Instagram followers — they tend to report long-term well-being and fulfillment." I have found that any passion I undertake begins to lose its sheen when others begin to judge/award/recognize it for other than what it truly meant to me - a passion. So, I have literally passed through this life abandoning one passion after another. I applaud you for your steadfastness.
There are those in my hobby we call "pot hunters." They win a lot of awards. They build a model not to what they might like (although they usually do), but rather for what is "popular" at the time, from subject matter to painting style. They're the ones most likely, when you see their model and are impressed enough to ask them how they did it, to reply "it's my secret" - to which I always respond "there are no secrets," and then proceed to tell them how it was done, using common practices, and I can tell from the look on their face that their "secret" is secret mo more. The ones of this type I know in situations other than a model show (I go and put mine on the "display only" table, which pisses off the pot hunters that the table exists, since it's a rebuke to them due to the fact that the models on it are usually from the people others think are really good at it) are people who usually have what I would consider a "dead end" job - usually as a result of things they did, and the chrome-plated plastic pots on the shelf at home are how they don't have to face their life.
I am currently taking water color lessons once a week from a friend who is a bonafide and professional artist. This is a medium I have never explored and I asked her only to help me get out of whatever "box" I had built around myself - she's doing a great job of throwing new and different ideas my way. We just had a discussion last week about this "pot hunter" notion as it applies to people in her field. She told me this: "I have nothing to prove. Not to me. Not to anyone. I do this because I love it. Others seems driven to win. I see no pleasure in being driven to do anything for a ribbon at an art show. If someone is drawn to my painting, I'm happy for them and for me." (I had told her about a piece I had done that had so attracted a young man who came to install a security system, I had simply handed it to him as a gift.)
Temple Grandin is another like yourself. I had the privilege of meeting her about 40 years ago. My long-distance friend Violet is married to another, legally named Coffee. He is a computer genius and long distance runner. Their married conversations make me love them dearly.
The switch from phonics to sight reading almost cost my youngest but her older sister had her reading at age 4. She could sound her way through a KJV chapter with no clue what she was reading but she had the words right. When she started school, it was sight reading. The teachers hated it. Not sure if Canada has gone back to phonics or not.
Seeking mastery is a wonderful thing. Something I never achieved. My knowledge is 10 miles wide and 10 inches deep
Thank you again for sharing your story. I feel enriched from reading it and for some reason I don’t understand and am grateful for the I feel happier. We humans sure are incredible survivors.
I thank you all for your support and understanding. I suspect there's more to come, since I just learned from my nephew that his mother (my sister) has had her "ship of life" finally go onto the rocks it was headed toward long ago. Fortunately, he and I are close and he is incredibly brave, the stuff he's done to get where he is as who he is, so I know he'll be able to deal with this and his father.
I’m late to this post, TC. Have several things to say about mastery as it relates to the teaching and learning of reading. I’ll weave it in on a later comment. I responded to Ally today also on this post. I hope she gets it.
Tonight, again, you have gifted us with an amazing story of yourself. Sharing such details of your life can leave you vulnerable, but I think in this case you're letting us know who you are and what shaped you. That brings us to a better understanding not only of you, but of us, as we all share some of the same things that were in our pasts. Why is that important? Because, I think, we share many similarities if only we would recognize them. Once we recognize them, we can more easily band together and move forward. Thank you.
As a retired school librarian, I couldn’t let the world wars Dewey number slide. World War I is 940.3, World War II is 940.5. Dewey 545 is quantitative analysis. 500s are science, 900s are history.
Your correction is appreciated, particularly since it's been mumblemumble years since I was living in the stacks. :-)
Obviously, your first love was airplanes. You remembered 629.
I actually Laughed Out Loud at that!
"My mother used to love telling the story of how I, at age ten months, said my first word (Another marker! Early vocalization. And why Asperger’s is NOT Autism, no matter what the DSM V says; autistics are non-verbal.)"
I agree with your Aspergers vs. Autism insight. I grew up in Midland (Dow Chemical), Michigan where our high school mascot was The Egghead, and where brilliant, if awkward, kids were cool. So glad you found your successful way!
The joys of being a weirdo include reading this article. Is there an autobiography in the works?
The photographer always hides in plain sight behind the camera. :-)
Oh TC, I am so glad you were able to become the fine writer you were meant to be. Thank you for sharing more of your story with us. People are “smart” in many different kinds of ways, and we have trouble understanding why people who not are smart the way we are can’t do what we do. “If l can do it, anybody can” is not really true. My grandmother always said anything worth doing is worth doing well. We don’t start out as experts, but we improve our skills over time. Someone else said, “It is the right of every child to burgeon out all that is within him.” I am grateful that you were able to find ways to do that. Today as I have read parts of your personal story, tears have welled up in my eyes for your difficulties. But I have read your fine writing telling your story and felt hopeful because of your endurance and perseverance to get where you are now. I truly appreciate all that I have learned from your posts here and on LFAA. Your irreverent profanity often cracks me up. Thanks for sharing with all of us the TC that you are.
I do so enjoy your writing. Thank you, Tom Cleaver.
I enjoyed this read as much as your last biographical piece on generational trauma.
I was a voracious reader growing up and could NEVER spell. Math was a mystery to me. As an adult, I learned that I am dyslexic in an almost spacial sense. Reading is harder for me now, for some reason, however.
Thanks for telling this story.
I’m late to this letter and not sure, Ally, if you will get this. I worked my entire career in public education and learning disabilities always a part of my certification. If you have never heard of colored overlays, I suggest you pursue it. There were a few students I tested for it that found it a miracle. Part of their disability in reading was spatial. It was introduced to me by a brilliant optometrist that worked with a few teachers. He taught me a lot of things with ocular muscle balance, tracking, and crossing the midline.
I am firm in testifying that there is no excuse valid for not finding the correct method of teaching a child with learning disabilities to unlock the code of decoding to mastery.
Here’s a link to Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999357/
Kids that were sensitive would literally jump up when I put a colored overlay over text when testing them. They would exclaim different things such as “Miss, the letters just stopped moving.” Or, “My eyes can go straight across now!”
Amaze. A single sheet of colored, transparent film made all the difference.
Thanks for this. I had actually heard of an application of this from a friend of mine who is the principal tuba player for an orchestra in a southern state. He prints his music up on paper that is in the muted orange to red color spectrum to combat his dyslexia. Once he learns it, he’s able to use traditionally printed music.
I’m going to share this with him. He’s active on several fora and I wonder if a screen cover in that spectrum might help his speed with typing.
Thank you from me too! So much here for the memoir I hope you are writing. So appreciate your trusting us with your life.
Several thoughts:
1) Thank you!
2) I wish I had known more about how people learn when I was teaching. What I DID learn and tried my best to practice (I got out when standardized tests ruined public education) was that everyone learns differently and that a cookie cutter approach to ANY subject matter was doomed to failure.
3) As a high school nerd, I was lucky enough to find four other gal nerds to hang with. One ended up the first woman to rise to leadership in OSHA (she aced every single chemistry assignment and test to the chagrin of the rest of her classmates) - one became a nurse - one became a teacher - one raised Arabians and some sort of weird dog and taught equestrienne lessons for her income.
4) This quote meant a lot to me: "Other research shows that when people throw themselves into an activity for the sake of the activity itself — and not for some sort of external reward, like money or fame or Instagram followers — they tend to report long-term well-being and fulfillment." I have found that any passion I undertake begins to lose its sheen when others begin to judge/award/recognize it for other than what it truly meant to me - a passion. So, I have literally passed through this life abandoning one passion after another. I applaud you for your steadfastness.
There are those in my hobby we call "pot hunters." They win a lot of awards. They build a model not to what they might like (although they usually do), but rather for what is "popular" at the time, from subject matter to painting style. They're the ones most likely, when you see their model and are impressed enough to ask them how they did it, to reply "it's my secret" - to which I always respond "there are no secrets," and then proceed to tell them how it was done, using common practices, and I can tell from the look on their face that their "secret" is secret mo more. The ones of this type I know in situations other than a model show (I go and put mine on the "display only" table, which pisses off the pot hunters that the table exists, since it's a rebuke to them due to the fact that the models on it are usually from the people others think are really good at it) are people who usually have what I would consider a "dead end" job - usually as a result of things they did, and the chrome-plated plastic pots on the shelf at home are how they don't have to face their life.
I am currently taking water color lessons once a week from a friend who is a bonafide and professional artist. This is a medium I have never explored and I asked her only to help me get out of whatever "box" I had built around myself - she's doing a great job of throwing new and different ideas my way. We just had a discussion last week about this "pot hunter" notion as it applies to people in her field. She told me this: "I have nothing to prove. Not to me. Not to anyone. I do this because I love it. Others seems driven to win. I see no pleasure in being driven to do anything for a ribbon at an art show. If someone is drawn to my painting, I'm happy for them and for me." (I had told her about a piece I had done that had so attracted a young man who came to install a security system, I had simply handed it to him as a gift.)
Temple Grandin is another like yourself. I had the privilege of meeting her about 40 years ago. My long-distance friend Violet is married to another, legally named Coffee. He is a computer genius and long distance runner. Their married conversations make me love them dearly.
The switch from phonics to sight reading almost cost my youngest but her older sister had her reading at age 4. She could sound her way through a KJV chapter with no clue what she was reading but she had the words right. When she started school, it was sight reading. The teachers hated it. Not sure if Canada has gone back to phonics or not.
Seeking mastery is a wonderful thing. Something I never achieved. My knowledge is 10 miles wide and 10 inches deep
Thank you again for sharing your story. I feel enriched from reading it and for some reason I don’t understand and am grateful for the I feel happier. We humans sure are incredible survivors.
I agree.
I thank you all for your support and understanding. I suspect there's more to come, since I just learned from my nephew that his mother (my sister) has had her "ship of life" finally go onto the rocks it was headed toward long ago. Fortunately, he and I are close and he is incredibly brave, the stuff he's done to get where he is as who he is, so I know he'll be able to deal with this and his father.
I’m late to this post, TC. Have several things to say about mastery as it relates to the teaching and learning of reading. I’ll weave it in on a later comment. I responded to Ally today also on this post. I hope she gets it.