-
Grand People
My grandparents are all amazing people. From American war veterans to wonderful housewives, and so many other qualities beyond. They have learned a lot, and done a lot in their lives. They are inspiring. My Grandma Parkin helped to raise three children while having a husband who worked for the phone company and volunteered in the police force. In addition, I love seeing the history from this corner of the family, and I’ve even seen pictures of many ancestors including one of my great-great-great grandmother. It’s all well-cared for genealogy that has allowed me to meet so many family members over the years, even if its a bit confusing. It’e also…
-
No More Writing for Rubrics – Praxis Wednesday Response
I’ve told a lot of stories on this blog so far, and it’s been fun for me. From retelling memories, to explaining some of my favorite things, I’ve actually enjoyed writing and while that’s not entirely new to me, getting to write how I want mostly is. I’ve tried to write with my own voice, and a lot of what we discuss last night for Praxis Wednesday was cleaning up our writing voice for the sake of our readers. Making things flow better so that even though its our voice, it will be easy to read. We edited our past articles as a group and found the strong points and…
-
Education and Me
I’ve been through every kind of school, with perhaps one or two exceptions. All of the different experiences led to new ways of learning, and understanding the world around me better. First I was home schooled. When I was really little my family lived in the small town of Grand Marais, Minnesota, and rather than go to the tiny tiny school my Mom decided to start homeschooling me. It was simple preschool lessons the first year, and great kindergarten lessons the next. After we moved to New Brighton, we continued to home school, we had good, Christian-based curriculum, and got involved with a home school co-op for a little while…
-
A Balancing Act
Most people have a stupid human trick or some quirky skill. I was kind of frustrated as a kid when I had nothing to show at a camp talent show or, my school So I started looking for a challenge. While looking through a unique toy catalog when I was little I stumbled across something I had seen people do, but wondered if I could master it myself. It was a pair of stilts. This was something that none of my friends were asking for, but also not something that would be too hard, or expensive for me to at least try. So, on the birthday list, it went. When…
-
Always Think Professionally
I just finished the second portion of The War of Art Book. This section was all about Combating Resistance – Turning Pro. Turning pro is about commitment, its about having the drive to do something all the time and put your all into it. Professionals focus. Professionals don’t talk about their work, they quiet down and do it. They find their concentration, buckle down, to beat resistance, and create new things. Whether that’s a painting, a program, a plate of food, or a campaign. They do their work out of love. The professional also has to practice patience. They have to understand that timing is everything, and sometimes even if…
-
Antique Cars, and Stockyards
A lot of people even those from the surrounding area, have never heard of my city, New Brighton. It’s in the Twin Cities, a suburb of the capital, St. Paul. But there is some cool history in our little suburban city. Every year the city host “Stockyard Days” a week and a half of activities, and celebration, for the town, looking back at our history and celebrating our city. New Brighton started out as a cattle raising and trading town, the town has always sat along a railroad, and this made it a perfect place for the trade, especially since it was still within reach of the Twin Cities. It…
-
Why You Should Own a VCR
It’s old, it’s bulky, and sometimes it’s been damaged a bit. It’s still wonderful. It’s the VCR, and it’s accompanying VHS tapes. My family still owns over a hundred of these, and I have at least 50 of my own. It may seem like a goofy collection but to my sister and me especially, it’s fantastic. I love watching movies that we loved growing up and rediscovering some at the thrift store to add to our collection. We love that we can buy great movies for such a low cost, so if we end up liking it we own it, and if we don’t we don’t feel bad for giving…
-
Marketing Education on YouTube
What if there was more marketing education on YouTube? For last month’s module in the Praxis program, I was challenged to create and develop a project of my own choosing, I decided to make a channel and share marketing videos to whoever would search the topic on the site. Whether your a student interested in marketing, a business that wants to figure out how they can better strategize their marketing efforts, a professional who likes to learn about new things, or something else my marketing videos will help you better understand the marketing world, especially in terms of small businesses, and the psychology of how marketing works. In the youtube…
-
Personal Brand – Praxis Wednesday Reflection
My module group was challenged last night to look at another person’s blog post and try to identify a personal brand that goes with it. Even if the challenge didn’t go as I would’ve wished it was a good challenge and made me think more about how I can better present some of the same ideas. My hope going forward is that beyond just writing about things that are true to my brands, that my tone and style would match that brand. I want to be careful as I develop my brand in that I’m true to myself, but that I’m also presenting the best content that I can. Personal branding…
-
Proving Something Right by Trying to Prove it Wrong
Ever questioned something and not known how to prove any view to be correct? This is how I came to find truth in Christianity but I’ve since realized that it can apply to many areas of life. For instance, in a job, you might feel there’s a better way to do something, but thinking through the process of what makes a system work could reveal why it’s been used, or perhaps why it shouldn’t be used after all. I’ve realized before that sometimes I need to go about figuring out why other people think I’m wrong about something, and often it leads me to have an even firmer, though more…
