My siblings and children are all over the globe involved in their own pursuits to include business ownership and military service. The identification and application of tacit knowledge is my interpersonal pursuit. To that end I enjoy working with young and old, exploring everything everyone brings to the table. I look forward to working through this course with all of you. 

To “have” a great implies that it is new, requiring imagination. In my world, it also implies innovation which is the process of not just having a new idea, but executing it so that it creates value.

There exist five factors that I associate with learning, schooling, and writing. We are never too old or too young so long as we are putting our best foot forward. Regardless of online courses or teacher-led classes, there exists an opportunity to improve intellectually. Going into the experience with the right attitude means that there is a better chance of coming out of it ahead of the game. There will be mistakes made, but they are only bad if nothing is learned from them. Being patient and persistent are the keys to success in almost all aspects of life, including this.

I am a highway guy, so I like to ask this question of folks whenever I can: How are gravel roads important to metropolitan civilization?

The year was 2001, and I was introduced to the new director of Colorado LTAP, a local technical assistance program out of CU Boulder. At this point I had been working within the highway maintenance industry for 20 years, and with CLTAP for 5. Renee was young and full of energy, so it was not long before we hit it off at board meetings, looking toward the future of the industry. We quickly deduced that the boomer exodus was closer than we thought, and that many of the jobs held by experienced technicians and supervisors would be vacant. The real challenge was the changes to the industry regarding the ever-increasing pressure brought to bear by litigators and risk managers. We determined that the requirement for formal education at supervisory levels was in our near future, and we had better begin the process of organizing that effort.

However, we discovered rather quickly that the majority of people who held the purse strings did not subscribe to our concern. Further, we ran into resistance from the boomer middle management who simply wanted to finish their time and retire without any changes in their routine. From 2005 until 2015 we were pounding on doors, pontificating at seminars, and preaching at conferences. There was acknowledgment for the need, but no takers for any responsibility. Meanwhile the clock was ticking, and the remaining boomers were trickling out the door. Organizations were having to look outside their own agencies for supervisors because formal education had become a preference, and their own succession plan was falling short of the mark.

Finally in 2016, the Colorado Department of Transportation jumped into the think tank and we were able to find the funding and the resources to generate a degree concept for the highway industry. After a year of design and college interviews, Front Range Community College took up the flag and led the way to acceptance by the Higher Learning Institute in Chicago. With input from 335 Local Government Agencies and the CCC, we finally had our degree. The design allows for working adult learners to take all the course material online from anywhere in America. Crosswalks were established with industry technical training, and Prior Learning Assessments are in place to provide PLA credit for experience and technical knowledge. This first-in-the-nation online degree program has been available since 2018, and we are likely to have our first graduates in 2021. 

Finally, the boomers can go fishing without worrying about the future of the highway maintenance industry.


Summary: We observed within an industry the need for skilled labor leadership requiring formal education. We acted upon that to reach out and assimilate a group of industry leaders and education forerunners who could identify with a vision. We generated the necessary products in an effort to collect all the technical and academic learning opportunity availability through a single portal.  We made the application user friendly and credible. We received feedback from the industry directly effected by the degree and proceeded to adjust the product to meet any additional needs. The product was marketed and the gates to success were opened.

The author writes about how he not only fears for his own life and the life of his wife, but he is afraid that those citizens around him will subjectively identify him as a possible suspect for the bombing because of his race.

The author is attempting to describe not only the reality that one does not easily overcome similar fears from childhood in faraway countries with similar events, but the more upsetting fear of bigoted discrimination and prejudiced retaliation. 

“As a 20-something Pakistani male with dark stubble, would I not fit the bill? I know I look like Hollywood’s favorite post-cold-war movie villain.”

“What was left of the food court was a land frozen in an innocent time, forks still stuck in half-eaten pieces of steak, belongings littered unattended.”

I liked the authors use of strong verbs to keep me interested.

There are so many references to research, and this topic is very ambiguous. I tend to lean toward simplicity, so I liked this link when I stumbled upon it. 

Characteristics of descriptive writing

1. Good descriptive writing includes many vivid sensory details that paint a picture and appeals to all of the reader's senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste when appropriate. Descriptive writing may also paint pictures of the feelings the person, place or thing invokes in the writer. In the video section below, watch a teacher use a Five Senses Graphic Organizer as a planning strategy for descriptive writing.

2. Good descriptive writing often makes use of figurative language such as analogies, similes and metaphors to help paint the picture in the reader's mind.

3. Good descriptive writing uses precise language. General adjectives, nouns, and passive verbs do not have a place in good descriptive writing. Use specific adjectives and nouns and strong action verbs to give life to the picture you are painting in the reader's mind.

4. Good descriptive writing is organized. Some ways to organize descriptive writing include: chronological (time), spatial (location), and order of importance. When describing a person, you might begin with a physical description, followed by how that person thinks, feels and acts.

The next morning, I saw the old Chief slipping out into the bush through the back of the camp. I asked one of the loggers, “So, where is our chef headed”? Ol' Jimbo smiled and responded, “His trap-line, but he will be back in time to make supper”. It was in that moment I knew even a Scotch-Irish immigrant such as myself had a shot at cooking something tasty, knowing that the Chief could do it with nothing more than what he found on the ground. I did get to know the old Indian, whose given name was Wilbur, and I still have his hubcap. I used to speculate what kind of north bush entree he would come up with next?

She was an executive from Wisconsin and said she had done some jeeping in Moab, so I assumed that she was up for the challenge she desired. After about an hour of driving up there on paved and gravel roads, we finally began the 20-mph ebb and flow of Hackett’s radical rolling terrain as we headed for the river about 8 miles away. We could hear the Jeep creak and pop as the suspension became fully extended on tight radius turns. I could see peripherally that my Packer pal had tight hold of the sissy bar bolted into the dash, and she was leaning like a motorcycle rider in the constricted curves. She had stopped talking as soon as we hit the trail, and I thought I could hear the sound of grinding teeth over the jeep engine. We rolled through some of the Haymen burn scar, nervously squeezing under a couple of widow makers as we lumbered along. We were about a mile from the river when we crested over a hilltop on three wheels and immediately plunged 66 degrees into a major drainage chute, home to a few Prius sized boulders. I heard her sucking air and then as she bailed out the side of the jeep, she exclaimed “I don’t think so”!

I stopped and watched for a moment as she rolled down the side of the hill in a cloud of dust and pine needles, thinking about how much safer the Jeep was. She missed all the rocks and trees, finally coming to rest near the bottom of the chute, grabbing her ankle. I crept down to her in the jeep and parked it nose-first into a tree so it would not roll. I worked my way over to her, making sure that I too did not become a victim of the steep topography. She had a few bruises and her ankle was sprained, but she was tough enough to get back into the Jeep knowing it was her only way out of the situation. After she was loaded, I reached into the glove box and asked her if she wanted the blindfold I had retrieved. I received the stink-eye without a smile and took it as a “no”. 

She had little to say all the way to the hospital emergency room. I waited for her release and then returned her to our business office where she was able to drive away. Her final words to me were “Not a word of this to anyone”, to which I nodded my agreement.  I have often wondered since that day about people overcoming fear, and if they ever gathered the intestinal fortitude to get back up on that horse again?

What was I doing last? I smell the gear oil in the shop and catch the crackle of the fire in the big stove. I was using the rolling creeper on the cold floor to get under a car. Yes, my red 1969 Plymouth Barracuda was up on jacks and I was under it cutting off the old exhaust pipe with the acetylene torch. I was done cutting and pushed on the pipe to move it sideways, but instead caused the car to fall off the jacks and crash down on top of me. The first time it bounced, the steering arm hit me squarely on the forehead. The second time it bounced, I felt bones break. The last time my car came down, it pinned me to the cold floor and I could not breathe. I remember looking over at the torch, relieved that it had capped out on the floor and could not burn through any part of my body. I was growing faint from lack of oxygen and knew that I had little time left to do something. No matter how I squirmed or struggled, it became clear that I was not going anywhere. Who would find me? My parents were in Hawaii on winter vacation from the bitter cold of the north country. My sisters were unlikely to check on me, and my Grandparents were not going to be easily coaxed outside in -40-degree temperatures. I wriggled my arms up between the floor and the car frame, slowly pushing and wedging to gain a sliver of breathing room. The pain was unbearable, and I knew something was terribly wrong with me. I could not yell with the heaviness of the automobile on my chest, and who would hear me anyway. It was time to come to terms with my reality, and it dawned on me in that moment why I had never foreseen myself as an old man. This was my time, as if by destiny. Would I see a light, like the end of a dark train tunnel? Would I just go to sleep and never wake up? Why was I so cold? 

Suddenly, I could hear more whispering and I could smell bleach. I slowly tried to open one eye just a little, but there was so much light. I knew I could not be dead because I was in too much pain. I could hear curtains sliding, and the light was no longer so bright. I felt someone pulling on my eyelids, and abruptly I could see a nurse’s face looking down at me. She did not smile, but rather turned away and returned with a doctor. “You had a close call, pal. DOA does not usually end well”, he said. I could only nod, so he continued with the story of how my sister and Grandfather found me on the floor with no sign of life, dug me out from under the car, and rushed me to the hospital in the back of the pickup truck. My body temperature was so low that after a shot of adrenaline to my heart, the ER staff was able to revive me. I had been officially DOA for 9 minutes, but the cold of the north country had saved my life. He resumed his update by saying that all my ribs were cracked, and both collar bones were broken. By this time I realized that I was encased in a mold shaped like a letter T, with my arms outstretched as if to tell a story about the fish I caught. “Give it about a month, and we will have you out of this thing”, he said as he knocked three times on the cast. 

I often saw myself as an old man in the days and years following my return to the shop where I died. I see that old man in the mirror today and wonder if I cheated the devil in some wintry way?

Not unlike myself, Louis is a historian. His effort is to retain history through his writing and storytelling, which will not be altered. We all know that history is rewritten continually by the victors of war, and that which was once taught in history classes years ago has been lost in revision and interpretation. In the event that one wants to know what really happened prior to 1776, there will likely need to be a trip scheduled to the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Louis wants his audience to be entertained, but to also pick up on the fact that this country was lost and found by brave people over several centuries. Primarily, his audience was made up of the working class. He once wrote that his books are for the people who do the work of the world, who struggle to make ends meet, who build, the people who do.

L'Amour has connected with readers primarily through his storytelling talent and his recognition of the continuing power of the West and the frontier in our American imagination. His research and historical accuracy remain unchallenged. Louis characters are never profane, explicit sex goes unmentioned, and his heroes are often extraordinarily well-read for all their machismo. Louis was a prizefighter prior to WWII and fought all over the world in some of the toughest places known to a globetrotting seaman. One of his greatest literary features was his ability to capture in writing the life-like sensation of fist fighting. Conagher, both the book and the movie, display this quality very well. Louis writes his stories in a direct, fast-moving style, with one-dimensional characters and few interior monologues or elaborate descriptive passages. The only images included are those he paints in the reader's mind with his wordsmithing aptitudes.

Louis grew up the son of a salesman in North Dakota, moving out on his own at 15 never to achieve a higher formal education than grade 10. He traveled the world working on freighters at sea before WWII, and for the military an additional 4 years. His experiences included work as a miner, lumberjack, and ranch hand. He won money prizefighting, but also survived through times of homelessness. He didn't beg or steal, just went without. He wanted to express for his readers what it's really like to be hungry. He penned stories about survival and lessons in endurance, having been a survivor most of his life. He learned how to gather the raw material that yields story ideas and the authenticity he prizes. He sought out old gunfighters and outlaws, of which he grew to know 30 or 35 of them personally. He mined the files of small-town newspapers and interviewed ranchers. His authenticity is evident in his writing, and individual gratitude is common on its own page in the back of the book. In the case of Conagher only the name of his interviewee is mentioned, Richard L. Waldo.

His grammatical person is all over the place, mixed to say the least. He has an informal tone and crafts at an adult level, Tier 2 or 3. Louis writes for the laymen about the American Frontier during the 16th to the 20th centuries. To that end his sentences are relatively short and to the point, identifying with the vocabulary and humor of the time period.

Louis L'Amour is one of America's greatest authors, and I hope to inspire others to google him. Personally, I believe strongly in the use of storytelling as the vehicle to retain interest in my writing. I would not find reading modern tax law any more interesting than anyone else, but a story about the experiences of a tax collector in Colonial America may keep me turning pages.

I was 16 years old living on the farm with my parents and grandparents in southern Canada. I was really into muscle cars at that time in my life, and was in the habit of buying, rebuilding, and selling these cars in short order as part of an effort to fund my upcoming college efforts. My father had a big mechanic shop on the remote farm location, and I would spend a great deal of my time working in there on my projects. On this particular cold and wintry day, my parents were away on a trip to Hawaii. I was working on a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda and had rolled it into the shop the night before to warm it up away from the -40-degree temperatures. I had the car jacked up and supported in three places with bottle jacks. Mid-morning the next day, I laid down on the rolling creeper and slid into place under the front of the car, with only my feet showing out from below the front bumper. I had placed the acetylene torch in place prior, and picked it up to begin cutting the exhaust pipe in preparation for the repair. The flint lighter ground out a few sparks and flames burst from the end of the torch tip. I began cutting on the pipe and as I grew close to penetrating through the metal, I applied a little side pressure to increase the gap in the opening. Suddenly, I could sense the car moving sideways and downward as it slowly came off the jacks. I can remember later thinking that it was like watching a car wreck in slow motion. Yet everything happened so quickly, and I had no time to react. The steering arm smacked me on the forehead as the car first bounced on the floor, and I recall the torch capping out on the cement surface beside my head. The second bounce brought incredible pain to my chest, and then the car came to rest on my ribcage. I tried to put upward pressure against the weight of the car, but slowly the heaviness of the Plymouth came to rest upon my chest. My head was swimming, and I could not gasp for air anymore. I remember thinking this was what it was like to die, and that is why I had never envisioned myself as an old man. 

My sister found me roughly 45 minutes later when she came out to call me in for lunch. She immediately fetched my grandfather, who jacked up the car and pulled me out. I had no pulse nor any sign of life, so they threw me in the back of the pickup truck and took off for the hospital. The thirty-minute drive was shortened to twenty by my frantic patriarch, sliding over the icy roads in near -30-degree temperatures. Upon arriving at the hospital, I was pronounced DOA. Fortunately, the attending doctor had some experience with extreme cold and emergency response. My body core temperature was well below normal, and for that reason he did not stop trying to revive me. They gave me a shot of adrenaline in my heart and continued to work on me for 10 minutes before they finally received sign of life. 30 minutes later I was breathing on my own in a cold bathtub, although still unconscious.

Ironically it was the cold temperatures I hated so much that had saved my life. I woke up peering into the face of a less than attractive nurse, but one who I was never so happy to see. I had cracked every rib down both sides, broken both my collar bones, and suffered a concussion. I was in a T-cast that made me look like Christ on a Cross. Somehow, I had survived the experience with only minor brain damage due to oxygen deprivation (that is my story and I am sticking to it). I was released from the hospital a week later, followed by the cast off in 13 days. My parents discovered the story of my survival upon their return and although they were not very happy with me, they were relieved at the result of the story we had kept from them. 

Since that experience, I have indeed seen myself as an old man. I like to think I cheated the devil that cold, wintry day.

Food preparation and sharing is not only about creating memories, but also the creation of a safe place in the house where any topic can be broached. The kitchen becomes the hub of family life, where rituals are passed down and confidence can grow. The act of cooking itself becomes secondary to the conception of tradition. 

Food preparation and sharing will also take the voyage full circle, not unlike the last supper. I often wondered about what my last meal would look like, and recall sitting around the hunting party campfire listening to my elders tell tales of old while preparing supper. I recollect learning a great deal from them, and missing the ones that were not able to return the following years. I remember those feasts as well as Christmas Goose with my grandmothers. 

After reading this source, I can make several personal connections with Guad’s story about food preparation. For instance, he refers to how “My parents were at their ropes end with me and would send me to Aunt Boo to straighten me out” (Guad, 2018). The number of times I experienced that very action with my relatives was countless. However, little did my parent know that I enjoyed the experience and found an attachment to the wisdom in my old kinfolk. They knew how to calm a hyper child through task redundancy in the kitchen and storytelling, boosting confidence while expanding a cranium. Guad touches on a vital cultural topic when referring to the loss of family tradition. For example, he refers to his aunt wearing an apron most everywhere with a koozie tucked in the front pocket, and her Louisiana cuisine always started with a proper roux having the color of a flooded bayou. The process takes time, and forces an impatient teenager to focus, standing still in one spot stirring while listening to stories from the elders. 

I recall my aunt bustling about in the kitchen singing the lyrics accurately to songs from 50 years prior, frustrated because she could not remember where she left the car keys. Life is like that as we get older, and this research reminded me of the value tied to wisdom. There are times when we learn something brand new, and others when we are relieved to know that we are still on the right track. I am reassured that there is a direct link between storytelling and food preparation, both culturally and functionally. The tacit knowledge passed down from generation to generation while cooking and eating together is invaluable. Surely, we all have people that we can benefit from, either as a student or as a teacher. 

Guad, David. “To be a cook, is to be a storyteller.” TEDxTysonsSalon. June 2018,

 

After reading this source, I noticed how the author is successful at incorporating the passion of cooking with behavior and structure. For example, she refers to one of the sons peeling a potato, and how “peeling the potato and feeling the texture of that potato, calmed him down” (Quinn, 2015). She continues to make reference to how we all have recollections of memories that are triggered by the senses, and none are as powerful as those coming from the kitchen. I have an adult step-son who is mentally and physically disabled, and we spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking, cleaning and visiting. He loves to participate in food preparation as it offers him clear structure and repetition. It does not matter if we are baking cookies or cranking out baby back ribs, once he dawns that manly BBQ apron, there is no way to wipe that smile off his face. Quinn is deliberate in her inclusion of the positive long-term effects felt by her family tied to their experiences with wholesome cooking. 

I look back on the research for this and other related posts, and find shared terms. There appears to be a clear correlation between food preparation, the kitchen, home cooking, and storytelling. Emerging from this is the busy structure that creates favorable behavior, reinforcing ritual and balance in life. For myself, cooking remains a powerful means of communication and personal well-being. This research has taught me to stay the course, continuing the effort of maintaining stability within our family unit. I am relieved to see the similarities shared by both professional chefs and veteran homemakers in an effort to enhance the health and happiness of others. I would be willing to bet that we all know someone who could benefit from the behavioral structure associated with home cooking, even if there is a mirror involved.

Quinn, Lucinda. “The Power of Home Cooking.” TEDxRVA. July 2015,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp337KHF4G0
 

 In the publication “Coming Together”, Sharon Boone expands on the talents of the Smollett family. Residing in Los Angeles, their talents range from TV writer-producers, to actor-musicians and chef–TV personalities. Boone explains how the family crisscrossed America 13 times, enveloping the cooking styles of many locations and ethnicities. The author explains that food was always the center of their celebrations and family life, and how the matriarch would build the family table from scratch at each new home, always too big to be moved on to the next. Correspondingly, it was no surprise to learn that she was in charge of quality control when the family decided to create a cookbook for publication. Boone notes the cultural lean toward New Orleans style cuisine adopted by the Smollett’s, and how they reflect their history through culinary innovation. Further, the author recognizes the family's identification with the relationship between cooking, music, and people.

After reading this, I can make several personal connections to Boone’s recognition of the relationship between cooking, music, and people. We all know that musical memories run rampant through our minds and that the smells of different foods cooking will trigger the senses. I am intrigued by this research data because it finds a correlation between music and food, something I always subliminally knew but was never able to put my finger on. Boone breathes life into this article through family member quotes and storytelling of adventures. The New Orleans connection really ties it all together with the existing global recognition for its music and cuisine. The author nails it with Jussie’s statement, “It's because when you walk down the streets of New Orleans you feel that history, you smell that history, you taste that history, you hear that history”(Boone, 2018). I spent many New Year’s Eve celebrations watching my father make music with Pete Fountain in the French Quarter. There is no place like New Orleans.

I am of Scotch Irish heritage and recall watching my great aunts cooking in the kitchen while singing a host of Gaelic tunes. I have worked within the confines of many a restaurant galley with the ethnic theme music reverberating throughout. To this day, someone from my family will always turn on music before we sit down to eat a meal. My Dad had a variety band I played in with him for 13 years, and we would receive bookings for everything from paddlewheel riverboat tours to weddings. Ukrainian weddings were the best because they lasted all weekend with three bands cranking out music 24/7. The food was to die for, and the presentation was overwhelming, but what really amazed me was watching the waiters dancing while carrying the food to and from the kitchen. I often wondered about the correlation between music and cooking, and if others have experienced this phenomenon. 

Work cited:

BOONE, SHARON R., et al. “Coming Together.” Essence, vol. 49, no. 3, July 2018, pp. 148–151. EBSCOhost, 

frccwc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=130274123&site=ehost-live.

 

 

 

In the article, “Kitchen Therapy a Recipe for Life”, Charlotte Hastings tells of her experience as a psychodynamic therapist utilizing cooking as her gateway. She employs contrasting colors and fragrances into her description of how combining the coincidental compatibility of food and storytelling to develop a way of using the relationship with food and its preparation as a therapeutic medium, which she calls Kitchen Therapy. The author discusses how humans are social but meaningful creatures, referring to the primal merger that links thinking with digestion, and the emotion we cook with enchanting the food we eat. However, she also touches on gender difference generalizations and the tendencies of the individual, identifying many tough cases overcoming shortfalls in organization and courage. Hastings concludes by writing that making a meal tells a complete story, with a beginning, middle, and end; that cooking and storytelling are profoundly interconnected and therapeutic. 

After reading this, I can make several personal connections to Hastings’s recognition of the relationship between cooking, storytelling, and people. In answer to her question about remembering a meal I recently thoroughly enjoyed, I always have strong memories of the people we ate with and the place and ambiance around the meal. Her reference to “The power of cooking to reveal our process and connect us to the heart of ourselves is like the power of music to move us to tears; it is a uniquely human phenomenon” (Hastings, 2019), ties in directly to my theory that cooking, storytelling and music are all intertwined to create some of our most powerful memories. I utilize cooking and music with my mentally handicapped step-son who needs the structure and repetition of cooking to expand his horizons and develop his self-esteem. It does take courage to try something new, and cooking also requires the organization of following recipe directions and ingredient preparation. All of this is made easier and more entertaining with the introduction of music as a means of calming the anxiety of attempting something new.

Now that I have completed this my 6^th research project on the topic of food preparation and cooking, I am absolutely convinced that there is an undeniable correlation between cooking, music, and storytelling. The research supports my own experiences utilizing this connection with disabled folks, and even for myself I find cooking to be rewarding and a deflection from my normal workaday lifestyle. The anxiety of today’s challenges simply melt away with the initiation of a new cooking project, good music, and someone to share stories with. I am curious to know if others have enjoyed similar experiences.

Work cited:

Hastings, Charlotte. “Kitchen Therapy a Recipe for Life.” Therapy Today, vol. 30, no. 9, Nov. 2019, pp. 32–35. EBSCOhost, frccwc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=139281051&site=ehost-live.

 

I did learn some of the basics tied to commas, apostrophes, fragments, verbs, run-on sentences and other mechanics. I learned how to use padlet and screencast, and how to use these tools to post and report. I did learn how to read rhetorically and write descriptively. I was able to activate my schema and discovered new methods to research, even through the college library. I have certainly been given the opportunity to expand my cranium. 

I have been taking online courses for three years at FRCC, and this is the first experience I have had with a course outline such as it is. I am discovering that I have to invest 10x the amount of effort to attain the three credits for this course by comparison with any other 100 and 200 classes I have taken thus far. I can not take a textbook with me to work to study at lunch because there is no text book. Since I work in an area that has no cellular or wifi connectivity, I have to do all of my work on this course after I return home from a 10-hour day at my employment. Other courses are opened up completely right from the start, and students are allowed to get ahead of the class schedule so as to offer greater flexibility for working adults. I am learning as much in this class as I am in other 100 and 200 classes, but I wish it was not at the expense of my family who have to sit on the back burner for another two months while I complete this 3-credit course. 

I know that I am old school, and some of this is new to me. I am doing well in this course and learning as I go. I do not like to skim through my research or reading assignments, but I find that I do not have the four hours per day available to me that are necessary to complete the 30 tasks per week as scheduled. To that end I am forced to skim and power surf through a lot of the relative data. The challenge has not been the learning, but rather finding the time to learn and complete the schedule. The rigidity of the lock and unlock schedule further handicaps my ability as a working adult learner, with more available time on the weekends than during the week to complete tasks. I wonder about all these things and hope they  can be massaged to make the experience better for the next class.

OL Mac

Genre Conventions:

PURPOSE:

ELEMENTS OF THE GENRE:

The author focuses on the relationship between food preparation and family memory creation ties to storytelling. The Writing is easy to follow and has no set pattern. 

AUDIENCE:

STYLE

RHETORICAL APPEALS:

DESIGN:

MODES and MEDIA: 

SOURCES:

Wonder:

 

I began this process thinking about creating memories with cooking. My origin story about the boiling cauldron in a logging camp was a good place to launch. However, as the research assignments came rolling through, my perspective began to shift with the new information I was uncovering. Cooking could be therapeutic and cultural beyond ethnicity. Throwing music and family into the recipe creates something more than just food preparation. 

“My parents were at their ropes end with me and would send me to Aunt Boo to straighten me out” (Guad). This quote got me thinking more about how cooking is therapeutic, as the author discovered with Aunt Boo in her kitchen listening to stories while preparing food. This was further developed in  The Power of Home Cooking when the author refers to “peeling the potato and feeling the texture of that potato, calmed him down” (Quinn).

Although I am well on my way to settling upon my idea topic, I remain puzzled by the correlation between food, music, storytelling, and kitchen therapy. I am not sure that I can or should bring all these topics together under one umbrella. Additional research will likely source the answer to that question. My hope is to create a document that will entice others to think deeply about this correlation and practice it in their home. I can only speak from my experience, but there is nothing more entertaining than watching people dancing and singing spontaneously while cooking in the kitchen. Simultaneously, the lessons learned and stories shared in our kitchens are the tides that bind, and offer courage as well as innovation. 

This course has taught me that here in the 21^st century, research material is infinite. The credibility and authority of data sources are vital, and academia has very high standards to meet. The FRCC library and other research sources are numerous and all-encompassing. I continue to ascertain the depth of available options for inquiry I am conducting. 

 

Guad, David. “To be a cook, is to be a storyteller.” TEDxTysonsSalon. June 2018,

 

Quinn, Lucinda. “The Power of Home Cooking.” TEDxRVA. July 2015,

 

I give the guys 1 hour to complete as many of the 100 questions as possible. I do not score the survey, but I do look at their answers to establish where they are having issues. In the week that follows, I either meet with them or have a virtual meeting with them individually about the survey results, and gather their opinions about potential improvements we could entertain. Confidentiality is important to them, so they are not recorded, and I do not take notes in their presence.

The process works well in establishing their basic technical knowledge of a critical topic, and further provides them with the opportunity to voice their thoughts and feel included in our processes. I have multiple surveys for a host of different topics that apply to our industry. The more surveys they fill out, the better they do and the easier it is for them to open up and communicate their thoughts. Repetition equals ritual and becomes almost second nature, creating a mentally instinctive response to tasks as they happen in real time. There are many benefits to this process, and for me it brings up the level of cohesiveness within the teams. 

What elements must a Throughline contain?

List two quotes or examples that stick out to you. 

According to Anderson, what should a Throughline be?

How is a Throughline different than a "topic"?

Take what you know and have heard about thesis statements and compare the two. Is a throughline the same as a thesis? How is different?

What are the components of the "right way" to write a TED Talk?

What is the difference between an issue and an idea?

What comes after you have your Throughline?

I know little of media tools, and this may be the most difficult aspect of this project. I am comfortable with the Screencast-o-Matic application and have in the past used power-point, video editors, and voice over. I will likely utilize youtube for publication. 

I have a number of video clips, ted talks, and pictures for reference throughout the presentation. I am still fine-tuning the process of composition, and any input from anyone reading this will be appreciated by this old gummer.

I will follow a basic format of introduction, body, and conclusion. The hook will not likely be the challenge, nor will the stories as that is what we moldy oldies bring to the table. I will need to simplify my throughline as the vastness of the topic could easily become overwhelming. 

     I can not say that my idea is TED worthy. My idea came to the surface as the result of realizing something innovative that took place and further identifying with the methodology. I am not implying that I am wise, but rather that the characteristics of wisdom made the methodology possible, that being the combination of experience and knowledge. Networking and collaborating with academics created a potential formula for success. Connecting and sharing further with people of experience and expertise brought the idea to fruition, creating an incredible opportunity for thousands of trade technicians. It proves that people can accomplish amazing things if they are willing to continue learning. It is possible to become book-smart and street-smart in a crosswalk as students of life, for life.

 The human metamorphosis of knowledge comes to us in stages, beginning as we learn and become book smart starting at a very young age. We continue learning as we mature into phases of adulthood, exercising options (if we are willing) to explore and experience our world, discerning intelligence from our victories as well as our defeats. Upon adding life experience to academic knowledge, we begin to weave the web of wisdom. The process is reciprocal and compounding in nature. With this type of momentum, I believe we should continue to learn as if we are going to live forever.