fascination facilitates learning

There is a great youtube video in which a woman named Amy Walker demonstrated various accents. She was brilliant, but especially so in a separate video in which she taught how to learn accents well: You must be fascinated in them, she asserted. If you are not, you will not pay attention to the accents, the speakers, and why they speak as they do. You will not observe, analyze, and practice. When she went on to describe five categories of an accent, she suggested that the listener start with the component he or she is most interested in, and add the rest later.

These ideas–the need for fascination with the material and the suggestion of starting study at the point of greatest interest–are exceptionally good advice. Learning does not have to follow someone else’s starting and stopping points. Once you have absorbed the stickiest knowledge, you have a framework with gaps to fill in, and filling in gaps is interesting because it resolves questions.

Intelligence involves curiosity and persistence, which are practically synonymous with fascination. This alone may be good reason to pursue what most interests you, and find the aspects of the material that fascinate you.

Amy Walker used another pedagogical strategy without mentioning it, by the way, and that was repetition. By the time you listen to the accents clip, you are not likely to forget her name.

crazy heart

Jeff Bridges was cast as an alcoholic country music artist in the 2009 movie Crazy Heart. The story involved a singer-songwriter’s  slide toward death, and late redemption. He finds and loses the love of a writer played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and having abandoned his own four-year-old son years before, he connects with her child of the same age.

The movie was strong on several levels: It portrayed alcohol dependence well. It dealt with fatherhood and psychological maturity. It had a theme of fulfilling one’s promise, or not, based on being able to cope and function adaptively.

When I was young, I thought there was honor in being a misfit. The idea of being a brooding, troubled rebel seemed romantic. With the counterculture as a backdrop, and an insistence on doing things my way, I saw little but hypocrisy in becoming part of what was called “the establishment.” Although I no longer idealize being troubled, I still find it a challenge to follow advice, make wise choices, have patience, and be disciplined. Crazy Heart made me think about these issues again.

awesome things

Just discovered The Book of Awesome, which is a fun collection of descriptions of lucky events, such as finding the short line in the grocery store, not getting a parking ticket when you could have, and showing up late but finding that the other person is later. It also makes note of a variety of potentially precious or enjoyable experiences, such as summer nights, fun moments with others, or getting close to the weekend. Overall, it is a good reminder about being grateful for small joys, such as finding a cool book like that. It makes me want to list some awesome things myself:

1. Sharing genuine love and affection with your significant other.

2. Babbling back and forth with a child who likes nothing better than to be with you.

3. Reaching your family on the phone when you want to and getting to talk with them a long time.

4. Being in the yard watering plants in the yellow glow of the very late afternoon sun.

5. Coffee, oatmeal, and a blank page, with early morning sun filtering in the windows.

6. A good book and a bunch of pillows in bed.

7. The moment that a song comes on that you absolutely have to get up and dance to, and you do.

8. Feeling very connected with the small group of friends you are with.

9. Sitting in the hottub at night.

10. Browsing in a bookstore on a Sunday afternoon with a cappuccino.

11. Finding a great sushi chef with a fellow sushi fanatic.

12. Being at a beach in any weather on any day at any time.