Sunday, February 25, 2018

A Story of Puddles and Rainbows

I CAN MOVE ON... I still remember those famous last words in the final good bye I told you. A puddle of tears welled in my eyes because I knew that time that my once happy world would never be the same again.

But still I remember the days when we first exchanged words and smiled at each other. I remember when we ate together and watched movie together. I remember your surprises. I remember when we held hands as we walked down that empty road on a sunset. I remember the late evenings we talked over the phone about sweet nothings.

But not all people stay, not all stories end happily ever after. That day when we parted ways, I walked away and kissed the first man I bumped into. Okay, lying aside, I actually slept with the memory of you and woke up with the memory of you. I went to the park and looked for you. No, it was actually you that I saw in all their faces. I drank much, talked much, and laughed much. And when I got home, I cried rivers.

But one day I woke up without the memories of you. I retrieved one but it looked as delicate as the soft edges of an old photograph. I still saw your face and your smile, but they did not cut my heart the way they did then. I looked at the mirror, took a flight of stairs, and I passed by the places we went together, but they did not make my heart break again. After all, they were just places.

But here I am writing about you once more. But instead of writing a perfect metaphor about your eyes or an abstract attribution about how your love used to hold my heart, I am writing this piece to deliver eulogy to a memory that is very soon to be placed in its proper place... away where it will not hurt anymore... to the catacombs of the past.

I CAN MOVE ON... I still remember those famous last words in the final good bye I told you. A puddle of tears welled in my eyes, but this time I know, as the saying goes, there is a rainbow always after the rain.


A beautiful promise. I captured this rainbow two years ago.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Spasibo, Daddy Vygotsky!

I am sure that such terms as Scaffolding, and of course, the Zone of Proximal Development, will not be missed in discussions of contributions of Lev Vygotsky in educational psychology. But other than those widely popular concepts attributed to him, how much do we know his concepts further?

I was mystified - and am still mystified until today - with the enduring concepts of brilliant psychologists in history like Lev Vygotsky. I used to teach a topic of him a few years back, but my past knowledge about his ideas pale in shame this time as I digested these books for my course requirements:


Vygotsky and more, anyone?

For that shameful reason, allow my notes get into this online space as I share to you some, just some, of the extended concepts I learned. Take note of the capitalized words as I am either introducing them or discussing them with some twist as Lev Vygotsky was "weird" indeed in his ideas.

One of the most quoted statement of Vygotsky has been the GENERAL GENETIC LAW OF CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT which states that “any function in the child’s cultural development appears twice or on two planes… it appears first between people as an intermental category, and then within the child as an intramental category.” Though this statement appears to be simple, it actually opens a can of worms I need to tediously study. It elaborates the social and individual planes where cognitive development occurs. It touches the two major concepts of internalization process and appropriation process.

The most important and perhaps the most popular of his psychological discovery is the ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT. Instead of discussing it, I focused mainly on what people do not usually know. While recognizing that a child can accomplish more with scaffold, it was claimed that the potential of the child – even with help – is limited. This makes sense though. I believe ZPD is one of the most misunderstood concept of Vygotsky. Many parents believe that children can do so much with ZPD to the point that they push children to learn what is beyond their range or level. I pity these children who had to suffer the pressure early. We must educate parents.

The analysis of Vygotsky about PLAY is also interesting than most common that we know about it. Though he wrote so little on the topic, it is more evocative than definitive. My interest in this portion was piqued around the paradoxes about play. I am taking liberty to quote him once from the books about these paradoxes: “In one sense a child at play is free to determine his own actions. But in another sense this is an illusory freedom, for his actions are in fact subordinated to meanings of things, and he acts accordingly.” Alright, freedom but no freedom! 

We can merrily express "spasibo" or thanks the Russian way to Lev Vygotsky for the concepts of Scaffolding and of course, the Zone of Proximal Development, and all the rest. It is good to explore farther than the horizon our eyes can view although a synthesis like this post would not be enough capture the entirety of his bright ideas. And other than that, synthesizing bright ideas is never an easy task. 

For now, going back to the reality of life, wish me the best of luck on my oral report on this topic. This is funny but I feel nervous just thinking about it.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Getting Older - and Wiser - in a Smaller World

They say that as you get older, you prefer to keep a few friends and live a low key presence. Oh well, if that is the case, I must be getting older lately. 

If you are my friend who used to know my personal daily ramblings in the social media in the late years, you probably wonder why I ever had to publicly known deleting strangers in my social media account or not replying to your message. Your coming to this hidden space should answer some of your musings, but which I doubt not even actually one or two of you would know since there are no regular lurkers in this blog. 

Many times there came some point in my life when I just want to cut myself a slack from all these things in the social world. I do not know if this feeling is just mine but whenever I read trivialities, stresses and disappointments in the social media, I feel so trivial, stressed and disappointed, too. Apparently negative vibes attract negative reactions, and I cannot afford to mind these things around at this time. I want to have undivided attention pinned instead on worthy and essential things. 

Sometimes also I imagine making myself scarce to the prying eyes of the public for the whole year like nobody would know how my school semester ended or where in the world am I spending my holidays. I need some silence about myself. I want to keep away from the buzz of social circuit. I desire a serene escape that people would likely wonder that I am alone and away until they will be used to my unseen existence like nothing. And they, too, would go on with their respective businesses of living. 

I may sound like cutting ties, burning bridges, or shooing away people - whatever you call that. Well, I am not. This is just my own way of keeping a smaller world that is manageable, which in the process should put people in the right corners. Well, that includes filtering messages, unfollowing some people, and deactivating other social media accounts. As my rule in keeping a house simply reminds: Keep things - and people - in proper places. 

A small world should be big enough for a man who is getting older - and I hope to say - a man who is getting wiser.