Wonder or Wander

The speaker talked mainly about work conditions for migrant manual workers. Among the topics he mentions, I note about domestic workers. Domestic workers, the majority of whom are Philippines, had been excluded from health/safety access because house was not considered as a work place. Through a campaign, health/safety regulations for the workers became legitimatized. I asked about skilled workers: Skilled workers may have work conditions as good as Canadians, but they may face similar situations that jeopardize their jobs. Where can these people go for help? Usually there are only a handful migrant skilled workers in an entire company and isolated from each other. When something comes up, it tends to be treated as a special case, relatively not-so-serious, and thus there are hardly collective resources where they can refer. I remember an online forum that skilled workers who are on the process of immigration share individual information in a pool to accumulate cases. A problem I see i...

Dear Dr. Kincheloe, I have encountered your emphasis on multiperspectivism several times, but I am not quite sure whether I understood the essence. I might include some other perspectives strategically as a vehicle to argue deficits of each perspective and assert my own. But I guess this is not what you meant. In addition, I wonder how I can maneuver this cubism as I limited on my subjectivity and won't give equal, or near equal emphasis to those perspectives. Don't I have my own questions and angles even before conducting research? Would you phrase your insight to this dilemma that I feel? Also, it seems that I am undertaking historiographical research for my term paper, not history itself, strictly speaking. Is it correct? Best regards, Kay ------------------ Bricolage comes across multiple levels from theoretical grounds to methodological strategies. For instance, interpreting a phenomenon without social theories will impoverish research and taking perspectives from critical...

Hannah Arendt. (1968). NY: Harcourt, Brace & World. "People remembered everything, but forgot what mattered," the author wrote somewhere in her essays about Rosa Luxemburg or Bretolt Brecht. I also like a quote from Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919), "I have a cursed longing for happiness and am ready to haggle for my daily portion of happiness with all the stubbornness of a mule," in a letter designated to Jogiches, her cursed husband, which shows her natural force of a temperament, according to Arendt. Luxemburg, non-orthodox Marxist, was not so dogmatic to see the world based upon the dialectic theory and saw torture of negros in South Africa, the author argues. Arendt differentiates Luxemburg from Bolsheviks in that she preferred an unsuccessful revolution to a deformed one, where the people hold neither power nor voice. Arendt brings Sartre's shockingly precise description of after-WW II into the context where Bretolt Brecht (1898-1956), "gifted with a ...

There are six chairs in the dining table. Whom I will invite? Make up a list. Stay awakened at night and link about it.

When I know what I do and em expected to do, I am in charge. I think of the Video-Telling workshop, where I gathered all the resources I could possibly reach. Some succeeded and some didn't. When being in charge has a counterpart or anti-thesis that intends to empower others, one get empowered. It is a mutual process that two parts grow symbiotically. The beginning of the workshop was a meager attempt without envisioning its consequences, but once embarked, I simply could not let it happen. As philosophical journey brings about questions that researchers need to ask and leads to methodology to undertake, the outline of the workshop just came to the bottom of my mind and I simply answered without being tired.

by Bertold Brecht(translated from German by H. R. Hays) (Retrived from http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~flouris/docs/brecht1.html) 1. Indeed I live in the dark ages! A guileless word is an absurdity. A smooth forehead betokens A hard heart. He who laughs Has not yet heard The terrible tidings. Ah, what an age it is When to speak of trees is almost a crime For it is a kind of silence about injustice! And he who walks calmly across the street, Is he not out of reach of his friends In trouble? It is true: I earn my living But, believe me, it is only an accident. Nothing that I do entitles me to eat my fill. By chance I was spared. (If my luck leaves me I am lost.) They tell me: eat and drink. Be glad you have it! But how can I eat and drink When my food is snatched from the hungry And my glass of water belongs to the thirsty? And yet I eat and drink. I would gladly be wise. The old books tell us what wisdom is: Avoid the strife of the world Live out your little time Fearing no on...

German Jewish political theorist (1906-1975). I just read the preface of Men in Dark Times (1968). It is condense and deep. She mentions that persons throughout the history have one common thing: they hardly knew each other. The realities of the dark times, which she calls the first twentieth century, were covered up by 'efficient talk' and 'double-talk' by official representatives who hid certain facts and justified certain actions, she argues. She introduces the realities by borrowing the poem, "To Posteristy," by Brecht. She develops the idea of talk by tapping into Heidegger's notion of 'mere talk.' She paraphrases his description of human existence and existential condition: the power of 'mere talk' annihilates authenticity of every day life and meaningful sense for the future and all this obfuscation is performed in public realm. Finally she propses her idea on this dark times. She believes the power of ordinary people's resisten...

Hello Kay, Here is my response to your 3rd journal. In your time here, you will hear many things about what to do or how to be, especially in the pro-seminar since it is in part devoted to the subject of doctoral being and becoming, but the question of "when" as well as what you feel comfortable with is in your hands. A forced or preempted learning process is a contradiction in terms. Not only will you not enjoy it but it just won't bear the same fruit. I mean, it's possible to look at the doctorate+ as a career--and in a very pragmatic sense, it is, as signaled by the tenure dossier in an academic timeline, mandatory within 5 years of being hired as tenure-track--but it is much more than that; much, much more. Don't worry. Keep a good relationship with your supervisor; talk to her about substantive subjects; write about what you talk about and develop your own thinking (what you agree with/don't agree with); write; read; talk with your colleagues in/out of c...

I strongly believe that knowledge gained through informal encounters will constitute my perspectives and groundwork for my research. Mr. Choudry's 'Meet the Neighbors' is good because I get to gain not only informal knowledge but also some information about this new country. Last week, the meeting was about national security that works as counter-terrorism and threatens immigrants' right in this nation. Today the meeting was held by a Canadian post office union educator. He talked about different ways of educating the workers. One thing he mentioned was the language use of 'employees', which is directly translated as 'used' in French. In the 70s, even in the parlement, 'workers' were prevalent, but now, 'employees', 'associates' or 'colleagues' are predominent and kindeness disgues underlying conflicts and tensions.