I've decided to start a new series of posts, on the subject of Why People Don't Get Unschooling (I have a strong urge to write that Twitter style: #WhyPeopleDon'tGetUnschooling). We all know how many misconceptions about unschooling there are, how many questions people have, but I think it's also interesting to explore why people have these reactions, and what myths are commonly believed that inhibit people's understanding of life learning.
Welcome to post #1: Don't Trust Yourself!
“All I am saying ... can be summed up in two words: Trust Children. Nothing could be more simple, or more difficult. Difficult because to trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves, and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.” ~ John Holt
I think that quote sums it up nicely: as children, people are taught not to trust themselves. Taught that they don't know what's best for themselves; are incapable of making even the most basic decisions (like what to wear or when to eat); are unable to learn by their own volition, or to know what they should learn at any given time; and are just generally untrustworthy. This message, that they are incapable and untrustworthy, is pounded into people throughout their childhood and teenage years. Then suddenly, as Adults, they're expected to be both capable and trustworthy. As if a switch has suddenly been turned in their head from the "irresponsible" setting to the "responsible" one! I suppose it's little wonder that many people continue to make themselves dependent on various institutions, on their workplaces, throughout their lives... They don't know how to live without turning to a higher/outside authority. They don't know how to trust themselves.
So what we're doing when we ask people to accept unschooling, is to not only accept the idea that parents are trustworthy, and thus capable of making decisions about their children's education (a hard enough concept as it is, as evidenced by this comment I once came across in response to an unschooling article: "how do people have the arrogance to say that parents know what is best for their children?"), but that the children themselves are deserving of trust, and capable of pursuing their own education.
That's a pretty big thing for people to swallow. Hell, it's a pretty big thing for unschooling parents to come to terms with: the fact that, despite everything they've been taught, they are worthy of trust, and quite able to choose a much freer, more consensual way of living for their children and themselves, and their children are quite capable of blossoming in just such an environment. Even for the unschoolers themselves it's difficult, since even if their parents are supportive of unschooling (and there are definitely instances where this isn't the case), the rest of the world is sending those same dis-empowering messages to them. Our society seems determined to keep people from realizing and acting on their own power. In trusting ourselves, and trusting our children (and by "our" I mean children collectively, not just the ones who share some of your DNA), we take a big step forward in reclaiming that power.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Unschooling, Blogging, & Visions of the Future... Some Clarifications.
There have been some interesting comments on my last unschooling post! And several things said lead me to want to elaborate on a few things...
Each post I write is fairly self contained. I usually focus on *one* thing. It's a single post amongst a much larger body of writing to be found on this blog. So I do not try and talk about absolutely everything that could be related to anything I'm saying about the main point of the post. That would lead to very long, rambling, and unpleasant to read posts. I also don't tend to add disclaimers. I think that much of the time, disclaimer type comments thrown in are distracting and weaken the impact of a post, so I only add that type of comment when it actually seems to make sense to do so.
Because I didn't mention something in one post, does not mean that I've never thought of it/about it before. I love hearing from readers and getting a variety of opinions! But I do feel slightly insulted when people post comments telling me I must have NEVER EVER thought of socioeconomic factors, or that I must have never thought of the fact some families are single-parent. Really? I always feel bad when I get comments like that. So please do bring up aspects that you feel might have been overlooked in a post, I just ask that if it's something very obvious, like the fact that many people have a low income, you assume the best: that I have considered it myself, so don't approach it in a way that suggests I must have never thought of it!
When I say "unschooling should be available to everyone", I think it's important to note the "should". I also say that I believe every child is capable of being, and deserves to be, in control of their own education. What I've never said is that unschooling is currently available for every individual, because it's not. But instead of saying, as many seem to, that because it's currently not available for every individual unschooling (and freeschooling), isn't the answer (not sure how that logic works), I simply see there being lots of work that needs to be done to make freedom-based education available for all! I feel like that's what I'm working towards, both with local projects I'm involving myself in (and I should point out that the local people working for educational freedom are very conscious of social factors and very involved in social justice work) and the advocacy for unschooling that I do. I see myself as part of a movement towards a far more egalitarian future, and since I think education is a very important part of that movement, and something I'm passionate about, that's what I'm focusing on right now. Note that I say part of a movement towards an egalitarian future. Because I don't talk much about my other social/political views on this blog, perhaps it's easy for people to forget about them, and maybe think that when I talk about universal unschooling I'm envisioning this exact same way of living, only with unschooling instead of school. That could not be further from the truth. I'm talking about entire social transformation, radical decentralization, autonomous communities, etc. And within that framework, I see unschooling as naturally becoming the default. And a good way of moving towards a different way of living is building/creating as many positive alternatives to the current way of doing things as we can, I believe. Showing in as many ways as we can that other realities are possible and attainable. I see unschooling and freeschooling as part of this.
Also, I feel like I throw in the word "freeschooling" a lot, and I'm not even sure all of my readers know what that is, so I apologize for that, and do plan to write a post on it eventually (the shortest and least complete answer I can give is that freeschooling is basically unschooling in a building, or close to it). Basically why I like mentioning it is because I see freeschooling as a great answer for families that are unable to stay home with their kids when they're young, and for teens who really prefer to spend their days in a group environment. I think it would be marvelous if there was a freeschool in every community!
I hope this clears up a few things, clarifies some of what I've said in the past... I always strive to be as clear in what I write on this blog as I can!
Each post I write is fairly self contained. I usually focus on *one* thing. It's a single post amongst a much larger body of writing to be found on this blog. So I do not try and talk about absolutely everything that could be related to anything I'm saying about the main point of the post. That would lead to very long, rambling, and unpleasant to read posts. I also don't tend to add disclaimers. I think that much of the time, disclaimer type comments thrown in are distracting and weaken the impact of a post, so I only add that type of comment when it actually seems to make sense to do so.
Because I didn't mention something in one post, does not mean that I've never thought of it/about it before. I love hearing from readers and getting a variety of opinions! But I do feel slightly insulted when people post comments telling me I must have NEVER EVER thought of socioeconomic factors, or that I must have never thought of the fact some families are single-parent. Really? I always feel bad when I get comments like that. So please do bring up aspects that you feel might have been overlooked in a post, I just ask that if it's something very obvious, like the fact that many people have a low income, you assume the best: that I have considered it myself, so don't approach it in a way that suggests I must have never thought of it!
When I say "unschooling should be available to everyone", I think it's important to note the "should". I also say that I believe every child is capable of being, and deserves to be, in control of their own education. What I've never said is that unschooling is currently available for every individual, because it's not. But instead of saying, as many seem to, that because it's currently not available for every individual unschooling (and freeschooling), isn't the answer (not sure how that logic works), I simply see there being lots of work that needs to be done to make freedom-based education available for all! I feel like that's what I'm working towards, both with local projects I'm involving myself in (and I should point out that the local people working for educational freedom are very conscious of social factors and very involved in social justice work) and the advocacy for unschooling that I do. I see myself as part of a movement towards a far more egalitarian future, and since I think education is a very important part of that movement, and something I'm passionate about, that's what I'm focusing on right now. Note that I say part of a movement towards an egalitarian future. Because I don't talk much about my other social/political views on this blog, perhaps it's easy for people to forget about them, and maybe think that when I talk about universal unschooling I'm envisioning this exact same way of living, only with unschooling instead of school. That could not be further from the truth. I'm talking about entire social transformation, radical decentralization, autonomous communities, etc. And within that framework, I see unschooling as naturally becoming the default. And a good way of moving towards a different way of living is building/creating as many positive alternatives to the current way of doing things as we can, I believe. Showing in as many ways as we can that other realities are possible and attainable. I see unschooling and freeschooling as part of this.
Also, I feel like I throw in the word "freeschooling" a lot, and I'm not even sure all of my readers know what that is, so I apologize for that, and do plan to write a post on it eventually (the shortest and least complete answer I can give is that freeschooling is basically unschooling in a building, or close to it). Basically why I like mentioning it is because I see freeschooling as a great answer for families that are unable to stay home with their kids when they're young, and for teens who really prefer to spend their days in a group environment. I think it would be marvelous if there was a freeschool in every community!
I hope this clears up a few things, clarifies some of what I've said in the past... I always strive to be as clear in what I write on this blog as I can!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Quotes Make Me Happy
So I figured I'd share some! Many (though not all) of these have been posted recently (as in the last month) on my Facebook page, so if you follow that you may already have seen them. You also might not have. Several of the quotes featured below were found in the book Walking On Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution by Derrick Jensen, which is very good (really. You should read it!).
"On your own, you have to face the responsibility for how you spend time. But in school you don't. What they make you do may obviously be a waste but at least the responsibility isn't charged to your account. School in this respect is, once again, like the army or jail. Once you're in, you may have all kinds of problems but freedom isn't one of them." Jerry farber
"So long as we only believe in the justice of the state, of the law—made by those in power, to serve those in power—so long will we continue to be exploited by those in power." Derrick Jensen
"If you’ve told a child a thousand times and he still does not understand, then it is not the child who is the slow learner." Walter Barbee
"Grades are a problem. On the most general level, they're an explicit acknowledgment that what you're doing is insufficiently interesting or rewarding for you to do it on your own. Nobody ever gave you a grade for learning how to play, how to ride a bicycle, or how to kiss. One of the best ways to destroy love for any of these activities would be through the use of grades, and the coercion and judgment they represent. Grades are a cudgel to bludgeon the unwilling into doing what they don't want to do, an important instrument in inculcating children into a lifelong subservience to whatever authority happens to be thrust over them." Derrick Jensen
"Modern schools & universities push students into habits of depersonalized learning, alienation from nature and sexuality, obedience to hierarchy, fear of authority, self-objectification, & chilling competitiveness. These character traits are the essence of the twisted personality-type of modern industrialism. They are precisely the character traits needed to maintain a social system that is utterly out of touch with nature, sexuality, & real human needs." Arthur Evans
"The function of high school, then, is not so much to communicate knowledge as to oblige children finally to accept the grading system as a measure of their inner excellence. And a function of the self-destructive process in American children is to make them willing to accept not their own, but a variety of other standards, like a grading system, for measuring themselves. It is thus apparent that the way American culture is now integrated it would fall appart if it did not engender feelings of inferiority and worthlessness." Jules Henry
"School is indeed a training for later life not because it teaches the 3 Rs (more or less), but because it instills the essential cultural nightmare fear of failure, envy of success, and absurdity." Jules Henry
"A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker, a raving lunatic." Dresden James
"People don't mind being in prison as long as no one else is free. But stage a jailbreak, and everybody else freaks out." William Deresiewicz
"Schools have not necessarily much to do with education...they are mainly institutions of control where certain basic habits must be inculcated in the young. Education is quite different and has little place in school." Winston Churchill
“School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.” Ivan Illich
“Think of reading like riding a bicycle: One doesn’t consciously name the muscles involved or the particular actions required of each, or the parts of the bicycle, or Newton’s laws of motion, or the physics of gears, or the changes in brain chemistry associated with balance. One gets up on the seat and starts to pedal.” David Albert
"The founding fathers provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't take you." John Updike
"There were no sex classes. No friendship classes. No classes on how to navigate a bureaucracy, build an organization, raise money, create a database, buy a house, love a child, spot a scam, talk someone out of suicide, or figure out what was important to me. Not knowing how to do these things is what messes people up in life, not whether they know algebra or can analyze literature." William Upski Wimsatt
“Children are not our own art products to be turned out well, but their own life work in continual process.” Jan Fortune Wood
"You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." Martin Luther King
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." W. H. Murray
"On your own, you have to face the responsibility for how you spend time. But in school you don't. What they make you do may obviously be a waste but at least the responsibility isn't charged to your account. School in this respect is, once again, like the army or jail. Once you're in, you may have all kinds of problems but freedom isn't one of them." Jerry farber
"So long as we only believe in the justice of the state, of the law—made by those in power, to serve those in power—so long will we continue to be exploited by those in power." Derrick Jensen
"If you’ve told a child a thousand times and he still does not understand, then it is not the child who is the slow learner." Walter Barbee
"Grades are a problem. On the most general level, they're an explicit acknowledgment that what you're doing is insufficiently interesting or rewarding for you to do it on your own. Nobody ever gave you a grade for learning how to play, how to ride a bicycle, or how to kiss. One of the best ways to destroy love for any of these activities would be through the use of grades, and the coercion and judgment they represent. Grades are a cudgel to bludgeon the unwilling into doing what they don't want to do, an important instrument in inculcating children into a lifelong subservience to whatever authority happens to be thrust over them." Derrick Jensen
"Modern schools & universities push students into habits of depersonalized learning, alienation from nature and sexuality, obedience to hierarchy, fear of authority, self-objectification, & chilling competitiveness. These character traits are the essence of the twisted personality-type of modern industrialism. They are precisely the character traits needed to maintain a social system that is utterly out of touch with nature, sexuality, & real human needs." Arthur Evans
"The function of high school, then, is not so much to communicate knowledge as to oblige children finally to accept the grading system as a measure of their inner excellence. And a function of the self-destructive process in American children is to make them willing to accept not their own, but a variety of other standards, like a grading system, for measuring themselves. It is thus apparent that the way American culture is now integrated it would fall appart if it did not engender feelings of inferiority and worthlessness." Jules Henry
"School is indeed a training for later life not because it teaches the 3 Rs (more or less), but because it instills the essential cultural nightmare fear of failure, envy of success, and absurdity." Jules Henry
"A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker, a raving lunatic." Dresden James
"People don't mind being in prison as long as no one else is free. But stage a jailbreak, and everybody else freaks out." William Deresiewicz
"Schools have not necessarily much to do with education...they are mainly institutions of control where certain basic habits must be inculcated in the young. Education is quite different and has little place in school." Winston Churchill
“School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.” Ivan Illich
“Think of reading like riding a bicycle: One doesn’t consciously name the muscles involved or the particular actions required of each, or the parts of the bicycle, or Newton’s laws of motion, or the physics of gears, or the changes in brain chemistry associated with balance. One gets up on the seat and starts to pedal.” David Albert
"The founding fathers provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't take you." John Updike
"There were no sex classes. No friendship classes. No classes on how to navigate a bureaucracy, build an organization, raise money, create a database, buy a house, love a child, spot a scam, talk someone out of suicide, or figure out what was important to me. Not knowing how to do these things is what messes people up in life, not whether they know algebra or can analyze literature." William Upski Wimsatt
“Children are not our own art products to be turned out well, but their own life work in continual process.” Jan Fortune Wood
"You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." Martin Luther King
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." W. H. Murray
Friday, October 22, 2010
Why I Think Unschooling is the Best Option... For Everyone.
What that opinion says to me, is that some children have the right to choose, the right to live in a way that nurtures freedom, and some? Some don't. I believe that freedom, on both an individual and community level, is a fundamental right for every person and community. So deciding that some children deserve to be given as much freedom as possible, yet some don't, just really doesn't sit right with me.
Which leads me to the fact that as far as I'm concerned, unschooling is the best choice for everyone, and should be the default. By saying that, what I mean is that everyone should be given the freedom to choose from the start. With that freedom of choice, it's quite fine if some kids or teens decide to go to a school, or to structure their days in a rigid manner, or not. The key is choice.
Because I don't just see unschooling as one option among many, but as something that should be the default, sometimes I worry that people see my opinions as being somehow exclusionary or judgmental to anyone who doesn't unschool. Yet I realize that not everyone is going to agree with me, and that I'm not going to "convince" everyone. I don't expect all my friends, my Facebook friends, all the people I follow on Twitter, or all the readers of this blog to share this opinion. All I ever attempt to do is share my opinions and experiences in an honest and authentic way: to share my truth as best I can. And that's what I'm doing when I say that I believe that everyone deserves freedom, not just a select few individuals deemed worthy or capable of dealing with it! I believe we all have the innate ability to make our own decisions, and to live consensually, these abilities just need to be nurtured and allowed to grow properly.
Update: I expanded on some opinions expressed in this post here, which may help clarify a few things that were brought up in the comments on this post..
Friday, October 15, 2010
Unschooling Questions? Ask An Idzie.
Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on yesterday's post!! Just wanted to let you know that there's now a page on the left sidebar entitled Have Unschooling Questions? Get Answers!
All the details can be found on that page. (There isn't yet a donate button, but there probably will be one in the near-ish future.)
 |
| And she'll do her best to answer! |
All the details can be found on that page. (There isn't yet a donate button, but there probably will be one in the near-ish future.)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
A Horrible Idea? Or a Good One...? Looking For My Wonderful Readers' Opinions!
There are five Ryerson graduate students making a documentary about unschooling, which is pretty exciting! Today, I spent a little while talking on Skype to the reporter for the story, about growing up unschooled, and some other basic questions (they're still looking for both a grown unschooler and an unschooling family, in the Toronto area, who would be willing to be interviewed/filmed, so if you're interested, let me know and I'll put you in touch!)... Right after that, I started looking through my "to respond" folder, which stretches back several months, and feeling really guilty about all of the unschooling questions people have asked that I've yet to answer.
And then I started thinking how easy it is to answer questions on Skype. How I both usually enjoy it more, and how it takes about five minutes on Skype to answer a question that would take me fifteen minutes if I were to answer it in email (thinking about phrasing and proofreading and all that. When answering questions about unschooling via email, I feel like I'm just writing a private post! No less effort goes into it.).
So I thought "hey, I can tell people that if they want to ask me questions, add me on Skype, arrange a time to chat through email, or just poke me if I'm online!".
But then, quick on the heels of that thought, came the thought that lots of people like asking me questions. Grown unschoolers aren't always easy to find, and thus are in high demand when they are found! What if that ends up taking up a lot of time?
At which point another idea came along... What if I put up a donation button? And said that I am happy to answer questions for anyone who feels a need to ask, and don't expect any compensation, but if you want to give me a little something for my time, if you have it to spare, that would be really great.
So the point of this post is simply to ask if you think this is a horrible idea, or if this might just be a good one? I have this huge feeling that what I say is SO not worth anyone spending their money on, but if it's an entirely optional donation button and is just sitting there if people want to use it, then it's out of my hands and thus in theirs, right?
You can probably tell I'm very unsure of this idea that popped into my head a mere fifteen minutes ago. So, your feedback is very much appreciated!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Asian Inspired Tastiness
Now, there are some things you should probably know about my food and cooking preferences before I jump into this post, and share a couple of (vague: I rarely measure) recipes:
Stir-fried Kale With Quinoa
About 6 smallish stalks of kale, leaves & stalks chopped up separately
1 medium onion, sliced
Some baby bok choy (maybe half of a head?), white part and leaves used, sliced
2 small red bell peppers, cut into smallish pieces
1 small hot pepper, ribs & seeds removed, chopped finely
A bunch of thin egg noodles (about 250 or 300 g uncooked)
Tamari soy sauce (I just add it by what looks and tastes right!)
About 1 tsp Salt
About 1 tsp Sugar
Olive oil or other vegetable oil, for cooking.
Toasted sesame oil
1. In a large frying pan, put enough veggie oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add kale stalks (not leaves!) and let cook for a few minutes. (If I don't let them cook longer than the other ingredients, they end up tough)
2. Add kale leaves, onion, and hot pepper, adding more oil as/if necessary.
3. Sometime during first two steps, cook egg noodles as instructed on package then rinse in cold water and set aside.
4. When onions are fairly soft and kale looks nearly done add the bok choy and bell pepper (continuing to add oil on an as needed basis). Continue cooking for a couple of minutes, until bok choy and pepper are lightly cooked, crispy yet tender.
5. Put the cooked veggies in a large pot (I use the same one I cooked the noddles in), along with the noodles, enough veggie oil that everything won't stick, a splash of sesame oil, the salt and sugar, and the soy sauce.
6. Stir until everything is warmed through and the noodles are just starting to stick to the bottom of the pan, and serve!
I made this for supper tonight, and every single picky family member enjoyed it!
Garlic Noodle Soup
Veggie stock with some water, tamari soy sauce, Nonya seasoning (powdered onions, garlic, chillies, and lemon), makes up the broth. Then I fry (with a bit of oil then water added as needed) kale, bell peppers, onions, and LOTS of garlic (this is the type of soup I like to eat when sick) until tender, add to soup broth, add uncooked noodles to soup and cook until ready, then eat and enjoy.
Sushi Salad
This is what I eat when I feel like sushi, but don't feel like spending the two hours needed to make it! It's pretty simple:
Sticky rice/sushi rice
Chopped up cucumbers, bell peppers, avocado, and any other veggies I like i my sush
Torn up nori (seaweed)
Sweet pickled ginger
And as a dressing:
Equal parts rice vinegar (seasoned or plain) and tamari soy sauce
A pinch of sugar
Wasabi powder to taste (I'm assuming fresh would be better, it just seems I only have powdered left every time I make this).
Mix it all up, and enjoy the yummy-ness!!
I love experimenting with food, never following recipes exactly, making up my own recipes, and just having fun with it. I hope the stuff I've shared here can maybe inspire you to go make some yummy food of your own! :-)
- I firmly believe that kale is the greatest leafy green ever. It's one of the first veggies you can get at the farmers market in early spring and one of the last in late fall. It's extremely healthy, and it actually tastes good (I should mention at this point that I'm not a big fan of most greens, so that's saying something!).
- I love Asian inspired food.
- I love tamari soy sauce.
- I eating food in these awesome, perfectly large sized clear glass bowls we have. Eating food out of them makes me feel all happy and cozy.
Stir-fried Kale With Quinoa
Pretty simple really: I chop up some kale (chopping up the leaves and stalks separately) and some bell pepper, cook it with tamari soy sauce, water, and a bit of this seasoning powder called Nonya (which is made up of onions, garlic, chillies, and lemon), adding chopped kale stalks first and cooking for several minutes before adding the leaves, then after another few minutes the pepper, to make sure that everything is cooked enough to become tender, but not too soft. When done, serve over warm quinoa.
Vegetable Chow Mein
About 6 smallish stalks of kale, leaves & stalks chopped up separately
1 medium onion, sliced
Some baby bok choy (maybe half of a head?), white part and leaves used, sliced
2 small red bell peppers, cut into smallish pieces
1 small hot pepper, ribs & seeds removed, chopped finely
A bunch of thin egg noodles (about 250 or 300 g uncooked)
Tamari soy sauce (I just add it by what looks and tastes right!)
About 1 tsp Salt
About 1 tsp Sugar
Olive oil or other vegetable oil, for cooking.
Toasted sesame oil
1. In a large frying pan, put enough veggie oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add kale stalks (not leaves!) and let cook for a few minutes. (If I don't let them cook longer than the other ingredients, they end up tough)
2. Add kale leaves, onion, and hot pepper, adding more oil as/if necessary.
3. Sometime during first two steps, cook egg noodles as instructed on package then rinse in cold water and set aside.
4. When onions are fairly soft and kale looks nearly done add the bok choy and bell pepper (continuing to add oil on an as needed basis). Continue cooking for a couple of minutes, until bok choy and pepper are lightly cooked, crispy yet tender.
5. Put the cooked veggies in a large pot (I use the same one I cooked the noddles in), along with the noodles, enough veggie oil that everything won't stick, a splash of sesame oil, the salt and sugar, and the soy sauce.
6. Stir until everything is warmed through and the noodles are just starting to stick to the bottom of the pan, and serve!
I made this for supper tonight, and every single picky family member enjoyed it!
Garlic Noodle Soup
Veggie stock with some water, tamari soy sauce, Nonya seasoning (powdered onions, garlic, chillies, and lemon), makes up the broth. Then I fry (with a bit of oil then water added as needed) kale, bell peppers, onions, and LOTS of garlic (this is the type of soup I like to eat when sick) until tender, add to soup broth, add uncooked noodles to soup and cook until ready, then eat and enjoy.
Sushi Salad
Sticky rice/sushi rice
Chopped up cucumbers, bell peppers, avocado, and any other veggies I like i my sush
Torn up nori (seaweed)
Sweet pickled ginger
And as a dressing:
Equal parts rice vinegar (seasoned or plain) and tamari soy sauce
A pinch of sugar
Wasabi powder to taste (I'm assuming fresh would be better, it just seems I only have powdered left every time I make this).
Mix it all up, and enjoy the yummy-ness!!
I love experimenting with food, never following recipes exactly, making up my own recipes, and just having fun with it. I hope the stuff I've shared here can maybe inspire you to go make some yummy food of your own! :-)
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Spirals of Self-Hatred
Confidence and self-esteem, those two so closely tied together things, are tricky.
Sometimes I really think I have this confidence thing down. In a workshop, I speak enthusiastically to and with the large group, everyone's eyes upon me, with not even a twinge of fear. I go up to individuals afterward to tell them how much I liked that comment about sustainability they made, or simply to introduce myself with a smile and a firm handshake. I say "yes" without pause when asked to speak somewhere, and think cheerfully of how much fun it'll be.
This confidence leads into self-esteem: wow, people like hearing what I have to say, like meeting me, like me. I have some awesome friends. That's cool. I'm proud of what I've done and do. I like who I am. I like me, too! Hell, I love me!!
But...
Then I'll say or type something seemingly inconsequential without putting much thought into it. Or, even worse, think long and hard, then realize only just after I've opened my mouth or hit the send key how stupid whatever I said just sounded to me. Then comes the twisty feeling in my gut: how could I have said something so stupid??
Then, like the opening of a dam, usually kept tightly closed off in some part of my mind, comes the rush of all 10,000,000 other things I've ever said or done that have made me wince: brought on waves of shame and regret, or even just mild twinges of it. Every single thing...
This tends to happen especially when around certain people, people I think are especially cool, or especially cute, or especially smart, that I seem to be unable to say or do anything cool or intelligent when around them or in communication with them.
It only takes one event, or one slightly low mood and a surfacing memory, to make me spiral down this path of self-hatred.
Of course, in an hour or two, I'll likely get a nice email, or have a friend say something, that gets me all happy and confident and self-loving once again.
I feel like this is probably a fairly normal occurrence for a lot of people. But really? It sucks.
-------------------------------
It feels really strange to be posting this, actually. I've come to feel obligated to write a *certain type* of post on this blog. Posts that are of a higher quality with more constructive content. But... I'm trying to keep in mind what I want this blog to be, and that's to be a place I can freely express myself online. That expression often is about unschooling, and often is in a more article-like format. But when what's on my mind is something far more... I don't know, personal, I guess, I want to feel that that's okay too. Which is why I'm posting this, despite reservations! That is all.
Peace,
Idzie
Sometimes I really think I have this confidence thing down. In a workshop, I speak enthusiastically to and with the large group, everyone's eyes upon me, with not even a twinge of fear. I go up to individuals afterward to tell them how much I liked that comment about sustainability they made, or simply to introduce myself with a smile and a firm handshake. I say "yes" without pause when asked to speak somewhere, and think cheerfully of how much fun it'll be.
This confidence leads into self-esteem: wow, people like hearing what I have to say, like meeting me, like me. I have some awesome friends. That's cool. I'm proud of what I've done and do. I like who I am. I like me, too! Hell, I love me!!
But...
Then I'll say or type something seemingly inconsequential without putting much thought into it. Or, even worse, think long and hard, then realize only just after I've opened my mouth or hit the send key how stupid whatever I said just sounded to me. Then comes the twisty feeling in my gut: how could I have said something so stupid??
Then, like the opening of a dam, usually kept tightly closed off in some part of my mind, comes the rush of all 10,000,000 other things I've ever said or done that have made me wince: brought on waves of shame and regret, or even just mild twinges of it. Every single thing...
This tends to happen especially when around certain people, people I think are especially cool, or especially cute, or especially smart, that I seem to be unable to say or do anything cool or intelligent when around them or in communication with them.
It only takes one event, or one slightly low mood and a surfacing memory, to make me spiral down this path of self-hatred.
Of course, in an hour or two, I'll likely get a nice email, or have a friend say something, that gets me all happy and confident and self-loving once again.
I feel like this is probably a fairly normal occurrence for a lot of people. But really? It sucks.
-------------------------------
It feels really strange to be posting this, actually. I've come to feel obligated to write a *certain type* of post on this blog. Posts that are of a higher quality with more constructive content. But... I'm trying to keep in mind what I want this blog to be, and that's to be a place I can freely express myself online. That expression often is about unschooling, and often is in a more article-like format. But when what's on my mind is something far more... I don't know, personal, I guess, I want to feel that that's okay too. Which is why I'm posting this, despite reservations! That is all.
Peace,
Idzie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)