FINALS FINALS FINALS!!!!!

Hello everyone! It's sort of weird to think we're coming to an end! I could go on and on about the weirdness of it, but for now, let's cut to the chase. BEHOLD! My notes for today's discussion:


FOLK KNOWLEDGE: 

• Self-directed learning: In discussing my experiences as a dancer, choreographer, and even a baker, I have come to realize that we each are our own institutions of knowledge. This makes sense because how could we have started building institutions of knowledge in the first place with out a human to model it afterwards. I like to think of our brains as the hub of information- the head of the university if you will. And our various body functions are like the classes. We are the student, learning what the head would have us do. In time we develop our talents and perfect ourselves. Another point I love about folk knowledge is the human connections it establishes. I believe each form of knowledge has a specific strength and connection is folk knowledge's. 
• Others' blogging: Through others' blog posts, I learned more about the glory of God within us. I remember Holland's blogpost on playing the harp. When we improve our talents and then share those talents, we are emulating what God has given us. We are manifesting Him in us. I loved learning about the traditions and experiences of my fellow classmates. It brought me closer to them, once again proving that folk knowledge is the most connect able of all the forms of knowledge.
• Collaborative Learning: As a group, I think we better came to understand the concepts of the Mantic and the Sophic, the Mother and Father tongue, and the necessity to have all of these things in our lives. The Mantic- or as I like to think, religion, relates more to the Mother tongue while the Sophic or science relates more to the Father tongue. The Mother tongue is more personal and the Father tongue is more formal. It's interesting then, that General Conference addresses, which relate more to the Mantic are then delivered in the Father tongue. This shows that we need a balance of all four in our lives. If we are solely invested in the Mantic or Mother tongue, we become too dependent on emotion and allow it to rule our lives, but if we depend on the Father tongue and the Sophic, we become too detached and allow that to rule our lives. But together, the Mantic, Sophic, Father, and Mother tongues combine to help us reach a level of understanding about ourselves and the world that helps us find peace and continue to progress.
• Projects/ Activities: By learning a new skill and teaching a skill, I came to better appreciate how as we share knowledge we share love. I remember making the onesies with my sister and hearing her talk about each different person she made them for and how each was suited to the personalities of the parents of the baby. In this way, she connects with those people and better understands how to interact with them. Of all forms of knowledge, folk is the most personal and has the most love. 

ORAL KNOWLEDGE 

• Self-directed learning: During this unit, I was assigned to research the song and drama of Islamic culture during the Umayyad Dynasty. Through this study I learned that oral knowledge, especially in the arts, is the most powerful form of knowledge. With the ability to reach out to others in a performance setting, oral knowledge profoundly influences those who participate in it. More specifically about Muslims, I learned that prior to written knowledge song and drama was the people's greatest tool for remembering their religion and their history. One example is the annual performance of a passion play called Ta'ziyeh. In this day-long reenactment, Muslims remember the martyrdom of one of their greatest leaders. It is an incredible event, deeply personal to those who participate. Unfortunately, oral knowledge is also the most flawed form of knowledge. Because things are passed by word of mouth, they can easily become warped, losing meaning over time. A Muslim example of this is Hadith or the giant Islamic telephone game of Muhammed said this, Muhammed said that. In time, people would just make up things they thought he said and spread it around as if it were scripture. Crazy!
• Others' blogging: I appreciated being able to read about other cultures oral traditions and draw parallels from those cultures to Islam and more importantly to myself. More than anything though, I was brought to a greater understanding of just how fragile oral knowledge is. This can be demonstrated by the example of the Assyrians, the culture Catherine studied. Because their oral traditions were not actively passed down, we know very little today about their song or drama and consequently about their culture. I've learned that oral traditions are key to understanding a culture, especially those that relate to the performing arts and when we don't know anything about them in a culture, it is difficult to connect and draw parallels with them.
• Collaborative Learning: During this unit, my group met to discuss the things that we had learned about our cultures and whatnot and film our discussion. What we discovered is that many of these cultures draw parallels to our culture today and that by comparing ourselves to them, we can better see who we are and possibly even where we're going. Even more so, the weaknesses of oral knowledge were brought out. While it is the most powerful of all forms of knowledge, it is also the least preservable. Unless it is kept actively alive and a current part of a culture, it will die. That's a terrifying thought.
• Projects/ Activities: The in-class final, the recitation of King Benjamin's speech, taught me the excitement and power of combining our efforts in oral knowledge. To even think that we recited the entirety of that speech with very few flaws as a class astounds me. Oral knowledge is astounding. The things we can accomplish with oral knowledge are astounding. King Benjamin changed lives through his speech. He's not the only one! Countless examples in history of passionate speeches serve as examples to the infinite power of oral knowledge. If you want to impact an audience, do so through oral knowledge. 

WRITTEN KNOWLEDGE:

• Self-directed Learning: Of all forms of knowledge, written knowledge is the most preservable or even the most worth preserving. When we write something down, that gives it meaning to us. When we take the time to write it down BY HAND, that word becomes special. It becomes a part of us. In the Islam culture, calligraphy was considered the highest art and it covered virtually everything imaginable- buildings, weaponry, pottery! Because Muslims believe that depicting spiritual things is a form of graven images they instead create religious art via calligraphy. By recording the words of the Qur'an in calligraphy, they are able to honor their religion and share it with others. Calligraphy is considered the highest form of art in Islam and it actually takes on multiple forms depending on its use. Another thing I learned by interviewing Dr. Toronto was the cultural understanding we come to when we write things down. Since we write down what's important to us, we better understand what's important to different cultures. We are able to draw ties with them and become a little more human as we come to see that most cultures value the same things.
• Others' Blogging: From others' blogposts, I've come to see that when writings are preserved, it gives a window into the lives of those who write. Written knowledge was also one of the first forms of knowledge that gives way to multiple disciplines of learning. Revisiting the instructors' blog, we see the multitude of topics that come about because of written knowledge. In our group, we had posts on poetry, phonetics, cryptography, architecture, libraries, map-making -- the list is extensive. Through all this we see that when applied and especially when combined with other forms of knowledge, written knowledge becomes incredibly effective for communicating ideas and sharing knowledge. 
• Collaborative Learning: As a group we decided to try our hand at calligraphy. Although I was unable to attend our group session of working on the calligraphy, I was able to read about their experience. The greatest thing I learned through that is how much calligraphers truly invest in their work. Writing a page of scripture by hand in calligraphy can take hours! You have to truly dedicate yourself to the work in order to get it done. And the detail! So much detail is put into ancient scripture written in calligraphy. In this way, I believe the scripture gains so much more meaning to those who write it. They took the hours poring over it. Now they can appreciate it.
• Projects/ Activies: TRANSLATION IS DIFFICULT! I believe that was the greatest thing I learned through the Rosetta Project. There are so many options for a piece of writing (particularly ancient Egyptian) could mean, if you know nothing of that language, how can you possibly translate it? More than anything, this project gave me empathy for those trying to translate Egyptian when the actual Rosetta stone was found. It made me better understand the frustration and and hopelessness they must have felt. I don't think I have ever connected more to my forefathers than during that particular project. 

PRINT KNOWLEDGE 

• Self-directed Learning: If any form of knowledge completely altered the way we perceive the world, it's print knowledge. Of all the forms of knowledge, print knowledge has had the most impact! I mean, consider all the discoveries we have made because of print knowledge. Written knowledge laid the foundation for keeping knowledge on record, but print knowledge made it distributable. Print knowledge brought knowledge to the masses and helped suck us out of the middle ages. We can also parallel what's printed with the history of the world. For example, I focused greatly on Children's Literature during this unit and found that Children's literature very obviously parallels the history of the world and reflects the beliefs of each time period. I think this is because people want to spread their ideals and because children are so easily influenced, they slip those ideals into literature written for children. Children's literature has also transformed as our understanding of the child has changed. This shows that knowledge too can change as we come to gain more knowledge. Just look at all the different models we have for atoms!
• Others' Blogging: As this unit focused a lot of the coming forth of the King James Bible, I found myself incredibly fascinated by my fellow group member's posts on the Bible. As the original reason for print, the Bible to me seems to be the pinnacle of print knowledge and the evolution it has undergone the prime example of how our knowledge fluidly changes and morphs once it is written down in a concrete, standard form. With print, knowledge was finally standardized. It did not reflect the personal style of a certain monk and with the printing press knowledge was reaching the masses. This opened up windows for discussion and debate. More voices could be heard in the knowledge world. Finally, knowledge was for everyone and consequently, differing opinions led to multiple versions of the Bible, including the King James today.
• Collaborative Learning: As we discussed on our group blog about the assets of print knowledge, one thing we came to was the power of the printed word versus the digital word. We specifically talked about the strength that comes from actually going to a library and physically picking out books. In an age where we can Google just about anything, it's easy to fall into the Google trap. That place where we don't depend on our knowledge, just how to find it. That is the kind of knowledge that dominates society today and it's a little scary. Perhaps we need to reform and return more to our printed roots.
• Projects/ Activities: In writing my persuasive paper on children's literature, I found myself considering more and more the power of children's literature. Even today I can remember the details of some of my favorite books as a child. I can't do that with all the novels I've read in recent years. But I can remember picture books. I can remember them clearly and the messages they convey. If some one with an agenda then inserted their opinions into children's books they could shape an entire generation of belief to suit their needs.  The printed word is powerful and easily spread. Be careful with how you use it!