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In your comment tell us what was the most exciting, or most relaxing, or most inspiring thing you did during the winter break.
18 comments:
Hi Mathew-
I moved from Forest Knolls in west Marin to San Rafael during winter break. The movers came on December 2 and I felt moved in by January 2. I also built a room for storage under the new house.
Steve
Hi Dr. Mitchell,
Over Christmas vacation, we traveled to Red River Ski Resort in New Mexico. For a three-day period, we were hit by a nasty blizzard. Roads were closed, electrical power was intermittent and downhill skiing conditions were miserable. Our snow-bound days turned out to be the most relaxing part of our vacation – we had some wonderful family time huddled near the fireplace playing board games, reading books, creating music or simply talking.
I have read an amazing book by Renee Girard (1987) Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World: Research undertaken in collaboration with J.-M. Oughourlian and G. Lefort. Stanford University Press, 1987.
The book is about exploring the concept of mimetic desire, which is a form of imitation and an aspect of behavior that not only affects learning, but also desire. According to Girard this imitated desire is a cause of conflict and provides mechanism, which is the origin of sacrifice and the foundation of human culture, where religion was necessary in human evolution to control the violence that can come from mimetic rivalry. Or to simply put, we created myths, religions, institutions and laws to create, maintain, and try to eliminate the “ other” in order to control human violence (caused by people imitating each other’s behavior).
I ate more than I normally do. I slept longer than my usual 5 hours per night. I read at least four trashy novels (ok, not that trashy . . . ). I painted two Yosemite landscapes for an art opening May 9th (Dr. Mitchell, I have to talk to you about that . . .). I started working out again. I enjoyed my friends and family. Overall, a great vacation.
Over the holiday my husband and I adopted a one year old dog we call Simon. He is a resucue dog from a local group called Rocket Dog Rescue (amazing organization- anyone interested in acquiring an animal should check them out). He is some kind of mix of something, horrifically behaved (we are working on this) and overall darling.
I had good intentions of reading good books and going to yoga but those went out the window.
Over Winter Break I worked most of the time on all three of my jobs. I picked up "A Mind at a Time" by Mel Levine and am reading that one intently. I read about 4 YA fiction (brain candy) books and began exploring healthy options for baking. Nothing very exciting... but busy enough to keep me out of trouble.
A good holiday with family in SF was followed by a trip to Seattle to see my wife's family and then an ill fated trip to Glacier National Park by train which is far too long a story to relay here. I read a collection of short stories and Toni Morrison's latest novel. I also worked on professional development plans for faculty this semester.
Christmas 2008 was a very peaceful. Lots of time to rest, reflect, and be with family and friends...Took the opportunity to de-clutter and read...Work was always present but managed to keep it at a distance. Took the time to exercise and get back onto healthy eating...
I went to Costa-Rica with my partner, Dexter. We had a great time. Unfortunately, while we were there, a big earthquake caused mudslides which resulted in many deaths. Gratefully, we were not injured. It is a beautiful country with a great diversity of animal life. Later i will post pix to my website/homepage at www.sonic.net/seth3d
ciao for now!
This is from Sharon Marts (aka SMARTSatHome). Our holidays were uneventful but no less meaningful. Early this January I took a departure from my annual resolutions' authoring and instead I am taking a longer view by completing exercises in a book titled "Me: 5 years from Now" and Yes, I am DAMN successful in that book's ending!
The most exciting and relaxing thing I did over the winter break was spend a week in Tahoe with family and friends. We skied three days on fresh power and I was able to watch my nine-year old son make the switch from snow skiing to snow boarding after five years of skiing! We snowmobiled on mountain trails and I am very thankful for the reverse button! It is especially helpful when you end up in the trees and need to get out quickly! I wonder if it is illegal to text while snowmobiling. Enjoyed early morning walks in the snow with my Golden Retriever, Abbey and a BIG cup of coffee
Hi Mathew,
For break I spent some time in SF and a week in New Hampshire. I visited family (including my three-year-old niece and six-month-old nephew). I read a few books, including Gladwell's Outliers and Csikszentmihalyi's The Evolving Self. I also went to the gym almost every day and ate way too many Lebkuchen and Stollen from my mother's kitchen.
-Shannon
Hi Mathew,
During winter break, I went to South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. One of my closest friends, Carroll and I had been planning this trip for the past 2 years. I was not quite sure what to expect, but the whole experience from 34 hour plane trip from Los Angeles to Cape Town to the bush camp in Hwange National Park (a 4 hour drive from Victoria Falls airport) could not have been more spectacular, thought provoking or amazing. We took 2500 photos (hopefully will pare that number down to something manageable), met the navigator of an America's Cup 12 meter yacht, a darling honeymoon couple from the U.K. and felt very lucky to live in a country like the U.S.A.
During winter break I went to New York, beautiful Fairfield, CA and Santa Barbara (no state needed). NY included cleaning 52 years of parental hoarding and a memorial service for my late stepfather. Family joined me towards the end of the stay and we partook in wonderfully tacky, touristy rituals such as seeing the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. That part was fun. Back in Fairfield, we followed the secular Jewish custom and spoiled everyone over Christmas. Then off to Santa Barbara where I set a record for early to bed on amateur night, AKA, New Years Eve. My weary self fell asleep at 9:30 PM. The drive home home was uneventful.
My dad bought me a real bassoon for Christmas, replacing the plastic one I have been practicing on for about a year. Every morning over the break began with scales and etudes. I played until my lips went numb!
I also went to see several films. The Reader was my favorite.
Hello Mathew,
Over the holiday my beautiful niece was able to come home, as her husband is on his third tour of duty in Iraq. That being said, it is all about family for me. Many day trips and family dinners occupied much of my time. I also took time out to clean my house, it was very neglected over the past semester. Peace and relaxation covered the rest. My favorite new escape, watching any and every BBC television series or movie. I recently finished up Ballykissangel. Simple and sweet and onto the next semester.
Hi All, For the holdiday I was able to go home to Washington. Family and friends filled my time. My husband, Bill, and I had a chance to spend time at our family cabin on Hood Canal which is always relaxing and rejuvenating for us.
We did have over 6 feet of snow, but in Wenatchee, everyone is prepared with 4 wheel drive, snow tires and studs. In addition, the county has great snow removal equipment.
Dear Classmates and Dr. Mathew:
I had a really wonderful time. First of all, I finished teaching all of my classes and had my grades in by December 10th. That meant that I did not have to teach until January 26th! Can you imagine???? If I had some money, I would have been on the first thing smoking to some part of the world that I had never visited before! What did I do - I did a comprehensive analysis and completed my edits on two research papers and got both in for review and comment. I got started on completing a review of a paper for the New England Journal of Entrepreneurship. I cooked and shared meals with friends on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. I had a wonderful New Year's Eve with friends, dancing and eating. I hosted my annual New Year's party on the MLK weekend and then "attended" all of the inaugural events with friends via photos and the television. I cleaned my house! And, I got mentally ready to start back teaching on Monday and set up ten potential service learning partnerships for my students. I actually count this among one of the best "time offs" I have had in years. So, in brief, I can say that I had a chance to relax and just be happy.
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