American Food and Old Mexico

With yet another Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, I´d like to pause a moment and reflect upon the definition of American food. American food  is as varied as it is hard to define.  From beignets to burritos, barbecue to clam chowder, American food is nothing more and nothing less then a hodge podge of flavors, ingredients and culinary traditions from around the world.  

Keeping that in mind, take a look at this map showing the pre-1848 war US-Mexican border.  Then appreciate how much of America is really not that "American" after all.  After the war, basically from one day to the next, a large portion of Mexico became a part of the United States. Which means the food that people ate did the same, it stayed in the same communities but with a different name. The border might have moved but the people didn't. So the next time someone offers you some "good, old fashioned American" food, ask them which kind of tacos they have. 

Note: My apologies to those who caught my mispelling of beignets, just thinking about them makes me lose focus....

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21595434-old-mexico-lives

Online Learning: Effective Thinking Through Mathematics

Readers on this blog know that I am an online education advocate, having been an online instructor and a MOOC student for several years now. I have been asked to review a website that helps you learn languages in an easy and entertaining manner, so keep an eye out for that post.

 iStockPhoto/marekuliasz

Writers are constantly re-writing, reviewing, reassessing their work. Several months ago I found myself stuck on a particular piece of writing, not sure if I was obsessively reviewing and not advancing becauase of it.  A step back and new perspective was needed, I had to look at my work from a new light.  It just so happened that around the same time an email from edx.org featuring new courses caught my eye.  I read the description of one of the courses,  EffectiveThinking Through Mathematics and thought that was just what I needed.  I signed up and several weeks later the Professor, the quirky and constantly jovial, Michael Starbird, introduced himself in a Youtube video.  Professor Starbird began by presenting the elements of effective thinking.  According to Starbird, there are five elements of effective thinking. First you must understand deeply, second, you must be willing to make mistakes, third raise questions, ask yourself ‘what’s missing?’, the fourth element of effective thinking is to follow the flow of ideas, while having a perspective on your life, and finally, the fifth element is to change, to become a different person.

This course, as it turns out, did not have a direct impact on my writing, but rather in how I approach problems in my daily life.  I have started to take a step back and look at different problems in my life using effective thinking strategies.  And as it so happens, it also has helped me with my sixth grader´s math homework.  We can sit down together and work through problems using the elements of effective thinking!  When we do this, I have to say that the element of effective thinking that I appreciate the most, is the second element, because when making mistakes is ok, we can learn more effectively from them. And where parenting is concerned, learning from mistakes is a given. So it turns out, that my need for perspective on my writing has lead me to a new perspective on parenting. 

For more information on Professor Starbird or edx.org courses, please visit edx.org

When Life Takes Over

Lately, I have not been writing a lot.  It has been more than a month since I have posted here. My readership has taken a nose dive. This is thanks to that fact that there have been some major changes in my life. Among them being, a divorce and surgery. Life has taken over and my writing has had to wait. The lull in my posts and my other online collaborations isn't permanent. In the meanwhile, as I get my posts going again, I am going to explore the usefullness of recycling old ideas. I'm taking out some old posts, dusting them off, and sharing them here, just like Professor Michael Starbird suggests trying in his online edx.org class Effective Thinking Through Mathematics, so for now, here are some posts from that past that I hope you enjoy:

You Don't Look Mexican

Victoria Ryan Interview

Las Aparicio

Eating Bugs