“Are you with me now” A J Ryder
Savvy in the Grass – Grazin’ in the grass. Can you dig it? – Hugh Masekela & cover by Friends of Distinction
by Zoë Schlanger
by Stefano Mancuso, translated from the Italian by Gregory Conti
by Paco Calvo with Natalie Lawrence
For years, I’ve read about plants having sentience. These three books just reviewed in the New York Review of Books make quite a case for ‘plants the wise’ bringing up moral and ethical considerations. Do plants think and feel? Are they conscious? Do they suffer?
Here’s a few mind benders from the review:
“If you are not conscious, you cannot act on your environment and you can’t act.” Zoe Schlanger – Plants definitely act on their environment
“If you don’t feel pain, you ignore danger and you don’t survive.” Frantisek Baluska Plants survive
“Plants are masters of cooperation and through alliances and communities, they have succeeded in building mutualistic societies in any and all earthly environments.”
“They may have the ability to suffer through an internal experience.”
So, should the food pyramid be reversed and plants given their due? These scientists argue this point.
And still talkin’ plants and what they teach us …
Sue Hart emailed me about how my TGIF’s remind her of the book, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Robin who writes how the braids of the Sweetgrass represent indigenous ways of knowing, scientific knowledge and her story that intertwines science, spirit and story. That’s what Namahana is striving toward and how we can strive for new ways, forms and measures.
Over the years, I’ve done lots of workshops using braiding but I never read this book, until now. Thanks Sue for the reference. I started reading it today.
I dropped into our board consultancy on The Promise and Perils of AI for ImBlaze and BU and really enjoyed the conversation. One of the things Wilson presented was his use of Chat GPT asking the question: What are the best things I can say to have a potential internship opportunity?
Here’s what ChatGPT said:
ChatGPT
To increase your chances of securing an internship opportunity, it's important to communicate your value and fit for the company effectively. Here are some of the best strategies and things to say that could make a potential employer more inclined to offer you an internship:
1. Express Enthusiasm and Alignment with the Company's Mission
2. Demonstrate Knowledge of the Company and Industry
3. Highlight Relevant Skills and Experiences
4. Convey a Desire for Growth and Learning
5. Offer Solutions to Company Challenges
6. Express Long-Term Interest
7. Show Adaptability and a Willingness to Help
8. Ask for the Opportunity in a Polished Way
9. Emphasize Cultural Fit
There was more but these were the bullets.
Not bad instantaneous information coming from a bot. It’s a really nice place to start and a nice aid for all involved in obtaining an internship. Next stop is the real deal where our often overlooked sense of touch plays major roles in learning both in ways that are relational and rich with privileged information. I recently read Exploring Our Sense of Touch From Every Angle about the role of touch in learning. Spielberg didn’t need all this research to figure out the importance of touch and neither did Michaelangelo.
Our conversation with City Year continues around the IBPLC and BU. Both make loads of sense to incorporate together
Today, I got an email from Kathleen Vail, managing editor of Phi Delta Kappan. I spoke with Kathleen about a month ago where she interviewed me about internships. It turns out that from that interview an article on absenteeism is going to appear in the November edition of Kappan. Nancy Diaz was also interviewed and between the two of us Kathleen wrote a piece on getting students back to school by engaging them about their interests. So is the best way to get students back to school to get them out? ‘nuff said!
Be Well!
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