Posted in its entirety, this is one of the weekly assignments for my online Integral Politics course at JFKU. In other words, it's a bit wordy.

The following is my attempt at forming a Public Narrative, as taught by Marshal Ganz, Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Ganz’s long-time career organizing laborers led to the Camp Obama training program for campaign workers and eventually to Organizing for America (Camp OFA). Relationships, rather than platforms, fueled the Obama campaign, and articulating a story of self; a story of us; and a story of now connects diverse people despite the supposed differences in values and passions.

What do I care about and what challenges have I faced to get here? Telling this story turns me into a real person and you and me into an “us.”

Who defines the “us” I would call on to face an urgent collective challenge and take action? This is the present—and hopefully the future—of political engagement. This kind of politics, I could get behind.

I believe I am called to think deeply, extend grace to others, and to engage in creative acts. This is how I know:

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Jean Grey's only weakness is that she cannot control her alter ego phoenix. Otherwise she is a substantially awesome superhero. (Wiki Answers)

I choose Jean Grey to best define me. Admittedly, the extent of my comic book super hero knowledge comes from my most excellent husband, popular film, and a bit of research. Right off the bat, I’ll make a risky choice by identifying with Marvel rather than DC.  Marvel heroes are flawed—more human—creating complex characters, waging battle within as often as they deliver the world from evil forces. (CBSS) Jean Grey’s “dark passenger,” as Dexter Morgan so aptly identifies it, is Phoenix.

Dexter is the protagonist of both the book and the show, but being a serial killer makes him a literary anti-hero. In both works, he follows an elaborate code of ethics and procedures taught to him in childhood by his father (which he refers to as "The Code") that hinges on two major points: Dexter can only kill other murderers and he should execute his crimes so as to never get caught. (IMDB)

My take: use my power for good and follow a code. I’m discovering just what my contribution to the world is, realizing, all the while, that relationships are the best reason I can imagine for being on earth, and in a body. While I’m unfamiliar with the intricacies of Jean’s story line, I get the Phoenix. Powerful and frightening, this bright shadow is unwieldy at best, and downright destructive, at worst. I am crucial to the unfolding of the universe—if anyone really knew me, they wouldn't understand or accept me. The mythical Phoenix carries a certain redemptive quality—rebirth, rather than mere remaking—hope for a better, stronger, faster version of me.

Jubilee, we come into the world alone -- and we leave the same way... the time we spend in-between... time spent alive, sharing, learning... together... is all that makes life worth living. (Jean Grey)

Sources Cited:

CBSS. (2008.) Marvel Comics vs. DC Comics. Retrieved on Oct. 17, 2010 from http://www.comic-book-and-strip-service.com/marvel-comics.html

IMDB. (2010). Dexter Morgan. Retrieved on Oct. 17, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Morgan

Grey, J. (n.d.).The Uncanny X-men. Retrieved on Oct. 17, 2010 from http://marvel.wikia.com/Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_303

Wiki Answers. (2010). What is Jean Grey’s weakness? Retrieved on Oct. 17, 2010 from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_jean_grays_weakness_in_x-men_last_stand

This is our one and only Van Gogh, resident at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Undergrowth with Two Figures, painted in 1890. Let me begin by saying, “I love this painting.” I’ve stood, sat, wept, and drooled in front of it many times in my almost 30 years in this city. Mike Helm and I have a print of it over our mantle and it’s sort of a formative piece of art in our relationship. I took photo this yesterday, but I’m sure you can find a better version on the Google should you wish to make a closer examination. For my Cognitive Science class this week we're talking about the intuitive short cuts we take to process information—how we quickly fill in the blanks and perceive a "whole" picture in our minds. Feature Integration Theory (FIT) has been researched and supports the idea that we break what we sense into features for quick pattern recognition and then reassemble a whole picture. There are a few basic features, some of which are curved, straight and slanted lines, seen in letters and shapes. Sounds work in a similar fashion. One of our assignments was to study a favorite piece to see how the artist has used clues to assist us in our perceptions. Often, and unnoticed by us, the artist defies the known laws of physics to assist in the feature recognition process. Impressionist art does this by suggesting form rather than filling in the details.

I can imagine the two figures either walking away from or towards me, depending on my mood, although, up close they do appear to be facing the artist. Using *Cavanaugh’s concept of “found science” I can tell a few things about visual perception. Objects further away, and in the background, look darker and more muted in hue, or less saturated. The closer the object, the brighter and more colorful it appears. Also, things do not need to be their proper colors to be recognizable. I haven’t seen any trees with purplish or pinkish trunks lately. Maybe greenish ones but not seafoam green, you know, more like plant green. My eyes make a leap—as likely do your—transforming yellow and white blobs into flowers. I imagine that it might possibly have rained recently, or maybe the wind is gently moving the flowery undergrowth. In the distance, it seems that there are thicker woods. By using darkened versions of the colors in the forefront trees, it looks like many of them far away. Trees in the background would be harder to distinguish individually lending themselves to a foresty, dark purple mass. The border between the forest and the undergrowth curves down slightly at the right, implying that the forest is closer to us on the right side of the scene. That line draws our eyes up and to the left where there’s a small blob of darker paint. My photo doesn’t show enough detail to confirm or deny and I’m not at home to check the print, but it looks to me like another couple or at least one other woods-walker. Are the Two Figures on a first date? How many other people are around? They look pretty intimate, but I imagine that couples used to walk arm in arm like that in public whether or not they were intimate. The woman's curved posture, up and towards her man-friend, makes her look like she really likes and trusts him. Perception is in the eye of the beholder!

*Patrick Cavanagh is in the Vision Sciences Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. (From "The Artist as Neuroscientist" published in the March 2005: Volume 434, issue of Nature Magazine)

I've decided to change Flying Spider Monkey to a blog, as the old site—built in Dreamweaver for my free-lance design business—no longer serves.

Blogging has always seemed to me like a great idea, but only if one has something interesting to say. Really, this is about finding my voice. As a returning student in a graduate level studies, I find my voice steadily growing in clarity and confidence. A world of ideas and possibilities continues to widen for me daily since I began the Integral Master of Arts program at John F. Kennedy University in the fall of 2008. A distance/online learning environment has certain advantages over bricks and mortar learning. Timing is flexible, classes are smaller, and the level intimacy has surprised me. The biggest difference is the focus on writing, since traditional "exams" loose their relevance online, writing is the best way to display learning. I suppose most people already know how much writing is involved in higher education. Being forced to write in such marathonic volume, changes a person. Well, it's changed me anyway.

My intention for this blog is to begin easing out of academia (3 quarters to go) and slipping into an outwardly-projected and opening attitude towards life. Out of necessity, I will begin by mirroring posts for this quarter's online courses; Cognitive Science and Integral Politics. I will inevitably draw in varied interests as is my bent. I hope some may find this interesting, as I respond to this draw to speak things out into the Whateversphere.

Thanks for reading!