On “School Choice” Vouchers, Briefly
Unschool Engineering
I watched a lot of problem solving today.
Our Lego Unschool Club met and the challenges ranged from misplaced elements to a young man curious how to build axle assemblies for his race car.
As our guests left, my sons started to experiment with their new Lego Stuntz push bikes.
First, they tried to tow the Knight Bus from Harry Potter. That didn’t work too well, but I notice the Stuntz bike spinning in wide circle. I suggested they attach it to a central fulcrum and see if they could get it to do a circle.
Westen went further and built a track. Now the rapid fire testing of chain type and length, fulcrum height and mechanics, and a number of other variables began.
It wasn’t long before they were fine tuning the setup and mugging for a video.
Murder is Okay
I might have found the switch.
I’m heading into my second jiu-jitsu competition and I’m most concerned about one thing: Where is my murderous intent?
In the last tournament, my opponents wanted to win more than I did. They were more aggressive and went directly for submissions. I didn’t match their passion to win and it confused me.
I’ve been competing in soccer for decades and this has never been an issue. Even in casual games I can set my aggression and work ethic one notch higher than anyone on the field. In higher stakes games I have a switch. Let’s call it the Murder Switch. Before a match I will be joking and communing with my teammates, we’re about to do our favorite thing and we’re reveling in it. But when the first whistle blows, my brain says plainly, “Murder is okay.”
It’s hardly an exaggeration. Before I grew more compassionate, I’d slide tackle any striker who came close, with the intent to scare and little care of potential injury to him or myself.
I grew out of that, but the Murder Switch is automatic…in soccer.
No where else do I behave this way. In two years of training jiu-jitsu I’ve felt an intense array of emotions, but never the cold blooded drive to win. I’ve never been there to prove my might or superiority over another. I’m there to learn and be humble in the difficult process.
Tonight was my last training session before the competition. I thought I should go a little harder, try submissions I might be better at instead of my usual experiments with newly learned techniques. It started to work. I finished more arm bars than I ever have and walked off the mat with some “wins.”
I had a chip on my shoulder about soccer for a long time. I was fast and aggressive, but I wasn’t skillful, tactical, or generally smart about the game. Even as I’ve matured as a player, that chip is a secret weapon that surprises a lot of opponents and more than a few teammates.
I don’t have a chip for jiu-jitsu. I’m a silly white belt and I’m okay with that as long as I work to improve through every roll. I’ve discovered a self love that has scarce interest in external validation. Great for living a happy life, less great for strangling strangers.
Through this journey, I have learned that the Murder Switch can exist within a framework of love. This weekend, I intend to put that to the test.
This Meme, but Positive
I was light lecturing my sons about how safe and secure our lives are and how rare that safety is in time and space.
The elder responded, “Yeah, I’m so glad we know Luba and get to hear Granny and Grandad’s stories.”
Luba is a friend who was taken from her family in Russia and sold into American adoption. She was separated even from the brother she was brought here with. I’ve listened intently to her stories, but had no idea my boys were also paying attention.
Their connection with their great grandparents is more intentional on my part. I felt blessed growing up hearing about the Blitzkrieg on London, my grandmother’s evacuation as a child to live with a coal mining family, without her own parents, in the north, and the trouble my grandfather got into breaking curfew and stripping downed German planes. I have been doubly (perhaps nearer quadruply) blessed to hear more stories of bomb shelters and tin can phones stretched over narrow streets, as they are told to my sons.
We spend a fair amount of time gaining perspective through studying history and contemporary events, but none of that hits like hearing humans relate their stories. Committing much of our time to human relationships is an opportunity afforded by our learning lifestyle.
So Many Names
This is the first time I’ve had my name on a jersey. I’m half surprised they spelled it correctly, “Jason” is not common name in the Spanish leagues.
For the longest time I was known as Zerbey, and an infinite number of derivatives, on the pitch. I’ve been called many names from Spaz to The Flying Zerbey, but I heard a new one tonight: Tank. Pretty funny for a 169 lb. 43-year-old who is more speed than muscle. And I’m far from being the biggest guy on this team.
I’m flattered and blessed. I don’t quite know what it is about me that seems to attract (mostly positive) attention. I’m just trying to do my best in defense and work harder than anyone who wishes to get past me. It has to be the most fun thing I do, and I’m a big fan of fun things.
So here I am being grateful again. Jiu-jitsu tomorrow, soccer the next day, and a couple days rest before a jiu-jitsu competition…I never expected to be this active in my 40s. I’ve been blessed with self love and a mindset shift that has changed my life. God has granted me knowledge that has improved every corner of my life. I’m excited for this moment and each one ahead.
You Need to Know These Things
Tom Woods’ Western Civilization course starts with the Hebrew Bible. He notes that this was accepted as history for thousands of years and, after contemporary discoveries in archeology, has regained some of its reputation as a historical text that syncs with our best evidence.
His justification for starting with the Bible for the beginning of Western civilization is simple: You need to know these things.
There is an effort in home education to separate “religious” materials from “secular” materials. I genuinely don’t understand the attempt to ignore the religious texts, rituals, and history of any culture. To remain ignorant of the foundational traditions of your own culture will leave you lost in your own home.
Bring it On!
I’m looking at pictures from previous winters and getting jealous of the snow we’ve often had by the first week of January.
Mary loved the snow. Whenever someone would grumble about forecasted flurries she would retort, “Bring it on!”
Unforced Errors
We’re not having honest discussions about how the vaccines are manifesting in the population. There are a lot of questions to be asked, yet they are not uttered in the respectable circles.
Bret Weinstein and Joe Rogan have an important conversation about what we are seeing happen to professional athletes and the vaxxed population. It’s a conversation more of us should be having if we want to correct our mistakes and move forward in truth.
This much seems clear to me: whether it is an engineered coronavirus or novel vaccine technology, man’s hubris has unleashed chaos in the world. The way to restore order is through sober and self-reflective analysis.
Build a Fire
In A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein explain that fire hijacks our brain’s inclination to ignore the familiar. It is always new. It is always changing. It transfixes us. We are drawn to it and gather around it.
Build a fire and invite your friends, neighbors, and strangers. Share your troubles and puzzles. Share your solutions and ideas. Make plans. Tell stories. Figure it all out, together.
At our weekly winter fire I tried dried tamarind for the first time, we were treated to freshly made raspberry crepes, and marshmallows and hot dogs (sans buns) made their standard appearances and the children played for hours.
Screaming Gratitude
I don’t know why God brought soccer and jiu-jitsu into my life, but I could not be more blessed by those decisions.