An Explanation

Blogging is something I thought would never happen to me. It seems a poor match for a girl who obsesses over privacy and has trouble keeping a journal up to date. I'm supposed to write something thoughtful and meaningful regularly? And you want me to post it to the world? Crazies, all of you. I shun it as I would shun Facebook. (And I do. Oh, I do.) Given all this, the existence of any blog (albeit largely blank) merits some justification.

There is a group of wonderful, creative, and brilliant people who give off light the way fresh paint gives off fumes. I call them my friends and they let me. They've been poking at an ideal called "A Thomas Jefferson Education" for over a year now. (For those not familiar with TJEd, click here for a decent summary of the concepts and objectives behind leadership education.) The definitive work on TJEd by Oliver DeMille is very clear regarding the nature of education: it is not a thing donated by some teacher, but rather a thing you create and secure for yourself. There is no other who can take responsibility of it for you. Others can guide and help you, but the most important direction, motivation, and inspiration comes from yourself - the student.

I am a graduate of the public school system and an inmate at the nearest university. I have spent my life in a system designed to teach me what to think rather than how to think. Sadly, I'm a good student; I learned all the wrong things, but I learned them well. It is easy to live my life according to specification (Queen Rule Follower am I) but hard to take on a project of my own design and purpose. That ability died somewhere in Grade 3. My friends have similar stories of interests curbed, enthusiasms quashed, volition bruised, and individuality pruned back to keep it safely inside the acceptable mould. Our public educations prepared us to drudge in the work force, but we don't feel prepared for much else.

For those still grappling with the "But why this blog?" question, I'm getting there. Patience, please.

My stellar group of friends is dissatisfied with crippling along on a public education. They're going after a functional education instead - a leadership education. After a few conversations and a meeting or two, this group of five organized itself into a miniscule school for self educators. We meet now and again to talk about our areas of interest and to present what we've discovered. The rest of the time we separately study anything we wish as directed by our personal, hand tailored curriculums.

Online tools are fiendishly handy to group coordination. The group uses Google Calendar to plan meeting and events, Buzzwords for online conferencing, and blogs (ha-HAH! here it is) to share what we're finding and more particularly what we're thinking. There's another principle from TJEd: Scholars write intensively about what they study because they're learning to think as well as gaining knowledge. This blog, then, is my personal studies log. "Over Construction" seemed apt - it's my education, it's definitely not finished yet, and this time I'm in charge. Finally.

Forecast for Over Construction:

My studies for this semester are just beginning, but the topics will revolve around a few core areas:

1. Self Management. Think Stephen R. Covey and you'll have the idea.
2. Movement. I'm a Kinesiology major at the U, and human movement is the beginning and end of everything we do.
3. Natural Health. This is deliberately a broad topic. I wanted something that accomodates nutrition, fitness, and health geared practices (ie. sleeping.) The medical world doesn't quite fit here. They are centered on pathology. Pathology is not health.
   
4. Music. Mostly practical studies. Blogging what I'm learning could be difficult and pointless. (Example: "I finally have the finger pattern down for the last 16 bars of Waterfall!" Exciting for me. Not for you.)
5. Gospel Studies. Why go stealth? I'm LDS, there is a God, and Jesus is the Christ. The self education project would be so much wheel spinning if I neglected this, the most important and meaningful field of study. It is the foundation for everything else.

There. You have the reasons for this blog. Be welcome. Let me say now that all thoughtful comments are appreciated. Weigh in at any time!