[Xmca-l] Re: General check-in?

[Peg Griffin, Ph.D.]

Henry, may I ask you to discuss Co-Vid 19 in the Navajo Nation? From news reports the Nation seems to be proactive, trying new and old ways of proceeding. But, in comparison to nearby states, more and deeper problems faced with fewer and less stable resources?  DC got robbed in the second bailout bill – way underfunded.  Plans are getting formed and deformed about pushing for fixes in the next bill (now in messes in both House and Senate). Do you know if there are any Navajo plans that DC folk  can support,  maybe learn from (or at least stop from inadvertently stepping on?)  Is staff in Deb Haaland’s office in the HOB a good place to try to find out or …?

 

A good fantasy about November, Henry.  Somehow, it reminds me of the early days in the Fifth Dimension. The children engaged in transformational journeys, taking their avatars through rooms in a table top maze, choosing which of several openings they would use as entry and eventual exit, choosing which of different tasks in the room to do (harder tasks coupled with more choice over which exits from room they could use), collaborating with peers and lovely Big Sisters and Brothers, and there was always the Wizard –guardian or trickster or sometimes asleep at the wheel.  At an exit, avatars transformed and children went to the creature store to pick the token of the transformation to travel with if they chose to enter the 5th D again.  

 

But there was also a different world with university and public school calendars and rites of passage. At times for seams important to that world, the children got shirts screen-printed with words ranging from “I conquered the 5th dimension” “I barely survived the 5th Dimension” “I almost survived the 5th Dimension” and so on “I’m in the middle… “I’m just starting…” A child reviewed the prior period of time, negotiating which words would be on their shirt.  (Of all the weird things in the 5th D, Mike laughs best about the carefully differentiated shirts.)

 

So, how about you and I in the here(s) and now(s)? We make choice after choice after choice and work hard at enough to transform the current elected officials to try to choose better creatures as we exit this iteration of a government and enter again for choices and tasks in the next iteration.  Concurrently, we have to keep our eye on the prize of the CoVid 19  pandemic world and survival in it.

 

BTW, I do live inside the Beltway – 12 blocks north and east of Union Station. The museums, the food, and the HOBs (House Office Buildings) – as well as the SOBs across the capitol park – all nearby, familiar sites of camaraderie for efforts, some successful and some not so much.  

 

Peg

 

From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of HENRY SHONERD
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 7:52 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: General check-in?

 

I was born at Mercy Hospital in Washington DC. Do you actually live inside the Beltway? Great museums there and food. Scads of family from both Judy’s and my side. One of the last times I visited there, I went to Michelle’s office: She was our representative at the time. She gets around. 

 

I have this fantasy brought on by the pandemic and New Mexico’s Blue (Democratic) sweep in 2018 that brought us three kick-ass women: Governor Michelle...Representative Deborah Halland for Albuquerque and surrounds where we live (I canvassed for her in the primary!)…and Representative Xochi Small to the south. All Democrats. The fantasy is that these historic times, this perizhvanie, this Lev budding, will bear fruit in November that gets us through another narrow place. And we will celebrate. Fitting that Passover is tonight, a celebration of liberation from slavery, and a time when we recognize that we are all really strangers, wherever we live. 

 

Yikes! Talk about Biblical dialect! It’s as catching as that Corona bug! 

 

Must stay well

Henry

 

 

 

 

 

On Apr 8, 2020, at 4:27 PM, Peg Griffin, Ph.D. <Peg.Griffin@att.net <mailto:Peg.Griffin@att.net> > wrote:

 

I live in Washington, DC, Henry, but my roots here are by way of LCHC in San Diego which begot xlchc which begot xmca.  Don’t know why I switched into a biblical dialect, but not hallucinations, just whimsy. And a little tired this evening. 

Did you notice how my motif in my last post turned unto motive when I sent it?  I think it was Leonti’ev sneaking in.

The description of your mask seems dashing! Could Judy have alternative (or ulterior) motive (or motif)?

Hmmm, just recognized the 5th Dimension wanting into the lineage recital.  Still no hallucination just a few sips  of a nice Tuscan blend…

Peg

 

From:  <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [ <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of HENRY SHONERD
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 5:14 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity < <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu> xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: General check-in?

 

Hey Peg!

Yes, I will tell Governor Michelle you’re rooting for her from where you and yours are at! Please forgive my senior moment, but where do YOU live? 

 

My wife Judy figured out how to make a mask from a bandana and two hair ties. Like I’m ready to rob the stage coach, full of ppe (personal protective equipment).:) I saw a cartoon of Trump and his underlings at one of his you-can’t-make-it-up briefings. They are wearing masks that cover nose and mouth. Trump has a Lone Ranger mask. Here’s a link for those short on Americana:

 <https://www.pinterest.com/robertharmon311/lone-ranger-mask-patterns-for-save-ranger-challeng/> https://www.pinterest.com/robertharmon311/lone-ranger-mask-patterns-for-save-ranger-challeng/

 

Stay safe and well!

Henry

 

 

 






On Apr 8, 2020, at 11:27 AM, Peg Griffin, Ph.D. < <mailto:Peg.Griffin@att.net> Peg.Griffin@att.net> wrote:

 

Henry, please tell your governor/friend, Michelle Lujan Grisham, “We see her, we hear her, we love her, and we know we need her.”

 

Groups here that made good use of allies before the pandemic are making good, well-planned use of us now, especially for those in the shadows, by necessity or oversight, to address basic food and medical insecurity. 

 

And thank you, too, Henry and others on xmca.

 

Relatively healthy (AKA no Co-vid19 that we know of and well masked – my favorite right now is an easily washed and bleached homemade one with a blue lamb motive – anyone need a pdf for making adult or child masks, with or without hepa-filters?) and safe,

Peg

 

From:  <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [ <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of HENRY SHONERD
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 12:48 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity < <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu> xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: General check-in?

 

Hi All,

Like Greg, I was struck by Andy’s sense that China may go back to “normal” but the neo-liberal “first" world is and will be experiencing a profound perizhvanie. You’d hope it will be for the good.

 

In the U.S,, generally, rates of infection are positively correlated with density of population. For example, I live in New Mexico, the fifth largest state in the U.S. with a population of a little over a one million and the lowest rate of infection…so far. However, our Navajo live spread out to the west and north of us, but have very high rates of infection. Little Zia Pueblo, just an our by car to the north and west of us, only has about a thousand people, with eleven confirmed cases. Poverty. In the country as a whole people of color have relatively higher rates of infection. Poverty.

 

Our governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham (who I am proud to say is a good friend), has been successful in pushing baci against Trump’s efforts to punish states that did not vote for him by being less than cooperative in providing resources against the pandemic. She has been using her bully pulpit against Trump's bloviating. His hot air has got to be an infectious agent. Most of us are using masks in public, evidence indicating that it protects OTHERS by wearing them. Trump prefers NOT to wear a mask. Consistent with his politics. You can’t make this up.

 

Be well,

Henry







On Apr 8, 2020, at 9:00 AM, Greg Thompson < <mailto:greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> wrote:

 

David,

 

I wonder if you could say more about your experience of the state-based "surveillance" in SK. There are lots of different groups in the U.S., both on the left and the right, who are up in arms about the "tracking" of citizens via credit card and cell phone usage.

 

And it sounds like this is a global concern as Mary's report from SA suggests.

 

Also how interesting how similar the conspiracy theories are around the globe (globalization and the spread of viral ideas?). That's world perezhivanie indeed!

 

-greg

 

On Tue, Apr 7, 2020 at 3:08 PM David Kellogg < <mailto:dkellogg60@gmail.com> dkellogg60@gmail.com> wrote:

Helena--

 

Situation in China, courtesy my sister-in-law: life in Beijing is pretty much back to normal at least on the face of it. People are going out to their work units (but there is more work from home than before the crisis). Classes still largely taught from ZOOM. My nephew is in Shanghai, where the situation is somewhat tighter (proximity to Wuhan). Wuhan opened up for real yesterday--people can leave (I lived there for two years in the mid-eighties, but I can barely recognize what I see on the news now....) I have students in Chengdu (who attend my class via ZOOM). People are mostly shopping on line with delivery to the gate of the housing unit rather than to their flat (as we do here in Korea). Air quality better than it's been in decades.

 

Situation here in South Korea: We just extended our lockdown for another two weeks. This is in response to a few days of new infections over a hundred, but the infections are mostly (80%) Koreans from the US and Europe who want to live in a place where the medical system has not broken down or is not in the process of breaking down. There are still some "hotspots" of community transmission, but these are almost all connected with churches or PC cafes. Schools reopen on the 16th, but only online. We have elections in a week, and there is a lot of campaigning going on, including the usual street based campaigning (the right wing opposition campaigns around the curious notion that the government has done absolutely nothing, and the government ignores everybody who is not an actual virus). People shop in stores, and there is no panic buying or disruption of supply chains. The main changes in economic life seem to have to do with transport, and it seems like this too will be permanent (electric scooters are everywhere now). Bowing instead of shaking hands is really not a bad idea, and coffee-shops always were over-rated and over-priced.... 

 

But what about you, Helena? (One of the things I have learned on this list is that you get more or less what you give--people tend to use what you write as a model for writing back!) Are you still in Vietnam? Your address says Berkeley and your email says Illinois--those are three very different venues for the virus and the economy. Can you give us a brief account of the situation in each?

 

Stay safe, wherever you are!




David Kellogg

Sangmyung University

 

Book Review: 'Fees, Beets, and Music: A critical perusal of Critical Pedagogy and Marx, Vygotsky and Freire: Phenomenal forms and  educational action research 

in Mind Culture and Activity

 

 <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10749039.2020.1745847> https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10749039.2020.1745847

 

Some free e-prints available at:

 

 <https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/QBBGIZNKAHPMM4ZVCWVX/full?target=10.1080/10749039.2020.1745847> https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/QBBGIZNKAHPMM4ZVCWVX/full?target=10.1080/10749039.2020.1745847

 

New Translation with Nikolai Veresov: "L.S. Vygotsky's Pedological Works Volume One: Foundations of Pedology"

 

  <https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811505270> https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811505270

 

 

 

On Wed, Apr 8, 2020 at 4:30 AM Martin Packer < <mailto:mpacker@cantab.net> mpacker@cantab.net> wrote:

Hi Helena,

 

I share your concerns. And, despite its challenges, this situation seems a great opportunity to apply our distributed expertise(s). I tried to get some discussion going in a group concerned with the Anthropocene, but people seemed disinclined.

 

Martin

 

Here’s the first message that I sent…

 

The current situation is producing important evidence about the probable consequences of the strategies proposed to mitigate climate change. Satellites are showing significant reductions in pollution:

 <https://www.space.com/italy-coronavirus-outbreak-response-reduces-emissions-satellite-images.html> https://www.space.com/italy-coronavirus-outbreak-response-reduces-emissions-satellite-images.html

Experts are suggesting that as a result the coronavirus may save more lives than it takes:

 <https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/03/11/coronavirus-lockdown-may-save-more-lives-from-pollution-and-climate-than-from-virus/#4a39bb3c5764> https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/03/11/coronavirus-lockdown-may-save-more-lives-from-pollution-and-climate-than-from-virus/#4a39bb3c5764

So when skeptics ask “How can you know that reducing air travel will help with climate change?” there is now clear evidence with which to answer them.

 

Also in China:

 <https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/04/811019032/why-chinas-air-has-been-cleaner-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak> https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/04/811019032/why-chinas-air-has-been-cleaner-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak

 

At the same time, I am starting to wonder whether the current health guidelines regarding coronvirus are culturally biased. Can they work in ‘collectivist’ cultures (to use the shorthand)? The CDC guidelines, for example, include the recommendations to “Stay home when you are sick,” but also that other members of the household should “Avoid close contact with people who are sick” and should “Choose a room in your home that can be used to separate sick household members from those who are healthy. Identify a separate bathroom for the sick person to use, if possible.”  

This advice is simply not practicable for many households in Colombia. There are not enough rooms; there is no second bathroom. In addition, many infants and young children here are cared for by grandparents, or even great-grandparents (many women here have a baby when young, so an infant may have a grandmother who is in her late 30s and a great-grandmother in her late 50s). The evidence shows that children don’t become very ill, but they do get infected and they can infect other people, among whom elderly caregivers will be the most at risk.

So I don’t think social distance and auto-quarantine will work in Colombia. Consider what the Chinese did: they went door-to-door to identify infected family members and removed them to massive collective quarantine setttings. People in the West considered this to be draconian, even cruel. But it made sense: much more cross-infection occurred in Chinese homes than in places like restaurants. 

Unless the authorities can come up with strategies that are more appropriate to local circumstances and practices, there is likely to be a rapid and elevated peak of infections in Latin American countries.

 

And I see there is a related point here, on ageism: 

 <https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200313155256.htm> https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200313155256.htm

 

 

 

 

 







On Apr 7, 2020, at 1:56 PM, Helena Worthen < <mailto:helenaworthen@gmail.com> helenaworthen@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Hello, XMCA-ers -

 

I don’t remember ever having read that this list was going to shut down or even be allowed to fade away. So now I’m writing, as if in the dark, to the whole list.  We’ve now got a major — maybe “the” major crisis of the anthropocene on our hands and the distant but connected network represented by the conversations on this list seem to me to be a treasure more precious than gold - and I’m not speaking metaphorically.

 

I am concerned about some of the people who have been pillars and resources on his list, people whom I have reached out to over the years and heard back from with information and perspectives that I would never have been able to access on my own. Where are you now? What are you doing? Are you safe and healthy? Do you have information about friends who are unable to read or respond to this request?

 

I hope to hear some responses to this message.  

 

Take care of yourselves, please — 

 

Helena

 

 

Helena Worthen

 <mailto:hworthen@illinois.edu> hworthen@illinois.edu

21 San Mateo Road, Berkeley, CA 94707

 

 

 




 

-- 

Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Anthropology

880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower

Brigham Young University

Provo, UT 84602

WEBSITE:  <https://anthropology.byu.edu/greg-thompson> https://anthropology.byu.edu/greg-thompson 
 <http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson

 

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