I use Facebook. Many of my Facebook friends are from the dance floor, and I don't pick them based on their political affiliations.
As such, as the US Presidential election nears, I receive some (a lot of) political posts from both sides.
One (actually two) of the recent posts made me think about the quality of information flying around in Facebook and other places.
First, read following recent speech by President Obama in the original form.
"The future must not belong to those who target Coptic Christians in Egypt – it must be claimed by those in Tahrir Square who chanted “Muslims, Christians, we are one.” The future must not belong to those who bully women – it must be shaped by girls who go to school, and those who stand for a world where our daughters can live their dreams just like our sons. The future must not belong to those corrupt few who steal a country’s resources – it must be won by the students and entrepreneurs; workers and business owners who seek a broader prosperity for all people. Those are the men and women that America stands with; theirs is the vision we will support.
The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, and that is the vision we will support."
A few days later, two photos based on the same speech appeared in my Facebook homepage.
This is a classical example of "out of context" slander. The picture on the right was posted by at least two guys. One guy said "Hey, read and learn, liberals", then showed the picture on the right. Another guy is a religious guy, whose latest post says "FAITH-My faith in God is unshakable", and the picture came with "YOU DECIDE!!!!!".
With all due respect as a Facebook friend, I do not think the way they handled the speech and the information was trustworthy or honorable, or even "godly". In the future I would have to listen to what they say with a certain skepticism.
They may or may not speak something good or truthful in the future. But the "Boy who cried wolf" effect has already kicked in.
As a scientist, I generate and examine data. The quality of the data is very important for this job. Trained scientists assess the quality of the information and quality of the source.
For general matters like politics, we do not generate primary information. Most of the time we act on what someone else says (hearsay). That is why assessment of the source is critical.
In case of politics, this kind of information skew can come from all sides. That is why I am minding who says it in the individual's level.
These Facebook friends have failed to provide good information regarding politics. Should I trust what they say about politics? I'm not sure. If you think I'm that easy to manipulate, think again, if you ever think.
Great dancers have dancer's Aura.
When I was watching "This is it", a documentary film about Michael Jackson's last unfinished tour, a choreographer auditioning the backdancers was saying, "......But if you don't have that goo..that ooze coming out of you, not gonna get the job". The "goo/ooze" is that Aura I am talking about. The goo comes out when they dance. That goo separates good and great dancers.
Sure, it is not exactly scientific. But the notion is universal. Chinese called it chi. Holistic medicine practitioners called it life energy. Martial artists and healers like the notion, whether it is real or not. Real or not, no one denies exceptional presence of Bruce Lee in his films or of Michael Jackson on stage.
I have seen dancers who have the Aura, and I feel fortunate. Some were Broadway dancers. Others were champion WCS dancers. Dancers with the Aura were so amazing, almost overwhelming sometimes. I can be very critical while watching dancing. But when I see the dancers with the Aura, I prefer to shut off my critical brain and just enjoy the dance with the sense of awe.
As a matter of fact, it is easy to be critical to someone who do not have it. They are like dancing naked without the protection of the magic of dancing. What they are trying too hard to do is almost painfully obvious.
Once I read a comment by an old classical music critique/conductor, "I am only interested in geniuses nowadays". My confession is that I began to feel the same way as a watcher of dance.
Feisty? Yup. Sorry about that.
I recognize that this ridiculously high expectation needs to be tamed. By definition geniuses are rare, and the genius performance takes long time of making.
Actually I found a way to reconcile. If we know how to recognize the work of genius, we can begin to see a flash of genius everywhere, like God's grace sprinkled everywhere. In that way I should be able to enjoy watching a lot of dances.
I have read many self-help books, success principle books and life-hack advices. Western culture is somewhat (quite) different from Japanese culture I grew up in, and I read these books to figure out "how it works" in the US.
Once you go through certain volumes, there is a point at which you notice that they are telling you the same things over and over. There are certain sets of behaviors that likely give you success, and other sets that likely fail you or do disservice to you.
Then, why don't we just do the positive stuff?
Unfortunately, as I notice, there are so many negative notions or concepts that conflict with the positive stuff. We pick them up while we grow up. I call them "Negative apps".
The terminology is coming from computer, obviously. When a computer has some issues, a troubleshooting IT guy starts looking for programs and apps that interfere with the main operating system. Once he can identify the conflict, he can uninstall the conflicting program or app. The entire system operates better afterwards.
I think this applies to us people, too.
Once you notice your own "Negative apps", efforts for uninstalling them should follow. It is an act of self-help.
It's not complicated. It is simple. An example would be: unless you uninstall "Money is evil" belief (a negative app), it is unlikely for you to take actions to make money. That kind of things.
If you simplify people's behavior in this way, you can interpret our behavior in different ways.
An example would be religious conversion. Sometimes people get so stressed out from their lives and feel current operating system is not working out at all. They attempt to get rid of old operating system entirely, and install something new that works better (so they think). That is my take for the desperate Born Agains. For the modest or cultural Born Agains, it may not apply.
In case of Born Agains, the new operating system is relatively well-pre-formatted, with established dogmas, other users and installation assistants and all.
Another way for change is a paradigm shift. You try to change your perception to the world, or to a particular subject. Many eastern religions and philosophies advocate this approach. Paradigm shift may or may not be a change as drastic as Born Agains. But it is a way to bring changes in a deeper level.
Sometimes it is helpful to act like a troubleshooting IT guy for yourself. Identify Negative apps and uninstall them. I too had (or still have) some negative apps. But after I started thinking this way, it has been easier for me to see myself more objectively and to identify the apps operating in me.
Try to find your apps. It is fun, surprisingly.
Okay, a dance tip, "Swing dance should swing". What does that mean?
To answer it, I want you to answer a question. "What is Swing?"
Here is a picture of a swing. You know what it is and how it works. You sit on the seat, and start swinging.
Now, think about the motion. You don't move at even speed on the swing, do you? You 'swooosh" and say "wheeee" at the bottom, and you gradually slow down and there comes a moment of pause at the end. Then you start swinging backward. Slow, then fast (wheeeee), then slow, and a pause. Repeat.
Yes. Swing motion has built-in quietness (pause)-slow-quick contrast. And that motion should appear in the swing dance.
West Coast Swing is a member of the swing dance family. It is danced in a slot. When you see the WCS from side (from the viewpoint a slot looks longer), you should be able to see the swing motion.
In the view, the leader is the support of the swing. The follower's motion resembles to that of the seat of a swing. She is the moving part, and the man provides solid and less-moving support.
WCS leaders use compression and release to create the swinging.
Great WCS leaders such as Kyle Redd or Jordan Frisbee are particularly good at creating the swing motion. I love to watch the WCS dance by these guys. Especially, Jordan Frisbee makes big contrast in the pause-slow phase and fast phase in his routines, resulting mesmerizing swing effect.
However, the effect cannot be achieved by the leader or the follower alone. Both should know what to do to create the "Swing" illusion. She should be able to move fast and slow, and take time to pause. Leaders. If you move around too much, sometimes it can work against the swing motion as a couple. You got to give immobile reference point for her motion. Beginners often end up looking sluggish or some kind of struggle, because they don't know this notion....yet.
Personally I like swinging in WCS. However, WCS has differentiated to many styles. There is a group of WCS followers whose style is more oriented toward precise foot positioning. There is another group of followers who like to wiggle and roll in place. Some of the followers may not like too much swinging, probably because they feel rushed. Since I prefer to create swinging, it takes extra care and slowdown to dance with them. You see, know your style preference does help to diagnose your partner's style and to get the dance work.
If you think your swing dance is not swingin', give this swing concept a try.
It is past the Labor day. The hot summer is ending and school has started here in the US. My previous blog entry (5/14/12) "Why college, why school?" happens to be the most popular entry, and I feel like writing my opinion about it again.
My wife is heading to school to study a subject (international business) and get credits for it as well. We had discussions as to her purpose. Why do you pay money/tuition and spend your time to go there? What is the purpose?
I went to the best university in Japan that has produced some Nobel prize winners. I studied at school for a long time until I got my PhD for molecular genetics (officially Biophysics, because the department happened to be Biophysics. My thesis adviser changed his research subject to molecular genetics after he got his position at the Biophysics department). On top of that, it is a common practice for biomedical researchers to do a post-doc, another extended period of training, and I did that, too. After all my experience, my take on schooling is that you go to school to prepare for the real deal. You go there because your current ability is insufficient for the real deal. You use school for training and improvement. It is a moratorium period, when you can improve yourself and become someone useful for a service or productive in a subject of your choice. Having a protected time to achieve the goal is great, and schooling is the time for your preparation for the real performance. Don't expect high paycheck when the quality of your service is not high.
Of course there will be counterarguments. A lot of people go to college by default. When they are young and fresh off high school, many of them think college is a place to find out what they will do in the future, or a place to find out what they want to do, or are good at doing. In other words, they are just buying themselves time.
I say it is late. If they don't have goal or purpose already, they better start thinking about them seriously. Think of Olympians. They have done their sport for years. At the age of 18, they usually already have 10 or more years of experience. No wonder they perform well and are amazing. Having a goal; that is the cause of the current difference between who had a goal and who didn't.
The reverse is true, too. When you are good at what you do, I don't think schooling, for whatever it is, is your high priority. Of course you can always learn more to be the best, but the need may not be urgent. When you are very good at something, you'll likely find yourself in a position of teacher rather than a student. You can legitimately ask, "Do I need to go to school to improve my game or business, or not?" For them, practice may be a better way to learn and improve their game.
Actually, people who are good at something have gone through a lot of learning experiences already, and not necessarily in a form of school. For example, people who make a lot of money basically like the subject of making money. They talk about it, they read about it, they find like-minded friends, make plans to make money and implement them. And they are serious about it. Their minds are occupied by the subject. That is when they can make a serious amount of money. Going to a business school may not replace or add to the hands-on exercise.
Once you get past a tipping point, conventional schooling (lectures, discussions, exams etc) is taken over by your self-teaching and learning, and the grade will be given in the form of something else. That is what happens in life.
What I would suggest to a student is a shift in his/her mindset. Switch from a passive learner to an active learner with a goal, to become a real deal.
With all I said above, I still do value schooling highly. Even if you attend school without a clear goal, schooling experience should help you in some ways. For example, a course you take out of curiousity can expand your scope and may change your life later. Life can be longer than you think. For another example, each course has a syllabus, and it should state the direct scope and expectations of the course. Eventually you should be able to use what you learn in the course somewhere. A seemingly useless biology class may help you to distinguish scientifically sound diet programs from unhealthy and unreal religio-sci-fi claims. An apparently useless history class may help you to understand the backgrounds of active political factions and save you from their mind manipulations. History can be a rich source of lessons, too.
Ignorance is not bliss. There are many people with agendas in this world, and ignorance will be on you. Because of that, I believe education is critical, whether in a form of school or not.
......However,...
I love "Forrest Gump". His approach to life is entirely different. He lives in the present. You don't need to plan things and make them happen in the future to be happy. Happiness is a state of your mind, and you can find happiness any time you can. If you can live like him, my argument above is like a piece of "make-it-happen" schemer's opinion. But I don't care. If you can live like Forrest, I am truly happy for you.
Dallas DANCE is an annual West Coast Swing event held over US Labor day holiday weekend in Dallas, TX. It is a big event, boasting 30+ Invited National and regional champions, many up-and-coming competitors and totaling 1500+ dancers. The daytime workshops and competitions, and late-night social dancing that last up until 6AM or so, together make a lot of fun.
I started going there around 2003, as Oklahoma City is reasonably close to Dallas, and in recent years have been using the event as my annual WCS vacation. No competitions, just for pleasure. I even proposed to my then-girlfriend last year at the Dallas Fairmont hotel on the Friday. She is my wife now, so it worked out (hehe). It makes it so much easier to remember the anniversary ;)
This year I was dancing with my wife a lot of times (of course), and did not do social dance as much as I did in some previous years. But when I did dance socially, I wanted to dance nicely and smoothly with all the partners. I don't like rough dances, and I assume it is the same for most followers. I love comfortable, fun and smooth WCS. For competition purposes, emphasizing speed contrast and making the dance dramatic, even gimmicky, is a valid approach. But why should I do that for social dances?
Also, I love to dance with the music. I don't like mechanical practice of the moves. It can be a turn-off if she is just cruising or going through motions instead of dancing, no matter how good she is. However, it is up to her. WCS has a lot of unleadable elements, and as a leader I need to work with what she's got anyways.
My wife is in the process of improving her WCS, and the event was a great learning opportunity. She did learn and progressed a lot just in the three days. We may be able to come up with a nice Swango (Swing-Tango hybrid dance) routine or something.
A big event like that is like a school where all people go, from first graders (beginners) to graduate school to professor-levels (champions). You can identify all levels of dancers, and can learn something from all. You can also identify where you are, dance level-wise. Knowing where you are in the crowd can be a wake-up call. Even shocking to some. I told my wife not to be frustrated even if she is not dancing like champions. Learning is a stepwise process and results don't come overnight. Developing neuromuscular connections and acquiring a certain "dance hunch" can take a long time. Rushing doesn't work.
As many dancers were there, the attending dancers have their own reasons to be there. Some have vested interests for the event. The event organizers are concerned with the business aspect and work their a**s off for it. Some professionals are there mostly for teaching, where the money is. Competing dancers work their a**s off to present their best dances and to please judges and audiences. Their efforts may eventually return as fame or some other form of results. Others come to meet friends and to be entertained, with no worries about how many competitor points they make.
After 26 years of running, the Dallas DANCE community has a system and rules, some of which are unwritten. Some people are well known celebrities and can be comfortable. They enjoy the community they are in and enjoy the system they invested in. Others are newcomers and are trying hard to establish themselves. A proud sense of achievement was all over the dance floor, and it was nice to watch. I would like to believe that what binds people together is their shared interest and love for the WCS dance. Only the ways of involvement and expression vary.
It was a good opportunity for me to think about many aspects of dance as well. As a business, as an art, as a social medium and friendship, as a measure for communication, as a source of pleasure, as a medium for a sense of achievement.....etc etc.
Yes, I enjoyed the party. There are many dancer friends I dance with only once a year in Dallas. Thank you for the dances. I am looking forward to coming back next year. See you later.
