1. I’m ¾ Irish and ¼ Puerto Rican. My grandmother was Maria Urrutia, born in Comerio, PR in 1899. The story of my grandmother’s family is fantastic and she herself was an amazing woman. Her father was a an officer in the military and a pharmacist. She grew up living on the grounds of the El Morro Castle. Her mother was Adele Rieckehoff, the descendent of German traders who had three ships that brought goods from Lipse, Germany to PR. At some point the traders sold their ships and bought a huge swath of property on the island of Vieques. The main school on the island is named after her ancestor, German Reickehoff. He went on to be a legislator in PR and also the founder of the Olympic movement in PR. The Olympic stadium and training center is named after him. Interestingly enough, he was a very tall man. In fact, it is said that when he walked down the street people would call out, “Here comes Mr. Seven Stories!”. At 6’6”, it’s pretty obvious I inherited his height.
2. In 1994, I participated in a work mission to Haiti. Papa Doc was not long gone and I remember distinctly seeing black rings on roads. These were the scars left by tires being burned as part of protests and also used in the deaths of some of Papa Docs vicious army the Ton Ton Macoute. It was amazing to see policemen carrying sub-machine guns.
We worked in 100 degree heat, under Haitian supervision, to build 14×14 concrete rooms which were to be teachers’ living quarters. The school was not much more than two rooms with plain benches and a blackboard in each. There were no bathrooms. Students ducked behind a corrugated 4×8 piece of tin, leaned against a tree, to do their business.
3. In 1995, I was chosen by UNICEF to visit China in order to assess their educational technology progress and to provide a draft plan on how to move forward. I met many wonderful people on this trip and quickly realized that many of the solutions that we had in the U.S. would not scale to meet the challenges of a country as large as China. I met teachers in schools around the country who would rush to my side to speak with me in English because they were English teachers who had never heard the language spoken by a native person.
4. I lived in the Adirondack mountains for nearly 10 years. Winters were long, and cold; but the small town I lived, and the school I taught in were great places. I started with 18 other new teachers from all over New York State. We learned together, taught together, and played together. It was a wonderful cadre of friends and it wasn’t unusual to spend our summers or weekends helping each other build our homes from scratch. Being ‘handy’ was definitely an Adirondack thing. We skied, hiked, boated, fished, swam, and explored. I heated with wood for more than a year when renovating an old house I bought.
5. I am a certified master somatic coach. What the heck is that? It’s an approach to self development that uses the body as a major key for learning. A simple way to experience this is to stand up and put your head down so that you are staring at your feet, round your shoulders. Take a moment to sense how this makes you feel. What emotions or sensations does it bring? Now, stand up straight. Hold out your chin, pull your shoulders back; how does that make you feel. Very different, right? This is just an inkling of what is possible if we pay attention to our bodies and our breath. The way we hold ourselves and the way we move are reflections of our inner state. Change the way we hold ourselves and we change who we are.
Well, I think 5 things for the meme is good for today. It was an interesting exercise for me and I thank Heidi for tagging me.
pete
