Be Original: Alejo’s Morning Meeting – D32

Today’s morning meeting was about a couple of videos. The first was a clip from the movie Garden State, which was about creating a completely original moment in history. After this clip, we decided to create our original moment in history. It was very funny! I encourage you do the same, you’ll feel great. Then, we watched Steve Jobs’ Vision of the World and discussed it later. We talked about believing and being certain that you can change the world and the things around you. When you realize this and combine it with hard work, then the world is just waiting for you to change it!

Dialogue with Kyle and Debriefing – D31

This afternoon we didn’t had programming class, but instead, talked with Kyle about our curriculum and our process at the MPC. I really like that he is genuinely interested in what is happening at the MPC and with our learning process, and I appreciate that. He also showed us the Pomodoro Method, which is to work for 25 minutes and then rest for 5. Also, that he stands up for working and then rests for 5 minutes and read some book’s pages, randomly. I think I’ll try the Pomodoro Method.

Then, we had a dialogue about chapter 2 of Taming the Infinite, and talked mostly about music, which was a lot of fun and instructing. Alejo also helped a lot with his insights and expertise on music. We discussed how sound waves work and how Pythagoreans saw the world through music.

To end our day, we had some debriefing, which was pretty chill and funny. We talked about things to do like an a cappella group, making the MPC journal, and I proposed to come with costumes for Halloween. The funniest thing of this part of the day was Bert’s joke suggesting that Pablito should come in a Sister Miriam Joseph costume!

Here’s how I picture him! (Sorry Pablito)

Some debriefing and some Emerson – D31

For performing arts, nobody had anything prepared so spontaneously we started debriefing. We talked mostly about the “silent room” now called “individual work room”. We decided to keep it as a room for individual work, with everyone more commited on working on their stuff.

After that, we had a dialogue/reading of Emerson’s Self-Reliance, which I enjoyed a lot and also think that everyone enjoyed it as well. What I’m learning from Emerson’s essay is to live with integrity, do what you want to do with your life and not by what society expects or wants you to do, don’t give up on your liberty, think and speak for yourself, not for your party or “usages that are dead to you” as he writes. I have found this essay very insightful and wonderful, a true piece of art!

The Right Perspective: Lore’s Morning Meeting – D31

For the first or second time since we began de MPC, we were all on time (except Ingrid in both occasions). It was great to start the day like this. Today was Lorena’s first direction of a morning meeting. After some announcements, she showed us a video called "Having the Right Perspective", by Joel Osteen, a Christian preacher and a great speaker. I have to admit that at first I thought it would be a video of Christian values and finding God, and I don’t like those kinds of messages. I was wrong. The video talks about having a level of gratitude for what we have, and not complain of what’s possible wrong with our life. It is about finding, in everything, the positive aspect. It also relates with the previous video we watched called, “Celebrating what’s right in the world”. It’s not that having a positive attitude will fix everything or that we have to ignore our problems and wrong things we have, it’s about having a better perspective to confront the problems we may have.

We had individual work until 11 a.m. Then we were supposed to have a dialogue on “The Trivium”, but since almost everyone had not read more than 50 pages, Bert talked to us about commitment and “giving a shit” for the MPC. After this pep talk, we did start the dialogue, which was based on, “what is the metaquestion of chapter 1?” We inquire in many of the chapter’s topics, and at first concluded that the metaquestion was, “what are the liberal arts and what is its purpose”. Later, we talked about other related subjects such as the trivium as the only way of finding the truth, since the trivium stands for all aspects of communication. We didn’t got to answer the metaquestion, but it was a very interesting dialogue.

Euclid time and Debriefing – D30

Once again, after lunch we worked on the first three Euclid’s propositions individually. I started practicing the proposition four, but then decided to practice a little more the first three. Later, Alejo and I practiced the demonstrations of these with each other and received feedback. I think I know how to do them very well by now.

As you may know, today was a short day so after Euclid, we debriefed. It was supposed to start at 2:30 p.m. but some were late, which made us talk about commitment issues that lead to other important subjects as well. One thing I didn’t like was Bert’s attitude toward me, because at first the only ones at the circle were Chacho, Mabe, Alejo, Bert, and I, so Alejo and I were talking when Bert asked something to Mabe and demanded we paid her attention, when it seemed that they were only talking to each other. I made the claim that every time, except for the morning meeting, we wait for everyone to start, but he responded me in a very impolite and inconsistent way, even ignoring me. I didn’t pay to much attention to him, for my conviction I was standing for what we all agreed was correct and I thought he was only having a rough time making everyone committed with the MPC. Nevertheless, I despise those types of attitudes and just made me remember how people respond to different situations.

After some 6 or 7 minutes, everyone was at the circle so we started talking about commitment issues and some proposed that we should let everyone in if they were late, even though they could only participate as listeners in the morning meeting. Alejo and I opposed to this idea entirely, contrary to what almost everybody wanted. I don’t think of it as a good idea, because it gives the wrong incentives to not care if one is late. I think it should be a personal commitment if you really care to be at the MPC, and also a matter of respect to your classmates. What surprised me a lot was to hear some voices like Lucía, Franz, Majo, and the Javieres, defending this idea and talking about commitment when one can see they are the least committed to the MPC, or at least of arriving on time. We had a long time discussing this and although I stood to my position, everyone except Alejo agreed on the idea, so I made it very clear that I didn’t thought this was the solution and that didn’t agreed on it, but if everybody else wanted to try it, so be it. The other subject was the silent room, which Alejo proposed to eliminate because it didn’t worked. I supported that motion, and as a “surprise”, almost everyone opposed to it. We “won” the argument by saying that it was the same thing as allowing late arrivals, because it’s the same principle that applies. The principle that we talked before was the flexibility with the rules and remaining open to evolve and change them. Apparently, the ones that were opposed and especially Javier P. didn’t understand their “argument, principle” very well or at all, because they were not consistent on applying it on all cases. So, this is how our day ended, but don’t get me wrong, it was hilarious to discuss all of these.

Franz’s Morning Meeting and Individual Work – D30

After resisting for 30 MPC days to direct a morning meeting, Franz finally directed it. His activity was about reading something he wrote called, “What I talk about when I talk about “This” and “That””. As I understood it, it was about doing what we really want and not what society expects and wants us to do, just to fulfill some “social requirements”. It relates a lot with Emerson’s essay, Self-Reliance, because both talk about speaking up for yourself and not to surrender your liberty to the society’s approval. The activity was cool, although it lacked some dynamics to do it more interesting. Plus, he didn’t make time for announcements or for making the schedule for the day, but I don’t blame him because, being honest, he hasn’t been in many morning meetings for him to know that.

The rest of the morning was for individual work. I decided to work on some documentation and to make most of the eight-week self-evaluation Bert gave us. I think it was averagely productive.

Nailing on Debriefing – D29

Bravo, bravo, bravo… (Standing ovation to everyone) Clap, clap, clap (8)

So, we first talked about Kyle’s library project and the possibility to visit it one of the following weeks. I’m not going to get into detail with this, because the most important part of the debriefing was our approach on problem solving as a group. Because of Pablito’s request to talk about the Greek class and how inefficient we are in it, we discussed a better way in which we can engage in the class and have a better use of its resources, especially Moris’s time. We concluded that one of the main characteristics of an MPC student is his or her capacity to adapt to different situations. We all agreed that if we keep asking so many questions, we are going to advance very slowly. As a solution, we decided to leave Moris do the class as he wanted, whether a lecture or not, and we’ll leave room for questions after, as long as we have prepared ourselves beforehand and really tried to master the class. By the way, Gaby told us she would stop receiving Greek class with Moris and do her own syllabus.

One more thing and the most important about the debriefing was Gaby’s honesty (after a question from Marce) that she was having second thoughts on whether to leave the MPC or not. Mainly because of her frustration and as she told us, “was not feeling good physically or mentally”. She feels she is not having a good time doing all the MPC stuff and thought was not well prepared for this career. It was a very emotional moment for all, especially the ladies, because many of us have thought and felt the frustration of not catching up with our homework and readings. I told her afterward that I totally disagreed on what she said, because I think of her as a very intelligent and capable person, and if in any case an MPC’er is leaving the MPC, that would not be her case. So, a very interesting and good way to finish a long day at the MPC…