(09-14-2022, 04:38 AM)Alliecat Wrote: In an increasingly broken world our creative hobbies should be the things that bring us joy.
I suspect I have allowed the "broken world" to creep in to my "hobby world," and in so doing, bring chaos and despair along with it. I have two options: give up and let the clutter, emblematic of external chaos, win; or fight back by starting to clean up the mess. If I can do nothing about the real world, perhaps I can bring order and internal logic to my make-believe world.
Oh, here's a good one for you: make-believe. Some years ago, when I was teaching elementary school, during one of the standardized tests a number of students began raising their hands with questions. Their questions were about a phrase in one of the story prompts. "What does 'make-believe' mean?"
I was working with students age 9 and 10 at the time. I was surprised that so many had never heard the term 'make-believe.'
I was also pretty annoyed that apparently none of the grades from K thru 4 had ex-posed the students to the term.
In violation of a test proctor's job, I took it upon myself to make a group announcement: "Okay, you guys, listen up. When you see the words 'make-believe,' it means 'pretend,' okay? 'Pretend' or 'imaginary' or 'made up.' You got that? Any questions? 'Make-believe' means 'pretend.'"
The other proctors looked at me, but didn't say anything. They were getting tired of answering the same question as well.
The emphasis in schools is shifting toward teaching "critical thinking," but "critical thinking" is simply not possible without a basic grounding in facts and vocabulary.
That includes knowing what "make-believe" means.
/digression-of-the-day
They're not dolls, they're action figures!