My social feed this week has been flooded with references to the first landing of humans on the moon, now 53-years-ago. At the 50th anniversary, back in 2019, there were at least two heavily promoted documentaries, Apollo 11 (listed above) and Armstrong. In the Fall of 2018 one bio pic, First Man, was released. This year as it was in 2019, there were more than a few websites releasing videos and information, following the timeline of the original moon landing event from 1969. The power of this narrative, which I experienced as an 11-year-old boy watching the space program from my parent’s TV screen in Southern California, can be life defining.
This is also the last Friday of my summer break, in that I plan to return to campus next Monday to continue prepping for the 2022-2023 school year. So, how did I spend my summer break. I spent more than a few (1/2) days working on my classroom (until they locked up for the summer). Thus, I spent the last three weeks working on my websites, first moving to a self-hosted WordPress site, then switching to a modular theme (Divi/Edition), and the most recently updating my online resume, teaching and academic portfolios.
I get that it can be a trap to get too caught up in past experiences or accomplishments and that a lot has happened in the world since these glory days recorded in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. But the reason I can do the editing and website work is because I spent all that time over the past 40-years observing and doing a lot of writing. I got my B.A. in Biblical Studies in 1981, my B.A. in Journalism in 1991 and my Masters in Educational Technology in 2002. I know, I should have begun work on the masters a year earlier to keep the roll going , but then I would have missed out on working with an amazing group of people who inspired me during the program and who’s journeys and accomplishments I’ve been enjoying for the past 20-years.
My point is that the present accomplishments were made possible from all the failures and efforts made in the past. It’s too easy to fall victim to whatever voices one listens to about the importance of whatever one is trying to do right now. We naturally ignore or more truthfully forget all that’s come before. So, I spent the last three weeks revisiting and wrestling with the collective writings that I produced beginning with my first degree program in 1976 at Loyola Marymount University and ending with my teaching credential work that I completed in 1994. I posted my doctorate work from 2005 to 2009, but i still need to work on masters work from 2001 to 2002. Yeah, I know, twenty-years ago, but the echos still can be heard today, though as we age it can be more difficult to hear.
Everything in the news right now, from the reliability of mass media/journalism, to online communities, to how humans learn, to the greater importance of narrative versus data, all of these issues and ideas have been a part of my past explorations beginning with those foggy mornings as an 18-year-old Religious Studies major at Loyola Marymount University on the bluffs overlooking Marina Del Rey in 1976. If you are reading these words on FB or just happened to wonder onto my blog, please wander to the bottom of the page and where it says “WANT INSTANT BLOG UPDATES?” Please add your name and email address and you’ll get a message with the full post in your email. If you want to explore my academic musing click here: https://joebustillos.com/joe-bustillos-academic-portfolio/ Thanks and enjoy.
