Hanging With Jenaia

By now I'm sure many of you have put two and two - errrr voice and paw - together and come to the conclusion that Cice is more than a therapy dog and Jenaia is fond of slightly off-color canine jokes made at the expense of her fellow homo sapiens.

The thing is - and this is where it all gets intriguing and fun - taking on and embodying the persona of Cice has let me do three very important things:

1) Step outside the assumptions we make about who and what matters in life.  I mean let's face it.  To a dog what matters most is physical comfort, unconditional love, and food - not necessarily in that order.  As Cice I am not the least bit impressed by a person's credentials. What matters is his/her willingness to be present, engaged, and open to "play."  By "play" I mean tossing judgments to the wind and allowing oneself to romp with new ideas and people.  

2) Reevaluate what and how we choose to learn.  Cice's outrage at the way RQ was treated as a child in school was genuine and legitimate.  When you have the opportunity to step out side a system and see it with fresh eyes - the eyes of a creature whose life is defined by comfort and love - its problems become abundantly clear.  Any system that rewards conformity and punishes difference; that expects everyone to learn exactly the same things in exactly the same way, and demonstrate that learning using exactly the same tools is seriously flawed.  Moreover, it is asking for trouble.  We need difference; we need alternative perspectives; and we need to be challenged to step outside our assumptions.  This how we grow both as individuals and as a species.

3) Serve as a sounding board and emissary for stories.   The stories I've heard as Cice - first as a therapy dog helping the disabled find their way in Second Life and later as RQ's companion - have amazed and humbled me.  More importantly, they have taught me the value of experiencing the world through another's eyes.   Once you enter another's story - seeing, feeling, touching, and hearing his/her reality - it is difficult to judge, and even harder not to care.   

Then there is the whole process of dreaming up, building out, and co-creating stories.   The day we had our first group of explorers go through the Uncle D Story Quest was pure delight.  We watched as they delved into Uncle D's life - reading his journals, listening to his phone messages, watching his TV, and teleporting to other parts of Second Life - and fielded questions as they arose.  Even more exciting was to hear folks talk about ideas for stories, letters, photographs, and even technical information they could contribute that might make Uncle D and his struggle with HIV/AIDS more meaningful and real.  They were learning and teaching one another and us right before our eyes! What more could you want from a learning environment?  

If you'd like to tackle that question, please consider joining Cice, (aka Jenaia Morane, aka Jena Ball) and her ever reluctant companion Marty Snowpaw (aka Marty Keltz, aka The Reluctant Quester) at the SL Education Roundtable being hosted by Ignatius Onomatopoeia at 2:30-3:30 SL Time (PST) Tuesday, November 3 on the Montclair State University virtual campus in Second Life.  We will be talking about the power of story and Story Quests to transform the landscape of learning.