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Fashion, Body Positivity & Eating Disorders | Ep. 18

This week’s episode includes a wonderful conversation with three women who are raising awareness about body positivity and eating disorders.

Youngstown State University’s Fashion Merchandising Department will be hosting the annual everyBODY Fashion Show on Wednesday, April 28th at 6PM.

The show promotes inclusivity for all ages, sexualities and body-types. The show is dedicated to Danielle Peters, a former merchandising, fashion and interiors student of Youngstown State University. Peters died due to complications from bulimia in the summer of 2012.

Special Guests: Professor Jennifer Frank, ShaCora Smith & Nina Schubert

Professor Jennifer Frank is the Merchandising Fashion & Interiors professor at Youngstown State University.

ShaCora Smith is a sophomore at Youngstown State University and one of the students coordinating the fashion show.

Nina Schubert is a student at Kent State University and a mental health advocate.

Intro Music: Midnight Sun by Cleveland’s own Mr.Gnome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listening Time: 50 minutes

5 New Year’s resolutions for 2022 (even in a pandemic)

As we usher in another new year in the throes of a global pandemic, it’s time to call BS on diets that don’t serve us and habits that distract us from what we want to be doing with our lives. For 2022, I’m playing hardball by tossing soft and meeting you where you are — in your home, trying to make the best choices for your own health and that of your family.

New Year’s resolutions are personal and, crucially, optional — you don’t necessarily need to make any. But if you’re inspired to make small changes that could have big impacts on your overall well-being, here’s a list that might help.

Lean into a ‘slow morning’ routine

Think about the best possible start to your day. Does it involve savoring a cup of coffee while you read a book? Working out as the sun rises? Going for a quiet walk around the block? Listening to music or playing with your dog? Whatever it is, use the New Year as a new opportunity to refine your morning routine and slow it down for the things you love. Everyone’s ideal “slow morning” will be different, but carving out time for things that bring you purpose early in the day can lead to a more present work day, whether it requires waking up 30 minutes earlier or just reprioritizing your time in the AM.

Stop checking your phone first thing in the morning

We live, communicate and work through our phones, so it makes sense that they’re the first things we turn to when we open our eyes. And it doesn’t take much scientific study to conclude that scrolling social media or going through your inbox isn’t the best way for your brain to start (or end) the day.

But there is some science behind it. As Forbes reported, by reaching for your phone first thing in the morning, you’re “priming your brain for distraction” and disrupting the brain’s flow of different waves that allow you to be more creative and purposeful about your day. Staying on your phone for work-related matters hours after signing off can also inhibit you from getting a good night’s rest.

If you’re like many people who’ve considered cutting back screen time, there’s no better time than 2022 to start. There are different ways to improve screen hygiene, like using blue light glasses for work and reading a book instead of scrolling through your phone before bed. To cut back on screen time this year and reorganize your screen time, check out these tips.

Find a diet that keeps you satisfied (and won’t restrict you)

Finding an eating pattern that’s both intuitive and satisfies your nutritional needs can be tough, and daunting New Year’s resolutions that require you to completely switch gears for a diet that might be downright unhelpful.

This year, try subscribing to the advice of nutritionists and experts that work with you to create sustainable meal habits (also called the “anti-diet dietitians”). Chances are, you’ll start honoring food as the fuel our body needs to live and be healthy, make nutritious choices accordingly and become more expert about what your body needs.

Restricting calories can sometimes trigger binge eating, which can make you feel ill or lead to unhealthy habits. If you want to eat healthier but don’t want to sign up for a restrictive diet, make sure your plate is full of things your body needs first.

Practice your most creative hobby every day

In 2009, caregiver Bronnie Ware wrote a blog post detailing the top five regrets of dying people. A lot of news outlets reported on the list, it turned into a book and even inspired a TED talk. The number one thing on the list? “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

Many people may push aside their more creative pursuits because it doesn’t make them money or they feel they don’t have the time.

For 2022, I suggest you make the time, whether it’s 10 minutes of active daydreaming or an hour of active crafting, writing music, poetry, painting, graphic designing, figure skating, playing chess or anything else that inspires you. If you’ve been keeping it on the back burner, imagining the day you’ll have the time, 2022 is your year to make the first step.

Treat yourself the way you treat other people

Be as understanding with yourself as you are with other people: It’s the inverse of the Golden Rule. If your friend set a goal for themselves to exercise for 15 minutes each day, but they missed two days in a row, would you consider them a failure or would you tell them to just pick it back up tomorrow?

Probably the former, because unless you’re a robot, you know that someone experiencing a hiccup or less-than-productive day doesn’t undermine the value of their goal and all of the work they’ve put in so far. Sometimes, people just need a break to reconvene and figure out the best way to fit their new passion into their busy schedule. So why can’t we see that in ourselves?

Many people fall into the trap of thinking something has to be done perfectly or not done at all. While you may have already heard the phrase “done is better than perfect,” it’s worth repeating here. Picture it in the context of someone else’s creative journey, then give yourself the same space and grace. By learning to understand yourself the way you understand others, you’ll also start practicing self-compassion and you might just end up accomplishing more in the process.


Original Article and Author available here.

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Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper | Ep. 16

This week’s podcast guest is helping bring curiosity to the next level. He’s 14, he’s a freshman in high-school with mad basketball skills, and one of the coolest nephews on the plant.

Please enjoy this curious conversation with Mr. Cooper.

Intro Music: Midnight Sun by Cleveland’s own Mr.Gnome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listening Time: 25 minutes

New to the podcast? Listen and download our  full catalog of shows here.

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How Shakespeare Helps Us Rethink Education

First off, this article is a re-share from EdSurge. Links to original articles are below.

Secondly, here is the Wikipedia synopsis of Shakespeare’s ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’. Don’t be lazy, read it.

Finally, if you enjoy staycurious.org, please support this open-source project.


In “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” a comedy that William Shakespeare wrote in the 16th century, the character Biron asks, “What is the end of study?”

Questioning the end, or purpose, of education is an exercise that modern students, professors and college leaders engage in all the time. Scott Newstok, professor of English at Rhodes College in Memphis, believes that Shakespeare’s own training—in rhetoric, craftsmanship and conversation—reveals the answer.

“This big, long-term, ambitious task of education is the development of your fullest human capacities to be self-reflective and to be able to articulate complex thoughts and engage with other people,” Newstok says.

In other words, he believes the purpose of education is learning to think.

Newstok explores this philosophy in his new book, “How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons From a Renaissance Education.” It’s a slim, surprising exploration of the value that deeply human engagement has in a world full of data points and distractions.

Surveying the obsessions that dominate instruction time in many classrooms, including standardized tests, Newstok finds them at odds with the practices that he believes are essential to developing a “fully deployed mind” like Shakespeare’s own. It’s reading, writing, translation and discussion that truly teach people to think, according to Newstok, who asserts that those same exercises can also help people today develop empathy by stretching “your cognitive capacity to imagine yourself into other subject positions.”

The kind of teaching and learning that Newstok prescribes takes time and effort. Education technology that promises shortcuts for “delivering content” cannot substitute for the hard mental labor of thinking, Newstok says, nor the skilled craftsmanship of teachers.

“They need to have content-specific knowledge, but they also have all kinds animating ways in which they help us care about that knowledge,” he explains. “And they nudge us and they press us and they shame us and they inspire us. That’s a complex art.”

Read the original article from EdSurge here. Listen to the EdSurge podcast here.

***Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting.***

Capital Curiosity in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) | Ep. 14

After a few weeks on hiatus, the staycurious.org Podcasts returns. First we offer a fun Friday show recapping the week’s touristy stuff in the Nation’s Capital: indoor skydiving, turning 40, and street art.

Then we explore the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) and find The Awakening t0 brush off the dust and get back to curating content to coach the The Curious.

Got a city for this traveling podcast to visit? Let us know.

Guest: Al Miller aka -the Captain of Project Falkor @projectfalkor

Intro Music: Plastic Shadow by mr.Gnome off of Heave Your Skeleton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listening Time: 30 minutes

Wining w/ Chris Swanson | Ep. 12

After  a year of begging, pleading, and being stood up, I finally sit with the infamous Chris Swanson.

Chris Swanson is lactose intolerant living in an ice cream world.

Pour a glass of your favorite Two Buck Chuck, sit back and relax, and listen to two lads discuss randomness, missed trips to India, and what will become of 2021 as we reset what is normal.

The intro music is from Mr.Gnome; an alternative are rock married duo from Cleveland, Ohio. Listen to How to Talk in Technicolor.

Listening time: 48 minutes

Seas and Greetings w/ Project Falkor | Ep. 10

Al Miller, R.A. is not a mad man. But he did trade his Dual Masters in Architecture & Business along with a decade of designing skyscrapers and hotels in San Diego, CA to travel to Santiago de Chile to teach English and Eco-tourism, only to fall in love with scuba-diving and the sailing life.

Season 1 is done and included secret bars, 70 days quarantined on SV Falkor and eating stingray. Set adrift this curious conversation with the Captain of Project Falkor as we chat about planning Season 2 of sailing towards the simple life.

What will 2021 include? Just a tiny trip across Atlantic from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia via Cape Verde, up the Windward Islands to Florida and the East Coast.

Batten down the hatches and raise your Jolly Roger.

The intro music is the new single Midnight Sun from Mr.Gnome; an alternative are rock married duo from Cleveland, Ohio.

Listening time: 29 minutes

7 Ways to Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills

When I was in 7th grade, my U.S. history teacher gave my class the following advice:

Your teachers in high school won’t expect you to remember every little fact about U.S. history. They can fill in the details you’ve forgotten. What they will expect, though, is for you to be able to think; to know how to make connections between ideas and evaluate information critically.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but my teacher was giving a concise summary of critical thinking. My high school teachers gave similar speeches when describing what would be expected of us in college: it’s not about the facts you know, but rather about your ability to evaluate them.

And now that I’m in college, my professors often mention that the ability to think through and solve difficult problems matters more in the “real world” than specific content.

Despite hearing so much about critical thinking all these years, I realized that I still couldn’t give a concrete definition of it, and I certainly couldn’t explain how to do it. It seemed like something that my teachers just expected us to pick up in the course of our studies. While I venture that a lot of us did learn it, I prefer to approach learning deliberately, and so I decided to investigate critical thinking for myself.

What is it, how do we do it, why is it important, and how can we get better at it? This post is my attempt to answer those questions.

In addition to answering these questions, I’ll also offer seven ways that you can start thinking more critically today, both in and outside of class.

What Is Critical Thinking?

“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.”

– The Foundation for Critical Thinking

The above definition from the Foundation for Critical Thinking website is pretty wordy, but critical thinking, in essence, is not that complex.

Critical thinking is just deliberately and systematically processing information so that you can make better decisions and generally understand things better. The above definition includes so many words because critical thinking requires you to apply diverse intellectual tools to diverse information.

Ways to critically think about information include:

  • Conceptualizing
  • Analyzing
  • Synthesizing
  • Evaluating

That information can come from sources such as:

  • Observation
  • Experience
  • Reflection
  • Reasoning
  • Communication

And all this is meant to guide:

  • Beliefs
  • Action

You can also define it this way:

Critical thinking is the opposite of regular, everyday thinking. 

Moment to moment, most thinking happens automatically. When you think critically, you deliberately employ any of the above intellectual tools to reach more accurate conclusions than your brain automatically would (more on this in a bit).

This is what critical thinking is. But so what?

Why Does Critical Thinking Matter?

Linda-Elder-Quote-for-CIG

Most of our everyday thinking is uncritical.

If you think about it, this makes sense. If we had to think deliberately about every single action (such as breathing, for instance), we wouldn’t have any cognitive energy left for the important stuff like D&D. It’s good that much of our thinking is automatic.

We can run into problems, though, when we let our automatic mental processes govern important decisions. Without critical thinking, it’s easy for people to manipulate us and for all sorts of catastrophes to result. Anywhere that some form of fundamentalism led to tragedy (the Holocaust is a textbook example), critical thinking was sorely lacking.

Even day to day, it’s easy to get caught in pointless arguments or say stupid things just because you failed to stop and think deliberately.

But you’re reading College Info Geek, so I’m sure you’re interested to know why critical thinking matters in college.

Here’s why:

According to Andrew Roberts, author of The Thinking Student’s Guide to College, critical thinking matters in college because students often adopt the wrong attitude to thinking about difficult questions. These attitudes include:

Ignorant Certainty

Ignorant certainty is the belief that there are definite, correct answers to all questions–all you have to do is find the right source (102). It’s understandable that a lot of students come into college thinking this way–it’s enough to get you through most of your high school coursework.

In college and in life, however, the answers to most meaningful questions are rarely straightforward. To get anywhere in college classes (especially upper-level ones), you have to think critically about the material.

Naive Relativism

Naive relativism is the belief that there is no truth and all arguments are equal (102-103). According to Roberts, this is often a view that students adopt once they learn the error of ignorant certainty.

While it’s certainly a more “critical” approach than ignorant certainty, naive relativism is still inadequate since it misses the whole point of critical thinking: arriving at a more complete, “less wrong” answer.

Part of thinking critically is evaluating the validity of arguments (yours and others’). Therefore, to think critically you must accept that some arguments are better (and that some are just plain awful).

Critical thinking also matters in college because:

  • It allows you to form your own opinions and engage with material beyond a superficial level. This is essential to crafting a great essay and having an intelligent discussion with your professors or classmates. Regurgitating what the textbook says won’t get you far.
  • It allows you to craft worthy arguments and back them up. If you plan to go on to graduate school or pursue a PhD., original, critical thought is crucial
  • It helps you evaluate your own work. This leads to better grades (who doesn’t want those?) and better habits of mind.

Doing college level work without critical is a lot like walking blindfolded: you’ll get somewhere, but it’s unlikely to be the place you desire.

Bertrand-Russell-Quote-for-CIG

The value of critical thinking doesn’t stop with college, however. Once you get out into the real world, critical thinking matters even more. This is because:

  • It allows you to continue to develop intellectually after you graduate. Progress shouldn’t stop after graduation–you should keep learning as much as you can. When you encounter new information, knowing how to think critically will help you evaluate and use it.
  • It helps you make hard decisions. I’ve written before about how defining your values helps you make better decisions. Equally important in the decision-making process is the ability to think critically. Critical thinking allows you compare the pros and cons of your available options, showing that you have more options than you might imagine.
  • People can and will manipulate you. At least, they will if you take everything at face value and allow others to think for you. Just look at ads for the latest fad diet or “miracle” drug–these rely on ignorance and false hope to get people to buy something that is at best useless and at worst harmful. When you evaluate information critically (especially information meant to sell something), you can avoid falling prey to unethical companies and people.
  • It makes you more employable (and better paid). The best employees not only know how to solve existing problems–they also know how to come up with solutions to problems no one ever imagined. To get a great job after graduating, you need to be one of those employees, and critical thinking is the key ingredient to solving difficult, novel problems.

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7 Ways to Think More Critically

AE-Mander-Quote-for-CIG

Now we come to the part that I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for: how the heck do we get better at critical thinking? Below, you’ll find seven ways to get started.

1. Ask Basic Questions

“The world is complicated. But does every problem require a complicated solution?”

– Stephen J. Dubner

Sometimes an explanation becomes so complex that the original question get lost. To avoid this, continually go back to the basic questions you asked when you set out to solve the problem.

Here are a few key basic question you can ask when approaching any problem:

  • What do you already know?
  • How do you know that?
  • What are you trying to prove, disprove, demonstrated, critique, etc.?
  • What are you overlooking?

Some of the most breathtaking solutions to problems are astounding not because of their complexity, but because of their elegant simplicity. Seek the simple solution first.

2. Question Basic Assumptions

“When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.”

The above saying holds true when you’re thinking through a problem. it’s quite easy to make an ass of yourself simply by failing to question your basic assumptions.

Some of the greatest innovators in human history were those who simply looked up for a moment and wondered if one of everyone’s general assumptions was wrong. From Newton to Einstein to Yitang Zhang, questioning assumptions is where innovation happens.

You don’t even have to be an aspiring Einstein to benefit from questioning your assumptions. That trip you’ve wanted to take? That hobby you’ve wanted to try? That internship you’ve wanted to get? That attractive person in your World Civilizations class you’ve wanted to talk to?

All these things can be a reality if you just question your assumptions and critically evaluate your beliefs about what’s prudent, appropriate, or possible.

If you’re looking for some help with this process, then check out Oblique Strategies. It’s a tool that musician Brian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt created to aid creative problem solving. Some of the “cards” are specific to music, but most work for any time you’re stuck on a problem.

3. Be Aware of Your Mental Processes

Human thought is amazing, but the speed and automation with which it happens can be a disadvantage when we’re trying to think critically. Our brains naturally use heuristics (mental shortcuts) to explain what’s happening around us.

This was beneficial to humans when we were hunting large game and fighting off wild animals, but it can be disastrous when we’re trying to decide who to vote for.

A critical thinker is aware of their cognitive biases  and personal prejudices and how they influence seemingly “objective” decisions and solutions.

All of us have biases in our thinking. Becoming aware of them is what makes critical thinking possible.

4. Try Reversing Things

A great way to get “unstuck” on a hard problem is to try reversing things. It may seem obvious that X causes Y, but what if Y caused X?

The “chicken and egg problem” a classic example of this. At first, it seems obvious that the chicken had to come first. The chicken lays the egg, after all. But then you quickly realize that the chicken had to come from somewhere, and since chickens come from eggs, the egg must have come first. Or did it?

Even if it turns out that the reverse isn’t true, considering it can set you on the path to finding a solution.

5. Evaluate the Existing Evidence

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Isaac Newton

When you’re trying to solve a problem, it’s always helpful to look at other work that has been done in the same area. There’s no reason to start solving a problem from scratch when someone has already laid the groundwork.

It’s important, however, to evaluate this information critically, or else you can easily reach the wrong conclusion. Ask the following questions of any evidence you encounter:

  • Who gathered this evidence?
  • How did they gather it?
  • Why?

Take, for example, a study showing the health benefits of a sugary cereal. On paper, the study sounds pretty convincing. That is, until you learn that a sugary cereal company funded it.

You can’t automatically assume that this invalidates the study’s results, but you should certainly question them when a conflict of interests is so apparent.

6. Remember to Think for Yourself

Don’t get so bogged down in research and reading that you forget to think for yourself–sometimes this can be your most powerful tool.

Writing about Einstein’s paper “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” (the paper that contained the famous equation E=mc2), C.P. Snow observed that “it was as if Einstein ‘had reached the conclusions by pure thought, unaided, without listening to the opinions of others. To a surprisingly large extent, that is precisely what he had done’”(121).

Don’t be overconfident, but recognize that thinking for yourself is essential to answering tough questions. I find this to be true when writing essays–it’s so easy to get lost in other people’s work that I forget to have my own thoughts. Don’t make this mistake.

For more on the importance of thinking for yourself, check out our article on mental laziness.

7. Understand That No One Thinks Critically 100% of the Time

“Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought.”

– Michael Scriven and Richard Paul

You can’t think critically all the time, and that’s okay. Critical thinking is a tool that you should deploy when you need to make important decisions or solve difficult problems, but you don’t need to think critically about everything.

And even in important matters, you will experience lapses in your reasoning. What matters is that you recognize these lapses and try to avoid them in the future.

Even Isaac Newton, genius that he was, believed that alchemy was a legitimate pursuit.

Conclusion

Albert-Einstein-Quote-for-CIG

As I hope you now see, learning to think critically will benefit you both in the classroom and beyond. I hope this post has given you some ideas about how you can think more critically in your own life. Remember: learning to think critically is a lifelong journey, and there’s always more to learn.

For a look at critical thinking principles in action, check out this guide to strategic thinking.

Sources

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