The Gears of My Childhood

I've read the introduction to Papert's Mindstorm's multiple times. I grabbed the book off of Amazon a few years ago and plowed my way through the first few chapters, reading but never paying close attention to the introduction. With the intro being part of the assigned readings for the Learn Creative Learning course I am participating in, I read it again at at least three more times. (Side note: I guess it's important to read and pay attention to the intro...) As I sit here trying to connect to Papert's play with gears and his future learning, I struggle to pinpoint one particular 'thing' that led to my profile as a learner, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

First, I'd say my profile as a learner is that if I get hooked, I jump in with two feet. I will not say that I become obsessed with a topic that becomes interesting, but I dig deep. I'd also say my interests are rather diverse. Sports, home brewing, reading, running, gardening, music and cooking are a few interests that I'm deeply involved with now.

I cannot think of one 'gears' example leading to who I am as a learner, but many opportunities that I latched onto as a kid. For example, my dad had EVERY record (and 8 Track) under the sun from the 80s. To this day, I can name and sing every Asia song on their first album. I could identify nearly every Journey, Kansas, Foreigner, etc. song on the radio to this day. Hell, my first concert was the Beach Boys. So, I now think it is right to blame my dad when my wife questions my extensive 7.6 day collection of Phish concerts in my iTunes catalog.

I now think it is then right to blame my mom for starting me on baseball cards (which has led to an interesting interest in stats and numbers). I first started collecting baseball cards in 1986, the year my beloved Red Sox nearly broke the curse. She started me out with the 1986 Topps Red Sox team set and not only did the collecting snowball from there, so did the passion of becoming a Red Sox fan. I remember coming home to wax pack upon wax pack of cards which were opened, studied and meticulously sorted and arranged over and over.

I had many more opportunities:

• Aunt Mildred and the dinosaur books- Probably the cause of my preference of nonfiction over fiction, and the beginnings of reading to learn.
• Legos, etc.- May be the cause of my new found passion for building 'stuff' out of palette boards and the tinkering idea that is prevalent in home brewing. 
• My dad's garden when I was a teen- clearly evident in my garden and my ever-growing hop garden.
• The neighborhood games- No adults = we make the rules and enforce them. I think this led to my desire to play sports and coach soccer for the past 12 years.

I could go on, but I appreciate the fact that I had broad interests as a kid. Yes, my interests may be a mile wide, but they surely are not an inch deep. All of the things that I latched onto as a kid, opportunities my parents provided to dive deep or simply my parents modeling passion shaped who I am as a learner.