The challenges that gifted people face

One of my articles: "The challenges that gifted people face", has been published, today, in The Star, Malaysia's largest circulation English daily newspaper, (at 1.286 million readers during the week and 1.175 million readers on Sunday).

Please find the link here: http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2012/9/2/education/11921793&sec=education

Let me have your thoughts below upon reading the article.

Thank you.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

David Foster Wallace writes like me.

Apparently, David Foster Wallace writes like me. Of course, I could have said that I write like David Foster Wallace. The only - and key - problem with that, is that I have never read anything written by David Foster Wallace. The only thing I have ever read by him, is the title of his fairly lengthy work: Infinite Jest (1,079 pages) - and even that is a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet, so I suppose that means I have never actually read anything by him at all.

I was informed of this literary resemblance to David Foster Wallace, by a new website which purports to match a writing sample to that of famous writers, indicating which one it most resembles. The software does this by analyzing the choice of words, and such characteristics as the length of sentences. Yesterday, out of an understandable curiosity, I pasted three different samples from my blog, into the box on the site and invited it to analyze them. Two of the samples were recent posts, one of them, an antique one, from the first days of my blog. It opined that all three were like David Foster Wallace's writing.

Now, David Foster Wallace was, reputedly a writer of genius. He was also given to being, as I understand it, rather complex, at times, in how he expressed himself, not being out of love with long, involved, sentences. Somehow, without ever reading him, there seems to be some resemblance between my work, and his own. It should be noted, however, that the software has a limitation at present: it only has 50 writers' work on board and so can only compare a writing sample with those 50 writers. This creates surprising results. For instance, Margaret Atwood's writing supposedly resembles Stephen King's (or is it that Stephen King's work resembles hers?) This strange opinion arises because no sample of Margaret Atwood's work is on file, with I Write Like.

So, out of the 50 authors in the system, my work most resembles that of David Foster Wallace. However, at this time, there is no indication how much it resembles his work. In future iterations of the software, the intention is to rate works by a percentage of resemblance to a writer. This would be more revealing. Right now, all that this system is saying is that, given a choice of 50 authors, including such writers as Edgar Allan Poe and William Shakespeare, mine is closest in style to David Foster Wallace's. Also note that this is a forced choice in that the software has to choose SOMEONE from the 50 possibilities, without, presently, showing how strong that resemblance is.

There is one thing I find disturbing about the website, though. That is its basic premise is that everyone is subconsciously imitating the work of others and that this programme is able to find out whom you are subconsciously aping. I find this both distasteful and untrue. According to this site, I am subconsciously taking after David Foster Wallace. Well, this is absolutely impossible since no man or woman could ever learn from someone they have never read (and probably never will read). I cannot be striving to achieve a style I do not know, have never encountered and never will encounter. If there are, in fact, true resemblances between David Foster Wallace and myself, then this is purely coincidental. It might just be, for instance, that he writes like me because once he was very interested in mathematics before turning to writing. So, too, with me: my first love was science, before turning to writing, so, perhaps the exposure of both, to logical worlds, lead to a certain way of expressing oneself, one dominated, perhaps, to a greater extent than most writers, by reason.

I Write Like compounds its crime against good sense, by suggesting that users go away and PRACTISE being like various writers and then come back to check if they have succeeded in imitating some great, famous other. Personally, I find the whole idea revolting. No true writer, of any kind, in any time, in any society in human history, would ever set out, consciously, to become like another. Should they do so, then such a "writer" is not a writer at all. Their words are not their own. Their thoughts are nothing but borrowed confections. Such a person cannot, accurately, be described as a "writer", but should, instead, be described as an acolyte, a devotee to another's thought, another's world, another's words. A writer who consciously imitates another no more resembles a creator, than does a typical worshipper the founder of their religion.

Thus, if it is ever said, by anyone, ever, that my writing resembles that of David Foster Wallace's please know this: I do not strive to be like David Foster Wallace, I have never read him, nor ever will (I have no wish to do so). Should there be any true resemblances, these are accidents of the mind, and probably a symptom of similar pathways through life. Remember this: not even the greatest genius - and David Foster Wallace is accounted by many as a genius - can influence someone who has never encountered their work and I never have.

No doubt the number of authors on the I Write Like database will expand. In time, perhaps, the site might point the way to a closer resemblance between my work, and another writer's besides David Foster Wallace. It doesn't really matter which one it is, for know this: I write like only one person in all this world - and that is myself. I do not make reference to other writers, or even pay any real heed to them. They are irrelevant to me for the simplest reason: I am only concerned with expressing myself in the way that is truest to my thoughts and I have absolutely no interest in how other writers may or may not have expressed themselves, or even in what they have expressed. My concern is only to be true to myself and my thoughts, in my writing. The only way to do this, of course, is to write like no other but oneself. The degree to which a writer consciously - or subconciously - strives to write like another, is the degree to which they are failing to be true to themselves. Thus, it is the degree to which they are failing to be a writer and succeeding in being an acolyte.

It is wrong to say that any resemblance I may have to another writer is due to a striving to be like them. I reject, absolutely, all other writers and their ways. Their thoughts are theirs and can never be mine - not only because I pay them no heed, but because they make no impression on me. My only concern, with regards to writing, is what I think, what I understand and how I naturally feel inclined to express it. I write instinctively, letting my words choose themselves with a delicious automaticity that comes from being able to feel just the right words to most fully embody a particular thought, feeling or observation. Such a mode of writing is most certainly not open to conscious influence and it is also not open to unconscious influence, either, since my writing is an expression of my true self. For another writer to impinge upon my written work, they would have to change my very self - and no writer has the power to do that, to me, at least. I write the way I do, because, in so doing, I am best embodying myself in written words. It is my self that shows upon the page, not some collection of external references. My only references are internal ones: glimpses of the self that now is and has become over the past forty-two years.

One day, perhaps, my writing might be well known enough for the owner of the I Write Like site to include a sample of my writing in his database. Should that happen, then any sample of my writing, entered into it, would produce the correct verdict: Valentine Cawley writes like Valentine Cawley. Until that time comes, the software will only ever make errors, by ascribing to me resemblances and influences that could not possibly be, in a causative way, because I have not read such a writer, and so have never even opened myself up to influence by them. Even if I had read them, my mode of thought about the world and my self, does not make me open to influence, in any way: I am closed to external thought, as if I sat contemplating on a mountain top, in some ancient retreat. Such intellectual isolation is how I prefer to be, for in this way, I can best be and embody the particularities of myself that distinguish me from all others who have ever been and ever shall be. That, in my view, is the most important thing a writer can do. For, after all, the self is an irreplaceble, one-off, chance creation that shall never be again. The writer should, therefore, do their best to capture that self, before it is lost to death, time and memory.

If you are interested to learn what I Write Like thinks of your writing, go to www.iwritelike.com and paste some text in the first box. This one is a trick, however since it always says you failed to write like Chuck Norris. The second box offered, upon the "try for real" link, will analyze your writing and compare you to a famous writer's work. You should paste a significant chunk of text - several paragraphs at least - to get an accurate comparison to the present database of 50 writers.

Ironically, however, although each of the three other blog posts I checked says that I write like David Foster Wallace, this post is flagged as being like H.P. Lovecraft. So, why the change? I think the answer is found in the presence of four words, above: "mountain top", "ancient" and "isolation". These would be recognized by the software as Lovecraftian word choices since he was obsessed with isolated mountain tops and ancient horrors. If I am right, which I think I am, then this software is not particularly accurate for normal lengths of writing: just a few words can make all the difference. Of course, if one entered a very long piece of work into it, it would probably become more consistent.

Happy writing, all.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The New Media and the Old Media.

Much is said of the new media providing an alternative to the old media. Blogs have become a valued alternative to newspapers. Yet, it is not as simple as providing an alternative. An event a few days ago, leads me to think that the new media and the old media are interdependent. They feed off each other.

I noted, a couple of days ago, in my surfing, that a leading Danish daily newspaper had quoted my blog. They termed me a "commentator", and quoted several lines from one of my posts, to provide them with a key insight for their article. In a way, I was impressed with their intellectual courtesy. Instead of just lifting my insight (as some, no doubt, have done), they credited me with my own words and built the latter half of the article around my view.

To me, it seems that the new media (or at least from the evidence of my blog, as an example of it) have come to be sufficiently respected by the old media, that they are now considered a valued SOURCE of material, to be used in traditional articles. This is a healthy development for it increases the diversity of material available for use by the traditional media and should lead to an enriched media, therefore.

As for me, it felt odd to be quoted in a national newspaper, in this way. It made it clear that they thought of me as someone whose words were sufficiently weighty as to be so quoted. Often, I have seen newspapers refer to others, in this manner, by quoting from their work. However, it is a different matter when the one quoted is oneself. It made me realize that my writing is beginning to have an impact. People all over the world are reading it. Some are thinking about it. Others are even writing about it. I am, in a sense, becoming a successful online writer. This is a gratifying development because the online writer (or blogger) has a freedom to write as they please, that no other writers in history have ever had. It is rewarding, to see that my thoughts are sufficiently regarded, in some quarters, to now be used as a source of commentary.

In reality, there is no new media or old media - there is only words and ideas and their transmission. Both "media" are engaged in the same business of transmission of thought. What differs, however, is that the "new media" are much more democratic and open: all have access to them. In this way, they better reflect the ideals of a democratic world. Furthermore, they lower the barriers to entry into public discourse by allowing all a voice. This is a marvellous freedom, which has never truly been before.

By quoting my work, the Danish newspaper did something else. It acknowledged the worth of the new media and the whole blogging enterprise. It said that this new democratic communication mode is worthy of respect. So, though a small thing, in a way - the mere quoting of words from a blog post - it is also much bigger than it seems, for it shows that the new media are truly a form of media that has reached maturity and achieved respect. It is not only a genuine alternative to the old media, but a complement to it too.

For the curious, the passage the Danish newspaper quoted (in translation) was on the subject of modern fame:

"Once a person becomes famous that, in itself, is enough to justify attention directed towards them. Jade Goody is better known than many of much greater merit, but she receives the attention precisely and only because she has already received attention. That is it. There is nothing more to it. Jade Goody is worthy because she is known, but she is not known because she is worthy."

I have highlighted in black, the part of the passage that they focussed most upon.

I should note that this is not the first time that my online writings have been quoted and referenced. Yet, it is the first time that a traditional media outlet has done so, to my knowledge. I found it surprising, actually, because it meant that someone, far away in Denmark, had gone to all the trouble of reading my blog, thinking about it, and building part of an article around it.

I have but one pair of eyes, so if you notice other instances of my work being quoted, I would be interested to hear of it...so please mail me or comment below, if you spot such references.

Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

1,000th Blog post and counting.

This is my 1,000th blog post, on this blog, and counting. To me, that seems like quite a significant number to have written and posted in two years and four months.

The blog has become quite varied, over time, and now encompasses issues as far afield as the social situation in Singapore, gifted education, the state of the world we live in, and our prospects for the future. It also, of course, has anecdotes from the life of my children.

Thank you, to all my readers who have been reading these many posts. I intend to keep it up. Let us see if I can reach my 2,000th post in due course.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The consequences of blogging success.

Success at blogging is a fine mixture of persistence, writing skill and luck. Recently, I have got "lucky" and find that my blog traffic has grown tremendously. This is mainly due to the linking to my blog, by a few major sites that have decided it is appropriate to do so. The results have been startling.

To give you an idea of the change, I will detail my blog traffic over the past week. Last Thursday, I had 341 visitors, for the day; last Friday, 264. These are typical days. On Saturday, I had 248 visitors and on Sunday (always the quietest day) there were 207 visitors. All this is fairly normal for a week. However, on Monday, I had 1,452 visitors; on Tuesday, I had 9,664 visitors; on Wednesday, I had 1,237 visitors and today, so far with half the day left to go, I have had 1,658 visitors. This is very strange. The previous peak day over my two years of blogging was a peak of 3,000 when news of Ainan's achievements first broke in Malaysia. Most of the visitors, then, were from Malaysia. This time, the visitors are from all over the world, since the connecting sites have a global readership.

Were I to use a literary analogy, it is as if I have suddenly jumped from the "midlist" of blogging, into bestsellerdom...at least for the time being. I will have to confess that this makes writing my blog feel like a different kind of exercise. No longer am I writing for a select bunch of people "in the know", in the equivalent of a modest auditorium. No, I am now writing for a global audience of thousands, in the equivalent of a stadium. It feels very different. It feels as if I should now be more careful...yet that is not a feeling that I want. You see, what I have liked about blogging is its freedom. There is no editor, apart from myself, when I blog. There is no other power to say "yeah" or "nay" to my words or what I write - and I enjoy that freedom and have used it fully. If an enlarged audience should lead me to feel somehow inhibited, that would be a pity. I need, as a writer, to feel that freedom to write as I will - for that is what, for me, blogging is all about. It is the ultimate expression of mental freedom, since, only in the blogging format, are there no real restrictions as to what a writer says (except for legal ones, of course). In all other formats - be it for a newspaper, or in a book, there is always another person or people with a say in what the author is allowed to say.

I hope in a few days, I will get used to writing, now, for a much larger audience and that I am able to be as free as I was before. Logically, I think, it should be something I can do - but there is an illogical element in human matters, where feelings are concerned. It IS different to speak to a small room and to a large stadium, in real life - and it feels different, too, on this blog. It is not long since I could look at the records of everyone who visited and come to understand what led them to read my blog, where they were from and what they were searching for. I can't do that now. There are just too many readers. So, I have to be content, now, to write for a large crowd, instead of having a quiet conversation with a few "in the know".

If you are new to my blog: welcome. I try to update it daily and I write about many things - not just giftedness (though this is a common topic). I always write about social issues of relevance to many people and any issue that I feel is worthy of remark, be it the survival of mankind, or the nature of success.

Thank you for deciding to visit and read my words. Don't judge the whole on the contents of one or two posts, for there are many different kinds of posts here. Just take your time to read around. Most people should be able to find something of interest to them. The Guide to Scientific Child Prodigy is a link at the bottom of every post. It is helpful but does not list all posts, just most of them.

Best wishes to you all, wherever you are from.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The second anniversary of Prodigy Blog.

I've done it. I have actually written my way to my second year of blogging. Yesterday, September 19th 2008, was the second year, to the day, since I began this blog.

At the end of the first year, I had had 33,095 visitors, who had read 105,687 pages (which consist of up to a week of postings...so the real number of pages is approximately seven times that number). I considered the first year a success given that, at that time, there were over 70 million blogs in the world and only about 700 million internet connections - so that, all being average, I would only have a maximum of 10 readers a day, assuming that people distribute their reading efforts equally and that everyone actually reads a blog every day (just one). I was rather more successful than that, averaging about 100 readers a day, after the initial start-up period.

At the end of the first year, I set myself a target for my future blogging success. It seemed, at that time, an ambitious but achievable one: I aimed to secure a total of 100,000 visitors to my site by the second anniversary of my blog. It makes me happy to write that I have met my target - in fact, I exceeded it (or should I say you, the reader, exceeded it by reading my blog). By the stroke before midnight on September 19th 2008, I had received 105,716 visitors to my blog, in total, since the day it began. That means I received 72,621 new visits in the period September 19th 2007 to the same day in 2008. Essentially, I doubled my daily visit average to about 200 per day.

My readers have been busy looking around the site and totted up 265,856 page views. Remember that a page is counting a whole week of entries. So, basically that means that around 1.8 million posts have been read around the world. Were that books, I would be a best selling author, so that puts that into perspective. New page views for the year stand at 160,169, indicating that over a million posts would have been read, in the year.

Those numbers are quite staggering, in a way, for they indicate the power of blogging to reach out, across the world, into people's minds. What other immediately accessible way is there, in the world, of enabling 1.8 million posts to be read by people in all nations of the world? None.

As it was in the first year, my readers have come from all over the world. What is noticeable this year, however, is that they - or should say you - have become much more geographically dispersed with the numbers outside of the main English speaking countries of the UK, USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia and Singapore increasing dramatically. It is odd to see that I even get people in the most far flung parts of the world searching for my blog using either my name, or that of my son, Ainan, in their search terms. This shows that word of mouth is spreading knowledge of the blog quite far afield. People know of us, before they search for us. This is a new development since, mainly in the first year, searches were for terms relating to giftedness and prodigiousness. The second year still had plenty of such searches - but there was a strong growth in more specific searches using names of the family. It is odd to think that people in countries I have never visited and may never visit, have actually heard of us, and my blog and are interested enough to search for it.

I write on giftedness and this is very much a niche interest. The people who tend to be interested are often gifted themselves, particularly the parents of gifted children, in search of answers, background, and support in their situation. Many interesting people have corresponded, through comment posts, over the two year period. I value their comments and personal tales of raising gifted children - and I am sure that my readers do, too, as they provide further tales of the gifted.

The growth of a blog is, I feel, a gradual thing. Word gradually spreads around the world and the accidental reader becomes, in time, a dedicated one. My second year was twice as successful as my first. It is my aim that my third year should be as successful as the first two years combined. This means that I hope to have as many visits in my third year, as the blog received in the first two years in total. That means that the total should be 211,432 visitors by the end of the third year. Now, that is a high aim for one reason: the number of random visitors from the search engines who are looking for giftedness is NOT going to increase. There is a typical background level of search in that area, some of which naturally comes to me, since my blog generally appears on page one of related search terms in Google. Unless the world suddenly becomes fascinated by all things gifted, that background level is not going to change much. What has to change, therefore, for me to reach my new target, is two things: the number of specific searchers who are searching for members of the Cawley family specifically - and the number of return visitors. Word of mouth will help the growth in the first area - and the second area is up to the level of richness of what I write. If I write so as to interest you, my readers, then many of you will return to read another day.

This analysis leads one to conclude that there is only one element really within the control of the blogger - and that is the blogging itself. A blogger must write, regularly, in an absorbing way, so that others who chance upon it may find it nourishing or interesting in some way. That is all. If people appreciate the writing, the blog will grow, over time, as my blog has done this past year.

I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read what I write. I would further like to thank those who actually took the time to write a comment post. Most of these comments have been rewarding to read and stimulating to receive. Commenters generally have wished to contribute in a positive way to the discussion on the matters I have raised. Some have shared personal details of their life situation, anonymously, in illustration of some point - and these comments are particularly valued since I know how hard it is to address such issues sometimes. Thank you for taking that effort.

Some of you have recommended my blog to others, by linking to it. I would particularly like to thank those who have done this since it helps spread word about the blog, and build a readership. A blog only really comes alive when there is an active, responsive readership out there - and I have that, now. Those who have linked to me, have greatly helped that growth in readership and it is much appreciated. If you, reading this, have a site, a link to my blog or any of its posts would be most welcome. If you find a post of interest or value, a link to it will ensure that others that you know will get the chance to benefit from it, too.

At the end of my second year, I am resolved to continue writing. Yet, I don't know what that writing will be. Blogging is a very spontaneous task. The blog of the day arises from my thoughts and concerns at the time and is utterly unpredictable as a result. I shall continue to write of giftedness, prodigy and related matters. I shall also write of matters relating to life in Singapore and education in general. Sometimes, I shall write of more general matters that catch my attention, for sometimes, something must be said that others might not say. That is the role of any social commentator: to be a voice to the voiceless - and, at times, I have been, and shall continue to be, that.

Some blogs have millions of visitors - or so I hear. They are always in very mainstream areas, though. I do not know how successful a blog about giftedness can become. The limit on its success is very much determined by how many people care about human excellence. In an ideal world, everyone would be concerned about excellence, but in our world, most people are more concerned about "good enough"...there is no striving to be or wish to be, great. This places an upper limit on the number of people who might seek out a blog on giftedness. Yet, that is not a terrible thing. I would rather be read by people who are interested, specifically, in giftedness, than not to be read at all.

Giftedness is not as widely understood as it should be. By definition, few experience the state personally - and so few can relate directly to it. Yet, I feel that it is important that more people understand giftedness, for gifted children can grow up to become vital contributors to their respective societies. If more people understood gifted people and their lives, perhaps the life journeys of the gifted might be made somewhat easier and more successful. I feel it is an important aim, to strive for: the understanding of the gifted. If you would like more people to understand about giftedness, please let them know about this blog, please link to it and spread the word. I will in turn share my experience and understanding of giftedness and related issues.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy it, as much as I have enjoyed writing.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

On Silence and Self-expression.

Someone I know, whom I shall not name, is very keen on silence. That is, as a life philosophy, they prefer the silence of the tongue and the pen, to their use.

I shall explain. I enjoy blogging. I like to write. I have much to say. Daily, thoughts come to me, which I wish to share. So, I write them down and send them out into the world. I find great personal satisfaction in doing this, for it gives me the chance to communicate my world view in a way that did not exist a handful of years ago. Yet, this person would prefer that I stopped writing and maintained a stoic silence to the end of my days.

Now, what would be gained by being silent? Would the world be a better place for my silence? I am not sure that it would, but not for any egoistic reason. You see, everyone who has ever lived, lived a unique life. They came into the world with a unique set of genes and dispositions, they encountered unique circumstances, learnt unique things, experienced things no-one else ever experienced - and came to understand things no-one else will ever understand. This is the story of all humans, from the very first cave dwellers or savannah roamers, to the newest of newborns. We are all undeniably unique. So, what is gained if one of these unique human beings falls silent? Nothing. However, a great thing is lost: a unique set of experiences, world views, understandings and thoughts is never shared, never known and therefore forever lost when the bearer passes away.

Were I to stop writing, all my understandings of the world may as well never have been understood, for they will be lost with me, when my time comes. The same is true for us all. On a personal level we probably only share our thoughts with very few people - but those people, too, are mortal. So, in time, even if we share our thoughts on a personal level, all will be lost when those we shared them with, pass away. Therefore, it becomes our individual responsibility to ensure that we share our thoughts in a permanent fashion, that our world views and understandings become embodied in something more durable than another person's mind.

Different people share themselves - or express themselves - in different ways. Some design buildings, and show their views in how they are constructed. Some manage companies, and do so with a particular personality that shapes those companies. Some paint and draw and literally show the world their viewpoint. There are many ways to express the uniqueness of oneself. For me, it is writing: I express my thoughts in words. Were I not to write, I would feel somehow lessened. For in not writing, I am not speaking, in not speaking I am not communicating, in not communicating, I am not ensuring that what I learn from life has some afterlife, as it were.

I could heed this person's repeated request - to stop blogging. Yet, were I to do so, a particular kind of record, of a particular set of experiences and understandings would be forever lost to the world. However one judges the merit or quality of this contribution doesn't matter - what does matter is its essential uniqueness. No life lived will ever be as the one I know, is. Thus, if it is not recorded, the world is somehow impoverished by that. There would be no record of it - so that if anything I have learnt or understood is of any value, that value would be forever lost.

I don't see any benefit in that. Silence is the kind of outcome that leads nowhere and has no descendants. Silence produces nothing, creates nothing, achieves nothing. Silence is either for those with nothing to say, or too afraid to say it. I come into neither category at this time.

Some of my blog posts have stimulated quite an interesting reaction in the Singaporean blogosphere. I act as an outside voice, whose comments are informed by many years of direct experience. That voice, therefore, has a certain value because it contributes opinions that might not otherwise be uttered. Were I not to write, there are, perhaps, conversations that would never be, ideas that would never form, understandings that would never be understood. It is, therefore, important that I continue to write, for, in my small single-voiced way, I contribute to the ongoing debate that is the Singaporean blogosphere.

Were I not to record my children's antics, I would not have them to hand, when I am old, and my memory is fading. I choose to record them on a public blog, for I feel that family offers the greatest of rewards a human can know and I like to share my pleasure in those joys. Some readers have indicated that they, too, enjoy my tales of childhood. Would the world be better off without those tales of childhood? I don't think so - for while all childhoods have certain things in common, all childhoods also have unique elements, too. My writing constitutes a record of that uniqueness. Again, I don't think the world is better off without it - and my family is certainly not better off without it. This record will be precious to my children, when they are adults, for they will be able to see glimpses of their childhood here.

In all there are many reasons to write and only one reason not to write: because my relative believes in self-containment, rather than self-expression. They believe that silence, itself, is a value and has value. They believe that I should be, as they are - and maintain a silence in the world. Sadly, I think they could not be more wrong. Their world view, if adopted universally, would mean the end of all Art, all literature, all music, all public debate, all culture, all communication between people - and, ultimately, the end of all societies. You see, a society that has people who maintain a silence, among themselves, cannot survive - for without communication, there is no evolution of that society, no ability to grow, to deepen, to understand. It is a society that can only function at the level of clockwork programming and automaticity.

This person believes that it is better to say nothing, than to say anything at all. The act of communication is regarded as to be avoided. I understand why they think this. They value a certain kind of life, which does not admit the idea of a public presence. They believe in not leaving a mark, in not being noted, in not interacting with the public. Yet, that stance is completely at odds with the idea of any public self-expression - be it artistic, or social commentary, or even scientific (for an idea that is had, but not communicated cannot enter the public world of science). The idea of silence as a virtue means the end of all and any career which actually affects the world in any way, at all. To be silent, is not to exist, from the point of view of society and history.

The only effect on the world that is left to those who believe in silence, is to have children. I believe that there is more to life than just creating children. One must also create what one may, oneself. However, the creating of children is of great importance, too. One should ensure that both types of creation are part of life.

If you have read this far, then you must have some interest in the matter of self-expression, or perhaps silence. If so, feel free to express your thoughts in the comments.

I believe that if everyone were to believe in self-expression, the world would be much enriched, thereby, for the uniqueness of us all would leave some imprint upon the world, to be found and read, understood and appreciated. This imprint would mean that mankind could better accumulate understandings, insights, viewpoints and experiences (or records of them, anyway). It would all contribute to the wisdom of Man.

Singapore is one place that has, in recent years, through the internet, discovered this capacity to express itself. I am heartened to see that quite a few voices are contributing their understandings of life, to the global view of Mankind.

Long may it continue - and may silence never befall those with something to say and the means to say it.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Genghis Can: copywriting, editing and proofreading.

Genghis Can is a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency that offers a quality service at competitive prices.

Genghis Can has been founded by Valentine Cawley and Syahidah Osman. Together we provide a full range of writing services, including technical and scientific writing and editing. We have at hand, other writers and editors, as needed, depending on the type of job required.

Today, we have launched our website at: http://www.genghiscan.com/

Please take a look to see how we may be of service to you and your company. Do let others know, who may be interested in our writing related services. Your support is much appreciated.

Genghis Can is a trademark of Genghis Can, a registered company.

Our thanks go to Javier Galvez for resolving some coding issues for us. The site was designed by Syahidah Osman - and written by myself.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

The Author's Purpose in Writing

One of my readers has observed that not all of my posts are on giftedness. This is how I intend it to be. Yet, their comment led me to think I should explain why I write what I do.

My first purpose in writing is to communicate my understanding of giftedness and what I learn and observe from my children (and from my own life), as examples of this phenomenon. I think this helps young parents faced with their first gifted child get to grips with some of the issues they will face. So, in that sense, my writing fulfils a social objective of supporting others in a similar or somehow analogous situation. All giftedness leads to varying degrees of the issues discussed on my blog pages and so any parent of a gifted child can better prepare themselves for what lies ahead by coming to know what one parent of gifted children has had to go through.

That is clear and probably understood without stating it - but I thought it better to make it explicit. There are, however, other purposes in writing. I wish to record my children as they grow up, so that I might enjoy their childhood many years from now, when, perhaps the details would otherwise have been lost to my, then, aging mind. It is, therefore, an investment in my future contentment at the parenting life I have led.

A further purpose is to explore and record the personality of my children - so not just looking at their giftedness, but recording anecdotes which show them as they are, which reveal something of their personality aside and apart from their giftedness. This was not understood by the reader who mailed me. He expected all posts to illustrate giftedness - but this is not so - and why should it be? There are more aspects to a gifted child than simple giftedness: there is their developing personality, funny moments, sweet acts, thoughtful deeds, developmental milestones, their interests and hobbies, their outlook and viewpoints, their friends, their loves and their lives (all later on, one would think).

A gifted child is so much more than a gift - and so a blog about gifted children - as mine is, should also be so much more than just about giftedness - and so it is. In some posts, a broader view of my children is evident. Glimpses of their personality and individuality are to be seen. It is these, in some ways, which are more important to capture. It is these aspects of them which make them unique.

I also wish to write in a more scholarly fashion, at times, looking at the literature on giftedness, genius, prodigy, intelligence, creativity, left-handedness, child development and the like. My purpose is to distill the essence of this work to make it readily digestible to all, so that my readers might be better informed of the scientific understanding of all things gifted.

On other occasions, I write of issues that seem to have some social importance, not just to gifted people, but to society in general. This is an important function which allows me to express my views on wider matters in the world. Elements of myself are to be found in such posts.

I also write of countries that I know personally - these include Singapore, the UK, Ireland, and the USA - the four countries with which I am most familiar. My view on all such matters, is that I would always like to see improvements in each society - so if I discuss one, it would usually be to address something which could be done better.

I take no political views, in this blog, but that doesn't mean I can't comment on something a politician does or says. There is no intent to take a political stand in doing so.

I hope that goes some way to explaining what I write and why.

Happy reading all.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eleven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and four months, and Tiarnan, twenty-one months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The importance of creativity

Yesterday, an old friend asked me: "Are you still writing that blog?" His intonation seemed to say: "Why bother?"

"Yes." I answered, simply, ignoring the message of his tone.

"I don't see where you can go with that.", he replied.

That hurt. I had spent a year writing this blog, day by day, for the purpose of expressing my thoughts on matters of what, to me, are some importance - but that isn't necessarily clear to others. For him, there was no purpose to writing, perhaps because it didn't produce any observable financial return. Yet, there are more reasons for doing something, than money alone.

Without creativity, a life is not fully lived. Each of us has an individuality that will never come again into this world. I believe that a person has somehow failed if they don't express their own essential nature, in whatever way best suits them. For me, one of those of ways is writing. If my friend had actually taken the trouble to read my blog, he would seen that I have poured much thought and feeling into these 550 pages or so. I feel that there is much of value, there, for anyone who takes the time to read it.

I hope that some of you agree.

As for his remark: such words tend to silence creativity - they tend to make a writer fall silent. It has, therefore, been a struggle today to write this entry. I hope to resume my former momentum tomorrow.

Best wishes all.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

This is my five hundredth post

Since I started this blog on September 19th 2006, I have posted 500 posts. That surprises me. No doubt the number of words written runs well into six figures. It is funny how a little daily writing soon adds up.

So, if you are new to this blog, there is a lot to read on many different topics related to education, giftedness, prodigiousness, gifted parenting and the like. Every nook and cranny of these areas has either been looked at already or will be looked at over time.

Happy reading!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, and Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Conversation from the classroom: creativity at risk

I heard something today which is enough to alarm anyone who values creativity. It was nothing more than a fragment of a real conversation that took place, but the implication of it, is quite unsettling.

Teacher to student: "I would like you to write a dialogue on buying something in a shop."

Student from mainland China: "But I don't want to buy anything."

Teacher: "Imagine, then."

Student: "Imagine?" He sounded as if nothing more impossible could have been asked of him. "I can't imagine."

End of conversation.

The student in question did not believe it was possible for him to imagine buying something, without actually having the desire to buy something. That was one imaginary leap too far.

It worries me that creativity of even the most basic kind is so difficult for so many young people today. They live in "what is"...and cannot change their thinking, in any way, to create "what is not."

I don't know about you, but it is one of my greater concerns, to see this inability at work, all around me. I will write more on this in future. I just found that conversation sobering enough to have to report.

A reflection on blogging: an inexhaustible life

I have surprised myself with how, each day, I find something to write about. When I began blogging, I did not know whether that would be possible. Now I do.

What is it that allows me to write daily? Well, I have found that my children provide abundant material. I have three kids and a careful eye upon them reveals many interesting things which I can relate, daily. It is my hope that this will prove to be an inexhaustible source of interesting anecdotes relating to the lives of gifted children, as exemplified by one family, the Cawleys of Singapore.

I wish to keep this online account going indefinitely. I do not know, however, how long it is possible to keep seeing new things in one's children. That in itself is an interesting question: is there an infinite variety of things to observe in a single family? Perhaps there is. It would certainly be rewarding to think so.

I would like to thank those of you who have interacted with me through responding to the material posted. If you have a thought to share - just comment and I will reply too.