It was a big one. 50. 50 years old. To celebrate I planned a week of golf with buddies. Sandwiched in between was a couple of speaking gigs. I left 5 days before the big day. The day before I left I received a package in the may from Phillip Cummings. In it was a pair of Memphis Grizzlies socks. What a lovely gift. I left town and didn’t think much more about it other than to thank him for his thoughtfulness. A few days later, my wife began posting pictures of packages that were arriving at the house. In a strange twist, these packages were not for her. Each day more were added to the pile. By the time I arrived home 9 days after my birthday, there were 52 packages for me from people all over the world.
Looking over this pile I was completely overwhelmed at the thought that so many people would think of me. I didn’t want to open them, I saw the cumulative as an unbelievable gesture of care and community. Many of the people are people I’ve known for many years but others I’ve never met. As I opened each package I thought about that person and the connections I had. For the few, I didn’t have a connection I thought about why they would do such a thing. This is such a powerful representation of the strength of weak ties.
When other people have not yet experienced this networked life, it’s a bit odd to fathom how and why people would ever do such a thing as send a dude in Moose Jaw, SK a pair or two of socks.
I continue to spend much of my time imploring people both young and older to tap into the beauty of these personal networks. I rarely use the acronym, PLN because, for me, the P is more often “personal” rather than strictly “professional” and the L is not always about “learning”, but for me is better substituted for “living”. While I deserve none of this, the only thing I know I have done and tried to do is to connect with people online in ways that go way beyond learning and our shared profession.
I’m still a bit in the dark around who exactly is responsible for this. I have my suspects but I really do want to thank everyone involved in this and actually everyone who brings so much joy and meaning to my life through the various spaces and places I reside online. If you’re still hung up on digital dualism, please rethink this.
Socks4Dean from shareski on Vimeo.
So once again, thank you to all of you.
| Rafranz Davis @rafranzdavis |
| Bill Ferriter @plugusin |
| Jackie Kirk & Mike Nantais @jackie007_41 @miken_bu |
| Mme Giannopolous @tgianno |
| Kathy Cassidy @kathycassidy |
| Zoe Bettes @zoebettes |
| Donna Desroches @donnadesroches |
| Dave Truss @datruss |
| Susan Spellman Cann @sspellmancann |
| Paula Naugle @plnaugle |
| Hall Davidson @halldavidson |
| Kim Gill @Gill_Ville |
| Elaan Maire @elaan |
| Karen Lirenman @klirenman |
| Peggy George @pgeorge |
| Shelley Wright @wrightsroom |
| Iram Khan @teachermrskhan |
| Beth Still @bethstill |
| Heather Blacker @heatherblacker |
| Adam Bellow @adambellow |
| Robyn Thiessen @RobynThiessen |
| Andy Mckiel @amckiel |
| Brian Metcalfe @bkmetcalfe |
| Lisa Parisi @lparisi |
| Carolyn Durley @c_durley |
| Alanna Callan @alanacallan |
| Diana Williams @teacherdiana1 |
| Rick Schwier @schwier |
| Brianne Koletsos @B_KOL |
| Michelle Cordy @cordym |
| Paul and Diane Wood @paulrwood |
| Stuart Ciske @sjciske |
| Andy Marcinek @andycinek |
| Andrew Mead and Erin Brie @andrewmead73 @erinbrie |
| Chris Craft @crafty184 |
| Donna Fry @fryed |
| Sandy Welbergen & Jeff Hoeppner @MsWelbergen @BlueBomber6 |
| Tina Photakis @tina_p |
| Faige Meller @duboiseducator |
| Jamie Reaburn Weir @msjweir |
| Tia Henriksen @tiahenriksen |
| Henry Pham |
| Alec Couros @courosa |
| Cathy Germano @cjgerman |
| Lance Rougeux @lrougeux |
| Michelle Baldwin @michellek107 |
| Dana Ariss @danaAriss |
| Andrew Forgrave @aforgrave |
| Phillip Cummings @phillip_cummings |
| Steve Dembo @teach42 |
| Porter Palmer @DENprincess |
| Kyle Schutt @ktschutt |
| Jannita Demian @jdemian |
| Chad Lehman @imcguy |
| Jeanette Edelstein @J_Edelstein |
| Stacy Barganz @BarganzS |
The final tally was 86 pairs. A clear meat theme several sports teams and a couple of doubles. My daughter claimed every duplicate pair. Now when I say I have to stay home and rearrange my sock drawer, I won’t be lying.
*I think I may have a sock or two mixed up. My apologies. If any more come in the mail, I’ll add them to this set.