MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Typhoon Honey (Girrell & Sjogren) -  Defining transformation The nature of everything in this world we know of and in which we live is change. Nothing is static and immutable—nothing. Neither concrete buildings nor stones. Not mountains nor oceans. Nothing lasts forever without changing. Not only is everything in a constant state of flux (though admittedly at different rates and speeds), but the nature of those changes is purely chaotic. The universe is chaos that moves in patterned forms which we call fractals (self-repeating patterns). So when we begin to talk about change and what change is, we start with the idea that change is natural and continual.   This is no new concept. The ancient sages observed changes happening around them and sought to understand the nature of change and changing systems more than three thousand years ago. The “Book of Changes,” called the I Ching , is probably the most widely known of the systems for understanding change...

  Paradigm shifts in language teaching rarely arrive with fanfare. They unfold slowly, unevenly, and often invisibly, as teachers and researchers begin to sense that the explanations they have relied on no longer account for what they see in their classrooms. The movement from communicative and transactional approaches to Transformative Language Learning and Teaching (TLLT) has followed this same long arc. In fact, the profession has passed through six distinct stages on its way to recognizing transformation as a legitimate, even necessary, framework for language education. The first stage is the stage of discomfort. Communicative Language Teaching had been enormously successful in its time, liberating classrooms from grammar‑translation and audiolingual drills and giving learners the freedom to speak, interact, and negotiate meaning. Yet over time, teachers began noticing that something was not quite right. Students plateaued at intermediate levels. They could perform tasks but no...

In every conversation about cultural change—whether we’re lamenting the loss of tradition or celebrating progress—we use the word values as if it were self-evident. But from the perspective of cultural relativism , “values” are not universal truths; they are cultural constructs, shaped by the systems of meaning that give life coherence within a particular community. To ask what we are labeling “values” is to ask: Whose values? Defined by what? Sustained by whom? 1. Values as Cultural Coordinates Cultural relativism teaches that values are not fixed moral absolutes but coordinates within a cultural map —markers that help people navigate what is considered good, right, honorable, or desirable in their social world. In one culture, individual autonomy may be the highest value; in another, communal harmony. In one, truth is prized as directness; in another, truth is tempered by compassion and context. When we speak of “conformance,” we are describing alignment with those coordinates. When...

  Can a sloth in his twenties become a racehorse in his fifties? Not only can he — some do it so dramatically that they end up standing on podiums. Midlife isn’t too late. It’s often the perfect time. 1. The Sloth Years: Sedentary Habits and Slow Decline Many people spend their twenties and thirties sitting — at desks, in cars, on couches. The body adapts to stillness: Muscles weaken. Posture collapses. Metabolism slows. Energy drops. Movement feels foreign. But here’s the key: sedentary adaptation is reversible . The body is not a fixed machine; it’s a responsive organism. Even decades of inactivity don’t erase the capacity for strength, endurance, or speed. The sloth years are not wasted. They simply set the stage for a different kind of awakening. 2. The Midlife Awakening: When the Body Asks for Change Around midlife, many people feel a shift. The body begins to send signals — stiffness, fatigue, shallow breathing, restless sleep. These aren’t punishments; they’re invitations. T...