Remember the first time you saw this? You might have initially thought, “Hm, an Easter basket. So what?” Of course, Easter baskets look the same as egg baskets (think about it), but urbanites have largely forgotten egg baskets even existed, much less what they look like. So I simply told you it was an egg basket. (Do you remember what I said this teaches you about Indigenous cultures?)
Then I shared a short video that helped you see the basket’s structure in a little more detail. Here are some stills to remind you, though you can watch the video again here if you wish.
First I turned it over so you could see the bottom, and silently indicated the two directions of weaving by tracing them with my fingers.
I tapped the strips of cane to silently count out the 4-over/4-under way they are woven.
Then we looked at the side of the basket, where the colors of the cane made things a bit easier to see. But this time we had sound on the video so you could hear me count out the sequence as I showed it to you: “This piece of cane goes under that one: 1, then this one: 2, then 3, then 4.”
So when I flipped the basket around the way it was flipped around at the end of the Dream, and Jo zoomed in on the weaving pattern visible inside, this time you understood what you were seeing. And because you understood it, this time you could see it all by yourself: the 4-over/4-under pattern of the weaving.
The section of the learning exercise you’re starting now helps you really see and understand what you’ve woven, so the Knowledge that’s emerging but still subconscious can be boosted to your conscious awareness. But this time, instead of our focus being on content, it’s on cognitive process: specifically your cognitive process. We’re going to climb a set of cognitive stairs together, so the pages of this section are in a linear sequence this time. A link to the next page of the sequence is at the bottom of each page. All you have to do is work to the bottom of the page, click the link, and keep going.
There’s a difference in the embedded links this time, too. Instead of weaving concepts as they did in the Weaving section, embedded links in a bold font in this Basket section take you to an outside resource you’re being asked to look at and respond to. Those links are essential and you need to visit them to understand the things we’re working on together. If the link is in a regular (not-bold) font, it provides optional supporting information. Sometimes the optional material is a page in the big Weaving section you’ve just finished, and sometimes it’s an outside resource. Either way, those links simply provide help if you feel you need it at the time. It will be clear which links are which when you get to them.
But before we start these final pages, let me alert you to a paradigm trap in the path ahead that can derail everything just as you enter the home stretch. Please go to the next page: Beware the Trap.