Monday, May 25, 2009

dr. babila

7/17/2002:
Dr. Babila
Upper 6th Mathematics
Lesson: Differentiation

...so i'm not even going to pretend that i understand the #'s and symbols being put up on the board here [in the santa model school]. will also not copy them in here. just keep them on the board. at a distance

Dr. Babila is working with minimal notes. in fact, he wrote them out this morning, b/w 7:45 and 8am. the man has a brain on him! masha'Allah.

what an interesting mind it must be. not just the powerful, logical, mathematical foundation but also what's built upon that... culture, spirituality, mythology, sociology, psychology, etc.

it makes me regret my math ignorance. would be nice to see the world that analytically or have a mind that thinks things through with logic that sharp/clear... or maybe not? and maybe he doesn't?

maybe the math isn't the foundation. just another aspect. maybe one of the other fields – any of them – are a foundation? maybe all? maybe none?

Dr. Babila just made a joke about something no longer being mathematic after a certain point but "Chinese"... LORD! all this might as well be Chinese.

1 comment:

  1. IMAGE: dr. babila... cropped from an image i've used before, where he was standing with other peace corps trainers.

    dr. babila was in charge of our math/science education training. he was also a professor of mathematics at the university.

    in his village/town of bali, dr. babila was a "kingmaker." i.e. part of a council of elders that chose the tribe's chief.

    i was fascinated (as you can see from this post) with how comfortably he seems to straddle these worlds... traditional culture and modern technical training.

    dr. babila passed away a couple years ago, i believe. may he rest in peace.

    salaam
    mohamad

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