Off the Grid, Edward Doolittle

To begin, I especially liked the sentence ' No matter how determined we are to extend our grids, we must eventually bow to the gentle but insistent curvature of the earth.    This is a beautiful statement - nature overpowers and will win every time in it's simple, graceful but forceful way.

2 or 3 'stops' I had in reading this: things that stopped you, surprised you, etc.
1) I didn't realize how strict and unmoving a 'grid' system was.  According to the article, grids are inflexible and don't yield to the earth or nature.  Consequently, we can say also that while Euclidean geometry is promoted for its practical value, it fails in practicality unless limited to small uniform regions.

2) The delineation of the land based on the very practical methods relative to proximity to the river and slope of the land was again very natural and beautiful and simple and dare I say, perfect for the application.  There is no issue in this context of whether the land is shaded by a tree or rocky.


Think about how this paper might offer new approaches to Indigenizing mathematics curriculum and teaching. Does it challenge or stretch any of your ideas around this?

I quite like the idea of how the Indigenous approach to math curriculum and teaching.  The biggest challenge I see is that while we may teach some new and interesting methods to students, the students would be limited in the application of the ideas if they were beyond the classroom.  I especially like the respect for the "Great Spirit" in the imperfect weaving.