A Personal Curriculum for 2026

Something I touched on and wrote about in 2025 was course curriculums. In the Autumn, I had really big plans of diving deeper into some topics that I’ve found great interest in and structuring it out and sharing it…and then life took on a whole new level of busy. I struggled to balance it all and a bunch of things fell through the cracks- the curriculum plans included. So, here we are, trying this again. But this time I am going to try and plan the whole year out…we’ll see how this goes. 

I like to think that I am a lifelong learner- I seriously just love learning about new things, or diving deeper into things that are known, but maybe looking at a different angle. This whole concept of “personal curriculum” really just gives a structure to what I already want to do and gives me a chance to have some output (because if you think I’m not going to share about this as I go along- well you would be very mistaken). 

Ultimately, I’m trying to divide this up into 3 or 4 semesters of study. While I think we could find an overarching theme to what I’m looking at, that’s not what I’m going in with. I’ve just found a couple of things that I want to dive deeper into over the past 6 months or so and I’m creating curriculums for that. 

With all that said, let’s get into my course plans. 

The first course I’ll be working on is the one that I started but didn’t finish- The Titanic “Aftermath”. I’m looking through the media coverage of the disaster, the ensuing congressional hearings, and the perception during the initial year or two following the disaster. I’ve got several books, including a collection of the testimonies from the hearings and a first-hand account of the disaster, that I’m reading. I’ve also got several documentaries and podcasts on tap to go along with my readings. I plan on checking in halfway through and then at the end- just to give an overview of what I’m learning and my thoughts around that. 

The second course I’ll be doing is a Reality Television course. More specifically- a course touching on our general obsession with Reality Television, what it is that brings us in and keeps us hooked to the shows we love and crave. I know I’m not the only one out there who loves to sit down and watch just a good reality tv episode- whether it’s Real Housewives, Members Only, or Sister Wives- I LOVE it all. And I wondered- what is it about these types of shows that just draws us in. What makes it work and last. Now, obviously outside of the books, I’ll have to watch some reality TV as well, maybe rank some shows (or seasons of shows in some cases) and discuss what works for me throughout the course. 

The third course I’ll be diving into will be a course around NASA disasters. I will be going disaster by disaster, examining what happened, what was published, how was it handled, and what changes came from it. I am most excited to read some of the transcripts from mission control and find out what went wrong and where the human factor comes in to play. I’m still early into figuring this curriculum out, so I’m still adding things as I go. NASA does fascinate me (though I don’t want to go to space nor care super strongly about space), so I’m looking forward to getting into this! 

I do have a couple ideas for a final curriculum, but I don’t want to commit just yet as I want to be gentle and not push to much onto my plate. So, we’ll stop with the three for now and I’ll share if/when it changes. Now my focuses aren’t only on the above items, I’ve got other random bits that I’m learning about (such as building an organization from the ground up, learning about different facets of our school district and funding and legislature/advocacy, along with general knowledge about our area and advocacy geared toward that), BUT this is the specific things that I want to cover outside of that. 

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My Thoughts On: Traditional/Mainstream Media, Social Media, and the Rumor/Gossip Mill

I always said I was going to avoid these topics, but the times…the times call for them so here we go. Please note that this is going to be more catered towards the current Coronavirus situation, but can easily be applied to anything else…like I don’t know, maybe when the election politics start to really begin or when your neighborhood or friend group has a problem.

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I’ll be honest, I don’t really have any answers when it comes to our news and social media these days. I just found myself getting increasingly frustrated with what I was seeing across the board from the traditional media, to influencers, to our local community (aka gossip mill). I needed to ramble my thoughts out and figure out what I can do for myself about it.

What a world we live in today where we can learn just about anything at the drop of a pin. We get notified the moment things happen (sometimes even before they happen), we can share things at quick speeds with friends and family, and ultimately we can be inundated with information round the clock. It can be a truly wonderful thing and something that I have definitely been incredibly grateful for (especially living so far away). However, most good things also have a negative aspect and in this case, that negative aspect can be damaging.

Obviously with Social Media we have talked about how damaging it can be with cyber bullying and such, but that is not what I am going to be referencing today. Today I am going to be talking about what I think some of the other dangers of this rapid media, online world that we live in today.

Danger #1 Bias

Here’s the thing we are all biased. From a very young age we start shaping our mind and how we see the world around us. Our parents play a role, our community plays a role, our friends, where we live, what we see every day, where we go to school, all of these are factors in what our outlook is on the world. This outlook leads (or rather is equal to) our bias. So, we all have a bit of a bias when it comes to…well life. It’s just who we are. This doesn’t mean we are close minded or not open to learning, it’s just important to recognize that we all have a bit of bias.

Now, wouldn’t that make sense to then extend to our news outlets, social medias, friends, etc.? Now, I know, this may sound like such common sense, but I feel like it is so important to keep in mind. We hear about how certain news outlets are biased, but it’s important to remember that most of your news outlets are going to have some sort of bias. From who they hire, to what they publish, to how they advertise what they publish, there is a bias to just about everything. That’s just the nature of the world that we live in.

As with anything, I would check a variety of sources of anything that you read. Obviously, government entities are a good place to get the information from, but if that is not possible (sometimes it won’t be), then looking at various sources is your best bet. Make sure you take the time to fully educate and understand a situation before speaking about it…which brings us to Danger #2.

Danger #2 Misinformation

I think this is hands down one of the biggest dangers of living in the world that we are in today. Information moves so quickly and often times moves faster than the official authorities can actually put the information. For a specific example of this, we can look no further than the current crisis that we are in. In our community information about a confirmed case of Covid-19 was circulating across the community before the official channels could even say something. This led to not only misinformation going around (A LOT of that was going around), but a heightened state of panic started to break out due to that, AND the general public was then calling for answers from the officials in charge.

Now, two things from this…

  • It’s important to wait for information from an official organization. We could debate the merits of sources and of what we hear from our “people”, but at the end of the day it’s all hear say until we get full answers and information. Often times what we are hearing from those around us are only mild versions of what the facts are, that have been distorted by the amount of people that they have heard from. This is obviously different depending on your actual source, if you are hearing from a significant other who is right in the location in the center of the action that is different than someone who heard it from someone who heard it from someone. In most cases it is just better to wait for the official statement to stop any sort of misinformation going around.
  • A lot of times when a government organization or official organization (think Military, CDC, WHO, etc.) puts out information they have done so after collecting as much of the accurate information as they can AND exploring different solutions for whatever is going on. They present the facts of the situation and offer up what they are doing/recommending to combat whatever is going on. Often times, if you are getting upset with information NOT being put out, think about what they are trying to do. The first goal should be to collect the facts and implement immediate options for the situation. The first goal is not always notifying the public, this is how panic, and misinformation occurs. Honestly, would you rather be told “Oh hey, here is something serious going on” OR “Oh hey, here is something serious that has happened, BUT we have already taken steps a, b, and c AND here are our recommendations for the next little bit. I know I would rather the second.

If you are not getting answers from an official organization at the time that you are looking around I would either recommend just being patient OR, following the earlier advice of looking at various sites. Don’t go with the first article you read, but rather look across the board at various sites, read various articles, and draw the best conclusion you are able until you can get an official brief. Don’t prevent what you are finding as facts (unless it comes from the aforementioned official organization), but rather as what you have found for your own purposes. Personally, I always recommend that others do their own research and bounce things off of several friends in different sectors while we wait for information.

Danger #3 Too Much at One Time/Being Too Involved

We all know that too much of a thing may not always be good and the same can be applied to media/social media/etc. With just how easy to get the news, to see what others are doing, to be connected, it can become very easy to fall into the trap of being too connected.  It seems to be a fine line as to when the news and being connected is too much. I’ve definitely experienced this and have found that at times, less is more. With the constant news cycle, it is easy to get sucked into always needing to know, to be connected, to have all the information, BUT I find that in some ways this is counterproductive and dangerous. Unfortunately, I don’t really have an answer or solution to this as I think this is just the way our lives trend right now. The only suggestion that I have is to take time away. When you start to feel that way, just step back, step away and take a day to be not so involved.

So, what’s the answer? Again, I don’t really have one. I feel like this is going to be a revolving door issue as we continue to deal with a new vastly online world that has become even more online in the past couple months. I don’t know if any of this has made sense, or if you’re even still reading this (if you are-thank you!), but it’s been a little over 2 months of seeing these Dangers pop up consistently and I felt like something needed to be said. So, here’s me adding my small voice to the loud crowd.

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