Now that my craze with Bronfenbrenner is waning, I can reflect on why I got so taken with it: it offered a model that helps me visualize relationships and human development. In my search for meaning, in my sense-making quest, this model provided just that–sense. It was so crystal clear to me, as potent as an epiphany! I even remember telling Jenni: I will never want for another theoretical framework again–it is so robust, so pregnant with potential, so versatile! Jenni, of course, replied “that’s what worries me. You should not limit yourself.” I knew she is right, and I know she is right, but the value of my discovery of Bronfenbrenner is obvious: it contributed to my epistemological paradigm shift, or rather, awakening to my ontological awareness.
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