![]() She particularly wanted to prevent stress from shutting down executive function, the self-control of thought, action and emotion that is essential for learning. I doubt most grownups would be similarly confident that kids could ably control their minds if shown how. That awareness would then give them better control over their own mind–directing their attention more appropriately or calming themselves down–in ways that could improve learning. It might help them to develop the ability to think about thinking, or metacognition. Hawn was no brain expert, but she reasoned that teaching kids about the brain might make them more aware of their own thoughts and emotions. “And I thought why can’t we do something that gets kids to understand their potential? Why don’t we teach our kids about the brain?” “I signed all my 4 th grade papers, “Love, Goldie.” But in the wake of 9/11, she perceived U.S. ![]() While watching the rain outside her meditation room sometime in 2002, Hawn’s quest turned outward–in particular, to children. Hawn moved to rainy Vancouver, because her son, Wyatt, wanted to play hockey. It led, she said, to her first understanding of the brain, “what it can do, how it can change.” She was particularly interested in neuroscience and spirituality, fancying questions such as “What is that God part of the brain?” Such an adventure might make lesser folks crazy or depressed in itself, but Hawn became surprisingly analytical about it. She saw psychologists and began meditating, embarking on a nine-year psychological journey. “I thought, `All I want to do is hold onto this joy, this tickle I had when I was little.’” Having lost that tickle Hawn went spelunking, in her own psyche. “When I was 11 years old, I decided that what I wanted to be in life was happy,” she said. The change was foreign to Hawn–and not welcome. Decades ago (in 1972 she said), when she became famous, she felt newly anxious and something hard to imagine happened: she lost her signature smile. It was a perfect fit for the forum, which this year addressed “The Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning: Implications for Education.” But more on that in a bit. The MindUp program, the Foundation’s signature educational initiative, is designed to address these oft-neglected components of learning. Six years ago Hawn established a nonprofit group called The Hawn Foundation “to promote children’s academic success in school and in life through social and emotional learning.” It is based on the notion that kids’ intellects do not exist in isolation from their emotions, their connections to others or the rest of their bodies. Just as any 7-year-old can now do, I had looked it up on the web. She answered the obvious question first: Why is Goldie Hawn speaking at a brain conference? I already partly knew the answer. If the neuroscience community was going to be delivered an advocate, they could have done a lot worse. Unlike most people who wing it, Hawn strung together rhythmic sentences that made sense. As she talked, it occurred to me that vivaciousness and beauty did not alone propel her to stardom. ![]() Hawn spoke without notes, claiming to be a born communicator, a claim she backed up by her performance. I watched her stop to enthusiastically greet–hug, kiss–various other conference attendees, who seemed equally eager to chat her up, whether to advance their work or sidle up to celebrity, I couldn’t say. Her trademark laugh and general effervescence mark her like a strobe light, quite visible even in the bright Colorado sun. It wasn’t so much her looks, though, that made her instantly recognizable. A grandmother now, Hawn looked fabulous in over-the-knee black leather boots and a chunky silver belt strung around a black miniskirt. I knew she was about to give the keynote address, but I was startled to practically run into the actress. When I arrived at the Aspen Meadows Resort for the Second Annual Aspen Brain Forum last Thursday evening, Goldie Hawn was getting out of a vehicle near the entrance.
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