John Taylor Gatto knows a thing or two about the American school system… and, I’d argue, his points translate to all kinds of other school systems. Here are a couple of worthwhile, angering, stirring essays: The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher How public education cripples our kids, and why
Read more →This is one thing I think we miss. We miss, meaning we as a society long for it, we wish we still had it around. Or, at least, we think that we do. Or, at least, some os us think that we do. Not that your ancestors and mine are all that likely to...
Read more →One of the things I haven’t mentioned much here, but which I suppose might be interesting, is the a fascination I have always had with the cheesy supernatural-conspiracy literature that has always (until I moved to Korea) been widely and cheaply available to me. I have never much been into things like those writings...
Read more →Here’s a funny little animation based on John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. I’m not crazy about it but it is kind of neat as a one-time diversion. (via a thread on Last.fm.)
Read more →Those funky string lines, that is. What’s that song by Beck with the wonderful string lines, from I think it was the Sea Change album? Oh, yeah, “Paper Tiger”. Well, anyway, the bulk of the good stuff was stolen from Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson. Maybe that’s credited somewhere. Actually, a little judicious...
Read more →I guess this is normal practice at a lot of Universities, here, or so I’ve hard from other teachers. You write your own reference letter and then email it, and it gets printed and stamped by the person who is or was your supervisor. I suppose it’s one way to make sure you get...
Read more →Finally, the evidence against the prescriptivists that I have longed for all these years is here, in the biography of Robert Lowth (provided by Wikipedia).
Read more →I was sure I linked to this last summer, but can’t find it on my site now. Praying Mantis Eats Hummingbird is about the most exciting thing I think will ever be posted on Bird Watchers’ Digest. (via BoingBoing)
Read more →