Here’s an excellent little piece by Dennett on why he thanks goodness, and not God, for his survival of a medical emergency. Quite worthwhile to athiests out there. Here’s a snippet: One thing in particular struck me when I compared the medical world on which my life now depended with the religious institutions I have been studying so intensively in recent years. One of the gentler, more supportive themes to be found in every religion (so far as I know) is the idea that what really matters is what is in your heart: if you have good intentions, and are …
Month: November 2006
Two Words…
I’m up for a challenge. Like answering the following 25 questions in two-word phrases. 1. Explain what ended your last relationship. Age difference. Maturity too. Somewhat drastic. Legal, however. 2. When was the last time you shaved? In 2003. Now bearded. 3. What were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.? Sleeping peacefully. Ahh, yes. 4. Were you any good at math? Certainly not. 5. What were you doing 15 minutes ago? Reading email. 6. Your prom night? Decidedly underwhelming. 7. Do you have any famous ancestors? Probably no. 8. Have you had to take a loan out for school? …
Go go go Haruki!
Well, there you go, Haruki Murakami has Japanese received the Kafka Prize. Good for him, I think he deserves it for The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, if nothing else. Lime bought me a copy of After the Quake the other day and I’m looking forward to it, let me tell you. (Via Writing Under a Pseudonym).
Still Going…
After a short talk about the importance of considering representation and stereotypes — with examples of the aggressive, violent, murderous, raping American GI and the pedophile Japanese photographer characters coming up from student discussions in the past — I finally had my drama class students start discussing the plot and characters of the plays they’re going to write and perform, and they had a blast. We had some interesting discussions in the small groups, such as the importance of making character sets who could interact as much as possible — and thereby, have a stake in one anothers’ actions in …
More Weird Assertions
Man, when will I learn? So my writing class students have been working on compare-and-contrast essay structures — the structure of the essay, and the words used to make comparisons and show contrast. So I thought I’d get them working on a simple essay that would let them work on this a little more, and collaborate with a partner. What did I have them compare? English and their mother tongue. I made sure the Chinese students were together. I didn’t think about what else might come up. One essay, of course, was “Hangul is better than English”. The guys didn’t …