Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers By William Deresiewicz It didn’t dawn on me that there might be a few holes in my education until I was about 35. I’d just bought a house, the pipes needed fixing, and the plumber was standing in my… [Read more…]
July 11, 2010
The head chef at my favorite local diner was once a mobster. The first time I ate there he showed me the scars on his chest, arms, and back. Most of them were from his final night as a member of the mafia – a night that ended in a horrific battle with another mob… [Read more…]
June 27, 2010
Fascinating article in Discover magazine about how language affects mental facility. New Nicaraguan sign language shows how language affects thought It’s clear evidence that our spatial reasoning skills depend, to an extent, on consistent spatial language. If we lack the right words, our mental abilities are limited in a way that extra life experience can’t… [Read more…]
June 25, 2010
A fascinating article about the value of Twitter as a corpus of contemporary language from the Language Log. To say Twitter is colloquial is putting it lightly. “Brother,” for example, occurs in Twitter data during the week of May 10-17, 2010 with an average frequency of once every 7,338 words, not too distant from its… [Read more…]
June 22, 2010
I’ve finally figured out my next step, along with some strategies and goals. I hope to be making this blog a platform from which to further develop and explore them, so be prepared for some changes over the next few months.
March 14, 2010
Oh wow. Is it March already? And now just March, but the middle of March. Where did all that time go? The next concert is two weeks away. I feel so unprepared, so under-rehearsed. I would like another month of rehearsals. But Jenn says this is the way she wants it. So we will be… [Read more…]
February 22, 2010
No, I have not forgotten you. Work has been getting the better of me of late, and any free time goes to sleep, not because I am lazy but to keep my immunity up. I can’t afford to fall sick. I tell myself the goal (or at least the first checkpoint) is in sight, and… [Read more…]
February 5, 2010
At the end of a particularly soul-draining week you go back to the school you were at last year and get surprised by former students who come up to say hi You put on your classroom smile and ask them how they’re doing and after a while they go back after you’ve wished them all… [Read more…]
January 26, 2010
Seth Godin says it much better than I ever can, so I quote him verbatim: My definition of art contains three elements: Art is made by a human being. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the… [Read more…]
January 12, 2010
火曜日のクラスはどうも暗いらしい。 校風というもののせいだろうか。 先輩に聞くと、この学校の生徒は殆ど暗いらしい。 今日は初めての授業なのに、目が死んでいる。 昨日のクラスとは大違いだ。 昨日の学生が通う学校は、イメージと噂によると、 生徒はどうも暗くて反応がなくて、 その学校のクラスを苦手とする先生も多いらしい。 私の経験では、そうでもなかったのだが。 先輩は、それはきっと校風がまだ移っていないからだ、と言っている。 あのクラスの生徒たちがこれから暗くなったり 死んだ目をするようになるのが、悲しい。 ずっと、子供心のままで勉学に励めばいいのに。 ここだけは、キミたちが楽しく明るく元気よく勉強できる場所だよ。 初心、忘れるべからず、だ。 キミたちがずっとそのように、 火曜日のクラスのみんなもこれから心を開いていくように、 祈っています。 そして、それができる教室を作れますように、 頑張っていきます。
July 17, 2010
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