Category: Uncategorized
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Our juniors are 16 and 17 year-olds, wondering about their futures
This video, based on Alan Watts‘ narration, warns young people about making “absolutely stupid” choices for their future. What would make no sense is mindlessly perpetuating what one’s parents have done, with no regard for one’s natural inclinations. “All retch and no vomit” describes a vicious cycle from which I hope my young people…
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A narrative pattern in Tolkien's LOTR: the power of words
When all seems lost in Book 2 of The Return of the King, and Frodo is held a naked captive in the tower of the Orcs, what revives him is the technology of literature, in its capacity to powerfully connect people across time and space, and even–especially–in extremities. Sam’s song in the tower is the…
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Negotiating happiness in East Garfield Park: a review of Simoncic's "Broken Fences"
playwright Steven Simoncic As a young American aspiring to a happy home, how can you live conscientiously and economically in the modern city? This is the central question explored in Steven Simoncic’s “Broken Fences,” playing through October 26 at Berwyn’s 16th Street Theater. The 120-minute production has well-drawn characters, delightful dialog, poetic interludes, and…
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Review: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as re-imagined by Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann’s version of the iconic American novel gets“approved” from this English teacher. http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/8ud6haTTfFY&source=uds If there were a film adaptation rubric, I’d give it a “Highly Proficient,” and 3.5 out of 4 stars, because it will connect with today’s young American. But for its style, some people (probably most of those over 50) are going…
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Karen Lewis, 2013 Prinz Speaker at Elmhurst College
In the midst of an existential crisis for the Chicago Public Schools, one of my current educational heroes, CTU President Karen Lewis, came out to the suburbs tonight and delivered the 2013 Andrew K. Prinz Guestship for Political Awareness lecturer at Elmhurst College. She spoke of the commitment and rewards of teaching, the systemic social…
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A Learning Moment, courtesy of Google
My 11th graders and I have played Googleaday together once or twice in the past. (I call it “Google Whack” but I know that is a misnomer). In response to an engaging question, they get out their smart phones get their search on. They go solo or gather in groups to find faster than the…
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"The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" reviewedk
Tonight I enjoyed Berwyn’s 16th Street Theater Company’s rendition of Mike Daisey‘s 2010 play, directed and performed by Lance Baker through February 9. The monologue + Powerpoint, famously “fabulated” by Daisey with less than journalistic rigor, raises important questions for the modern user of technology, but it does so with considerable humor and nuance. The indisputable truths of the…
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Zero Dark Thirty: Kathryn Bigelow's Yin-Yang Death Squad story
Last night I saw Kathryn Bigelow ’s controversial Zero Dark Thirty and found it a powerful movie. Her style brings you objectively into intense situations, subtly builds suspense, and then… BOOM!–wide-angle explosion. This is an excellent procedural drama, with realistic dialogue (written by her partner on The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal) and settings. Though the…
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Winter book reviews–Life of Pi, Invisible Man
“Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?” ― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man You’re joking. A high school English teacher with three preps, over 150 students (with all their, um, writing to grade), 30 college students (and all of their beginning eportfolios to facilitate), an over-50 year old man who is…
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Archbishop Whately cites Adam Smith
in the former’s Introductory Lectures in Economics at Oxford (1831). He has some interesting things to say about the value of public education at mitigating a problem arising from overly specialized labor. While primitive society’s people, who are jacks of all trades, masters of none, have no deep specialized knowledge such as “civilized” society’s people,…
The Wikiness 