Hi-Phi Nation: a Philosophy Podcast
The February 2019 dead tree edition of Chronogram, a local magazine here in the Hudson Valley of New York, had a brief interview with Barry Lam of Vassar Colleg...
Category: learning
Revisions Needed
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. Anonymous I came across, by way of a ...
Persistence
Have you cracked a black walnut? Or, perhaps more precisely, have you tried to crack a black walnut? I found this half of a walnut shell on my walk th...
Any Morning
Just lying on the couch and being happy. Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head. Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has so much to do in th...
Feedback
I don’t recall many of my college successes with great clarity, but I do recall my few failures. Two in particular stand out: both D’s on short pape...
The Illusion of Perfection
One of my favorite stories of a political figure is of Jimmy Carter, who said, yes, I’ve sinned. I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve...
Woke Up This Morning
Starting the morning with a poem is, oddly, a practice that hadn’t occurred to me until listening to Krista Tippett’s conversation with Naomi Shihab...
Shut Up and Sit Down
The Arlington (NY) Central School District, after declaring a snow day because it was snowy, sent parents a note regarding the possibility of intentional studen...
The Water the Frog Boils In
The last few days I’ve been watching presentations from LISA and Velocity on the difficulties and rewards of the cultural transformation needed by a lean,...
Patience, Grasshopper
A little attention goes a long way. I’ve come to believe that a great deal of unnecessary coercion, what one might call excessive use of force, is directl...
Observations on Compulsory Schooling
Walking back from the bus stop, No. 2 Son, who is only just 10, looked thoughtful. A few steps later, he remarked, “School is slavery.” “It is...
But I Get Up Again
I didn’t hit publish on my latest until after midnight, so it looks like I missed two days, not one. I could fudge the record by back-dating posts, but I&...
Special Snowflakes
Number Two Daughter asked if I was writing a book. No, just my journal, I replied. It looks like a book, though: it’s bound nicely and is filling. I suppo...
I Wish I Could Go Back to College
No. 1 Daughter is a junior in high school this year. My how time flies. Her next act on the world stage approaches. Last year, to be helpful, because she was re...
School, a Poem
Locks us inside 3 minute breaks in between 42 minutes “School,” a poem by Number Two Daughter (13) Number Two Daughter brought this poem home from s...
Shoshin (初心)
I started over after not practicing yoga for several months.
Fight the Power
Compulsory schooling is vile.
Disillusionment
I can clearly remember the moment when I realized that my interests did not align with school’s. I was 13. I loved school. I loved it because I saw my fri...
The First Day of School
The Night Before No. 2 Son (6), on tomorrow: “I wish every school day were Saturday, so then we would not have school.” Supplies bought. Forms compl...