1. My old apartment is almost bare, and my new one is nearly looking like something livable. Furniture goes tomorrow. 2. My first year of full-time teaching is officially over! Some takeaways: 3. It took me a while to figure out what I could actually ask of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and I'm still … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: First Year of Teaching Over and a Word on Audrey Hepburn
Poem – “Fact and Fancy”
How dull the wretch, whose philosophic mindDisdains the pleasures of fantastic kind;Whose prosy thoughts the joys of life exclude,And wreck the solace of the poet’s mood!Young Zeno, practic’d in the Stoic’s art,Rejects the language of the glowing heart;Dissolves sweet Nature to a mess of laws;Condemns th’ effect whilst looking for the cause;Freezes poor Ovid in … Continue reading Poem – “Fact and Fancy”
Sunday Flotsam: New Apartment and Classics
1. Last week I took possession of my new apartment and have been moving in piecemeal ever since. I won't be able to get most of the furniture until next week, unfortunately, but I have almost all of my books moved. In the meantime I live among chaos, my worldly goods vomited out upon the … Continue reading Sunday Flotsam: New Apartment and Classics
Friday Flotsam: Habemus Papam, Herzog’s Mindset, and Woodstock
1. Habemus Papam! Short hours ago, I would have taken it as axiomatic than an American Cardinal will never be elected Pope. We exert so much power and influence over the rest of the world that I took it for granted the Cardinals would never willingly give them the Papacy as well. I have no … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Habemus Papam, Herzog’s Mindset, and Woodstock
Poem – “Modern Major-General”
I am the very model of a modern Major-General,I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historicalFrom Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news,With many … Continue reading Poem – “Modern Major-General”
Sunday Flotsam
1. I seem to be doing a lot of Sunday flotsams these days. 2. The first requirement for intelligent political discourse is to distinguish political thought from political rhetoric. That is, we have to set aside the buzzwords and loaded language ('racist', 'imperialist', 'exploitative', 'equality', and, especially, 'liberty') and make it clear what concrete realities … Continue reading Sunday Flotsam
Poem – “Birches”
When I see birches bend to left and rightAcross the lines of straighter darker trees,I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stayAs ice-storms do. Often you must have seen themLoaded with ice a sunny winter morningAfter a rain. They click upon themselvesAs the breeze rises, and turn … Continue reading Poem – “Birches”
Saturday Flotsam: Easter Events and Amerigo Vespucci
1. Of course, the major news this week is the death of the Holy Father. My own opinion of Pope Francis's pontificate is completely irrelevant; let us all pray for his soul and for the upcoming conclave. 2. That and... 3. I successfully made it through a 'Black Fast' this Triduum; fasting from Holy Thursday … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: Easter Events and Amerigo Vespucci
Poem – “Concord Hymn”
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,Here once the embattled farmers stood,And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept;Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;And Time the ruined bridge has sweptDown the dark stream which seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft … Continue reading Poem – “Concord Hymn”
250 Years On
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,Here once the embattled farmers stoodAnd fired the shot heard round the world-Ralph Waldo Emerson Exactly two hundred and fifty years ago today, British soldiers under Lt. Col. Francis Smith were sent by governor Thomas Gage to seize a stockpile of weapons which … Continue reading 250 Years On
Serpent's Den 