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On Learning by Making
I have a new bookshelf. It modestly greets all who enter the house. The top shelf holds, perfectly, an old set of cloth-bound books of walking tours of English counties. Other random favorites with handsome spines populate the lower shelves. What’s special about...Never Done: Women's Work and Why it Matters
Women’s stories from the past aren’t easy to recover. Women left less evidence, different evidence, evidence that’s harder to find and often more challenging to interpret. And where they have been recovered, women’s stories have often been...Mill, Mountain, River: A Child's View of Olde Coleraine
If you were a child living in Coleraine, Massachusetts, from 1840 to 1890, you would have been a witness to and a participant in America’s industrial revolution. Though the production of apples, honey, and maple syrup would continue to dominate the local farm...Teaching Writing: An Experience in Community
I was on a book tour around the publication of my fourth novel when I learned that I would be teaching an introductory course on writing fiction to undergraduates in the spring. Although I was in the midst of giving readings and talks in academic settings (as I have...The Tragedy of Climate Change
In the latest in a series of reports released this spring, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned again that governments are not doing enough to avert the profound risks associated with rising levels of carbon in our atmosphere. The national...Othering: Lessons from Rwanda for Our Schools
Twenty years ago Rwanda collapsed amidst a hundred-day genocidal rampage by its majority Hutu population against the less numerous Tutsi. The quick ferocity of the slaughter stunned and shocked the world, though not enough to prevent it. The seeds of hatred had been...The Pornographic Plantation: Mammy Minstrel Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Molasses drips on the walls. Close to the entrance, leading to the altar and centerpiece of whiteness, brown sugar boys hold baskets as their faces and bodies melt in the heat. A few of them have collapsed on the floor, disintegrating into dark viscous puddles. And...European Parliamentary Elections 2014: Why Nigel Farage is Both Right and Gravely Wrong
In May of this year, the various nations comprising the EU held their parliamentary elections. Despite more moderate parties taking the majority of seats, the surge in popularity of far-right, anti-EU candidates in several countries made headlines, being termed as an...Key Documents for Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Editor’s Note: This collection of annotated primary sources prepared by David Tebaldi was originally posted here on The Public Humanist on August 3, 2009. He also prepared this annotated list of novels and memoirs selected to further illuminate the conflict. The...Understanding Islam: Some Library Discussion Group-Tested Book Suggestions
Editor’s Note: Today’s news about U.S. Warplanes attacking Iraq has prompted me to dig into my files for an annotated bibliography listing the books selected by Mass Humanities for its “Understanding Islam” reading and discussion program that...Crisis in Gaza: A Look to Quebecois History for Guidance
In 1763 Great Britain had won the Seven Years’ War against France. With the Treaty of Paris that followed, Britain maintained its American territories and all of Canada was surrendered by the French. This vast, newly-acquired area increased the size of British...Longing for Home
“I don’t want to die too soon.” These words spoken by a young woman, the same age and complexion as Michael Brown, were voiced from a deep and lonely place. As a teenager facing adulthood and entering college, she identified with Brown, who no longer...The Privilege of Grief
It was easier for me to travel across the whole country and claim my partner John’s body than it was for Michael Brown’s mother to cross a few feet of pavement in Ferguson, Missouri. John was killed in a car crash in Montana while I was home in...Layered Time and the Force of Gravity in Frankenstein: A Conversation with Linda McInerney and Lindel Hart
Lindel Hart and Linda McInerney have been collaborating for two years on an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In the first year, they researched, imagined, and Lindel wrote. They spent endless hours on Linda’s couch dreaming out how the show might...Interview with Harley Erdman, Playwright for Nobody's Girl
On October 17 and 18, 2014, the Northampton Academy of Music Theater will debut the new play, Nobody’s Girl, a screwball-style comedy based on a true story from the early 1940s. The events involve Mildred Walker, a cashier at the Academy (then a movie theater),...The Cream of the New England Short Film Crop
Technically, the Internet reaches a worldwide audience, but for us at NewEnglandFilm.com, we try to think a bit more locally. The initial idea for the Online New England Film Festival came from our goal to promote local filmmaking to our local community....“Cast Your Whole Vote”: Conversations on the American Social Contract
Two days ago I had the honor of moderating the second of this fall’s four Created Equal: Conversations on Negotiating the American Social Contract events. The series of public film and discussion forums is designed to showcase the theme of Mass Humanities’...Essays Old and New
In the later sixteenth century, about a century after the introduction of the print, Renaissance humanists evolved a novel literary genre, the Essay. The name itself was probably coined by the French thinker Michel de Montaigne. He felt he needed a written mode that...Will the Real First Thanksgiving Please Stand Up?
“And God be praised, we had a good increase…. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling that so we might after a special manner rejoice together….These things I thought good to let you understand… that you might on...One Day After the Winter Solstice
The rush to the shortest day has ended, although there’s still a day and a half of school left, and rushing, rushing before the daze ahead. We’ve got about 30 on Thursday here. We’ve got all that stepping out of time, which comes with a...Writing War's Full Range of Emotions: The 1914 Christmas Truce
Writing War’s Full Range of Emotions: The 1914 Christmas Truce Kristina H. Reardon On Christmas Eve of 1914, German, French and British soldiers in Belgium waited in the trenches, now sure the war would not be over by Christmas. Yet optimism that the war might...To blog, perchance to bleed
It’s an odd time for a bleeding heart to hit the blogging world, even one in a big hat. I mean, so much has been accomplished in the last year–Tom Delay has been trundled off to his post-congressional hootenanny, where, one presumes, he’ll get to...Bush's disappearing halo
A while back, I collected photos of Our Dear Leader with a halo. Apparently some AP photographer was having a good time fuzzing up the presidential seal, making Bush look downright saintly. See what I mean? I was never quite sure what this was supposed to mean. Was...Git a rope
For all you wannabe cowboys, I’ll say this: Saddam? Bad guy. He meted out his share and more of ugly death. Though I oppose the death penalty, there have been times I couldn’t muster the high-flown idealism to oppose it. This is one of those times, and the...Oh great swami
"Oh great swami," many people say to me, "what will happen in 2007?" And unto them I say: "I know not much. But I can guess a few things and see what sticks."Chief among those things is this: now that Democrats have managed to take both...The boy can write, too!
Dubya wrote an opinion column. Well, at least his name is on it. Shouldn’t they credit the starry-eyed Oral Roberts University grad or College Republican Lieutenant who no doubt saw this ghost-writing gig as his (uncredited) moment of Kool-Aid-fuelled glory?...Gore was right
Today’s unusual fact:The world really is falling apart. The whole dang thing. In pieces, I tell you. See?Via Fortean Times, a very fine UK publication.Dem busts a move?
Keith Ellison, new Minnesota congressman and Muslim, shows us how to give as good as you get from the merciless commentators of the Right. This is the guy who was told by Glenn Beck on CNN, "You are a Democrat. You are saying, ‘Let’s cut and...Bush and the Progressive Angst Two-Step
The frustrations of those of us who never fell for Bush’s propagandizing destructions of rhetoric and common sense have been manifold. The Bushites’ overwhelming number of manipulations of process and loopholes have been nearly impossible to track, thanks...Bush may have done something good
Interesting how on the day Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode’s worst nightmare happens–Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) gets sworn in with the Koran (see earlier post "Dem busts a move?")–it’s breaking news that Bush has chosen to send as...the rest of the axis of evil
While Bush is planning to "surge" us into oblivion Iraqi-style, the North Koreans are looking for a little love, too–according to ABC News, there’s activity at a nuclear test site. That’s the problem George has never gotten used to: the...Hogzilla
I really don’t care for politics. I’ve been up to my widow’s peak in it since 2000, but it’s only because it’s seemed necessary in a way it never was before. The whole Gore-Bush election-stealing bit woke me from my slumber, and since...Napoleon could learn a thing or two
A few days ago, I wrote about the multi-step process that kicks in every time I read of a new example of Bush hubris. At that point, it was Bush’s desire to read anybody’s mail he’d like to, given "exigent circumstances," a term so vague...Texas pigotry
Sometimes the best you can say of my home state is that it’s got a flamboyant sense of style like few other places. In this case, even the anti-Muslim push in Katy, Texas is utterly Texan: the guy who lives next to a proposed mosque site is throwing pig races on...What's the word for soulless sell-out?
Last night on the NPR show Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed Frank Luntz. When I found the link this morning to review the show, I was stunned at what a freshly scrubbed, chipper face evil has chosen to wear. Luntz has even shaved his beard.Luntz is usually dubbed a...Progress in the ongoing battle to sell more stuff
There’s a central theme to what fills me with dismay about my country. (And this time I mean all of it, not just Texas.) It’s full of good, decent people who, I believe, are mostly generous and want to do the right thing. So what is it about us Americans...Iraq or Iran?
Though it’s certainly important to note another piece of pig news (pork arson?), there are yet bigger doings in the world that need addressing.Steven Clemons’ blog The Washington Note features some insider confirmation of the president’s obsession...Turducken without all that danged stuffing!
And you thought meat came from cows.In my ongoing attempt to stay on top of all the porcine news, I give you: Mad scientist time.It’s not strictly pigs, but you could do bacon. Foxes, henhouses and of course, covering W’s arseWhat do you do when...A proposal: the troop Serge
A brilliant idea, prompted by the musings of one Tom Sturm. The Rebubblicans keep sayings the Democrats don’t have any ideas, but this’ll stop ’em dead in their tracks. You can have the troop surge. We want a troop Serge, as in French pop star Serge...Turrists, identify yourselves!
Gentle reader, I humbly beseech thee: proffer thine assistance. You see, it’s getting tough to keep straight who’s a turrist and who’s not. Not to mention who’s giving in to the turrists by thinking the wrong thoughts. The bellwether has been...Decider, Educator-in-Chief, NeoClown
Straight from the big top, I give you Giorgio "Wiggles" Bushemi. You can certainly expect to see more of him.And his sidekick, Richard "Bubbles" Chainlink. Staying the course.With many thanks to Josh Ryan for these fine creations.O Little Town of Bethlehem how subversively we see thee lie
This from Yahoo News today:"BETHLEHEM, Pa. – An elderly man who wrote in a letter to the editor about Saddam Hussein’s execution that "they hanged the wrong man" got a visit from Secret Service agents concerned he was threatening President...Peanut patty pilot
When I was in high school in Texas, my best pal and I had a little notion. We thought, "Hey, what would happen if we blurred the focus on the old Pentax and threw stuff up in the air?"The results, some of which I hope to post later, were some of the most...NASCongress
My steamed colleague over at the Frank Dodge Report has endorsed a Jim Hightower notion I strongly support: "Make them folks in congress dress like those NASCAR fellows. They shld wear jumpsuits with patches for all their sponsors. bigger the patch, bigger the...The perils of youth in Asia
Weird things happen everywhere. But only in Asia are people producing weird things from their bodies. I mean, apart from the usual what-have-you. There was this one time I… oh, forget it. Anyway, it was weird enough that Nepal recently boasted a young girl who...From the We Told You So Department
Today brings a small victory for those of us who’ve maintained that there was more than ample fishiness in the results of the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. Robert Kennedy, Jr., in a Rolling Stone article, did a very fine job of laying out the many...In outer space, no one can hear you vote Republican
If living in a red state seems tough, you could give a try to the red planet. And as U2’s The Edge once said in an online chat, "I think Mars is a great idea. I’m all in favor of Mars."The pen is mightier than a lion
Seems a fellow on the West Coast got attacked by a mountain lion, and, from the lion’s mouth, calmly directed his wife to get the pen from his pocket and poke the lion in the eye. The jury may still be out on whether the pen really is mightier than the sword,...Our Republ president and his Republ friends
Earlier in my voyage in Blogland, I pointed out the language-based sins of Frank Luntz, "Republican pollster" and bald-faced manipulator of public discourse. He’s one of those guys who’s long been in the inner circle of stratospheric, amoral...Your very own Bush appointee!
We are apparently fighting the nonsense at home so we don’t have to fight it abroad. What I mean to say is, when do we get to stop writing, over and over, the same story? Yep: the Bush-child has given himself, you guessed it, even more power!New York Times:...a tip of the hat to Molly
The world is poorer for the loss of Molly Ivins, dead at 62 of breast cancer. Texas, thanks to its political exports, has plenty to be ashamed of these days. But to those who would decry my home state, I can always point to Ivins and say, "They ain’t all...Deus ex Marketa
Here’s a story to watch for sure. A cheap drug called DCA has demonstrated the ability to kill cancer cells. Not just one type, mind, but apparently most cancer cells in general. In cancer cells, the main cell body produces energy through something called...Say it ain't so, Chewie
It just breaks my heart when wookiees turn bad. Best quote: "Nobody tells this wookiee what to do!" Chewbacca, we hardly knew ye. Superman was a witness. This whole scene seems like some sort of comics convention gone very wrong. What will we tell the...Electric squid
Had to take a little time in non-blog mode there in order to re-point my spurs and grout the old gray mare. Or something. Anyway, it’s good to be back in the saddle. Much of note has gone down, most notably Great Leader Bush has decided to speak out on his own...The %**mind of Bush
I often feel as if we’re led by a 12-year-old, but apparently we’re led by a Deliverance-style 12-year-old. Ted Haggard ain’t got nothing on Brokeback Bush, it seems.From a Ha’aretz review of a Sharon biography: Speaking of George Bush, with...When all else fails, bike sideways
Of course, people are naysaying this brilliant inventor, who’s come up with a sideways bike. Useless, you say? Well that’s what they’ll say when I come out with my double 2-liter drinking cap, not to mention my non-swivelling chair and my pen that...Six feet high and rising
I used to live in New Orleans, and it was a horrifying thing to see pictures of my old neighborhood after Katrina–the water was up to the top of the street signs. It was breathtaking to watch the hubris as Bush had generators light up St. Louis Cathedral in the...12 is one less than 13, which is 10 less than 23!
I propose a little experiment. After reading how Jim Carrey suddenly started seeing the number 23 in everything from his oatmeal to his underpants and ascribed mystical meaning to it all, I just chose my own number with which to get all mystified up. Maybe I’ll...Bigfoot Arnold
The news today seems a sort of miasma– the VP was near a mostly thwarted bombing in a dangerous part of the world (reports that he was the target are impossible to confirm– suicide bombing are apparently quite common in Afghanistan these days, so it might...E-Edition
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