America the Beautiful lyrics

[Edited by me for the sake of drawing attention to the coolest parts] O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet [...]

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Seasons

It occurs to me, on this cloudy June morning, that CSD and I have been blogging together for seven years.  Those seven years have seen us live together (for over four years), travel to Italy and England, begin careers, complete graduate school, get married, and write a lot.  Our blog writing has its ups and [...]

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Light from two sides of every room

Charles Alexander is something of a cult classic in particular architectural circles, but virtually unknown otherwise. An article featured on Arts & Letters Daily about two years ago praised him so profusely that I decided to give his five volume tome a skim once we lived near a library that had it. If you are [...]

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For Wednesday

To ‘cure’ a dead octopus You hold it by one leg and bang it against a rock. –Kenneth Koch

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Confessions of a Substitute Teacher

My primary confession is that my last substitute placement (a glorious 29 days in a fifth grade math classroom) left me with little time nor energy to record the daily wit and cynicism of my little charges.  My last post (‘Dear February’) could probably be replicated here, with only the details of our full schedule [...]

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Pisces

My horoscope according to the Onion: Pisces: The flaw in your plan was the part where your accomplice would start a fire, and in the confusion, you would sneak into the philosophy department and finish writing your dissertation.

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I’m confused. Is the Sovereign Being science, data or man?

Excerpt from my latest education textbook: “Science–that is the use of the scientific method for inquiry–uses perceived reality (typically in the form of collected data) to determine beliefs.  In other words data are collected and analyzed in order to determine what is believed… In contrast pseudoscience uses beliefs to determine perceived reality.  One begins with [...]

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“…how shall we be comforted and healed in a world of positive expressions and good vibes?”

Here are some [appropriately] sobering thoughts for the end of the year from a dear friend. R. Card Hyatt

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Hallelujah Chorus Flash Mob

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Aplodontiidae:

(noun)  Mountain beavers.

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