Disruption Critiqued
I showed Disruption to my grade 10 civics class. Some liked it okay, but many thought it was long and boring. “They could have done all that in a fraction…
Marie Snyder
People’s Climate March Update
“If you don’t fight for what you want, then you deserve what you get.” – Disruption The People’s Climate March is in one week. The 50-minute film, Disruption, is a…
AER Strategies
Margaret Wente recently wrote about a teacher, Lynden Dorval, who was fired for giving students zeros when they didn’t complete assignments. Fellow teachers argued his case: “They told the tribunal…
On Alone Time
Three articles caught my attention, two juxtaposed on a page of the Globe and Mail Saturday, and one forwarded along on Kinsella’s blog. Doug Saunders wrote about the blur between…
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
I love Nicholas Carr’s book. There are lots of studies and science mixed with many stories and asides and discussions of philosophers and other great thinkers. It reminded me of…
Chomsky’s Forward to Albert’s Realizing Hope: Life Beyond Capitalism
In full: (The book is here.) “Throughout much of the world there is growing resistance to the severe harm that has resulted from the neoliberal policies of the past generation.…
Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century
I feel like I don’t have to read this one with all the press it’s getting. Maybe next summer. This is the gist I’ve gotten so far: Michael Rozworski wrote…
On Ethos – a 2011 Documentary
“Our ethos is all that we currently hold to be true. It is what we act upon. It governs our manners, our business and our politics.” – Howard Zinn Directed…
The Elf on the #ReThink Tour
I met “Sustainable Joe” (Stephen) at Hillside this year, and barraged him with questions about his ride. I want one! And, at $5,000, I could probably make it happen. But…
People’s Climate March
Getting ready for school, I was going through files and came across an interview with Noam Chomsky for Teen Talking Circles. In it, Chomsky answers the question, “Do you honestly…
On Glorifying Psychopaths
Murray Dobbin wrote a very provocative article relating our TV viewing of psychopaths to our politics. Owen explored the glorification of psychopaths in a post discussing the article, and I…
On the Titanic and Tolstoy
I’ve heard this before somewhere, but I can’t find it to give due credit: Coping with climate change is like coping with being a passenger on the Titanic. Some won’t…
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Climate Change
In a Huffington Post interview, Neil deGrasse Tyson says things will change when people lose their wealth. If we lose the ice-caps, the water around NYC will come up to…
Diamond’s Collapse
A while back, Mound suggested I read Collapse by Jared Diamond, and I finally got to it. It’s a fascinating read particularly for anyone interested in ancient civilizations. Diamond explores…
On That List of Excuses for Not Having Sex Floating Around the Interweb
I wanted to chime in on a facebook discussion about that list (a man made a spreadsheet of his wife’s excuses for refusing sex), but it wasn’t started by an…
Shaving Minutes Off Your Cycling Time
Or, In Praise of Crappy Bikes I’m in the middle of several books right now, and I’ll write more about them as I finish. But I was thinking about this…
Just Not Ready to Laugh at Climate Change
We had a great end-of-year send off by a few teachers who took the time and effort to make the final day entertaining. Years ago, we had a team that…
What’s a Mother to Do?
It’s always harder to have something taken away than to never have it in the first place. But still… A local high school is removing a few dozen students from…
Backyard Studio and Garden Build
Three summers ago, I decided to take over the backyard, get rid of the playhouse that the kids had deserted, and build a big garden and waterfall with a little…
Brief Hiatus
I’ve been busy gardening, and then I took a break to check out NYC. The entire album, Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, played in my head on a loop while…