Barbecue. Some very smart people, who otherwise might have put their brains to solving the riddle of cancer or the challenges of peace in the Middle East, have committed their lives to cooking it, eating it, analyzing it, comparing it, arguing about it, and waxing nostalgic about it. Memphis tomato-based fanatics square off regularly against North Carolina […]
Purpose of Education?: “The World Needs You to be Smart”
[Last January I handed the following piece to the seniors in my 21st Century Short Fiction and Poetry Class. We were just about to finish a collection of short stories by Stephen Millhauser (Dangerous Laughter) and begin a poetry collection by Louise Gluck (A Village Life). A contemporary of mine at Sewanee, the author of the piece, […]
New Years Wish: Let Kids Wander
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&q=grove+avenue+richmond+virginia&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&safe=on&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Grove+Ave,+Richmond,+Virginia&t=p&vpsrc=6&ll=37.578596,-77.513008&spn=0.065301,0.109863&z=13&output=embed&w=640&h=480] When there was time in the summer, and there was always time, I would ride my slick rear tired red Schwinn dirt bike down Malvern, across Cary Street and into Windsor Farms, and when I would get to the remnants of the Civil War trench works, I would gather as much speed as […]
Seeing Dogs: The Highlight of Eleanor’s First Day in Florence (Summer 2009)
A couple of summers ago we spent a few weeks in Italy. The bulk of our time was spent in the Piedmont region, and I wrote an earlier entry about visiting the 13th century fortress above the small village of Vogogna where we stayed. This brief video captures the end of our first day in […]
Travel Post From Atlanta: The Walk Outside Our Door
I have been thinking about travel recently. What will be the next chance we will have to gather passports and itineraries? When will we make the leap to a new round of travel debt? Where will we go? The realization that it is likely to be awhile before we find ourselves wedging one more outlet […]
Preparing Our Students to be Community Leaders: An Initial Brainstorming
If we want to prepare students to be community leaders with qualities such as humility, decisiveness, passion, vision, and empathy, what should schools do to place their work developing those skills in greater relief? If successful leaders need skills such as the ability to take an unpopular stand, mobilize support for a shared goal, and […]