Historical Foundations of Education — sixth meeting The readings for last week were Emerson’s Self-Reliance and Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener. We began with the exercise that flopped on Moday: a comparison of animated mini-lectures by Sir Ken Robinson and Slavoj Zizek. The class seemed interested in it as more than an exercise, so we used Zizek’s call for a “soft apocalyptic” voice within the anti-capitalist discussion — a very overt critique of Leftist piety — to begin to understand the poverty... Read more

An abridged version of my essay, “A Curriculum of Life,” has been published by First Things, at their “On the Square” column. If you miss some of the original sections, that were removed during the editorial process, I have good news: after the publication of my book, Liturgy as Mystagogy, the sequel will be a book-length treatment of this very subject, by the same title. In fact the subtitle to Liturgy as Mystagogy is “An introduction to a curriculum of... Read more

You sullen pig of a man you force me into the mud with your stinking ash-cart!/ Brother! — if we were rich we’d hold our chests out and hold our heads high!/ It is dreams that have destroyed us./ There is no more pride in horses or in rein holding. We sit together brooding our fate./ Well — all things turn bitter in the end whether you choose the right or the left way and — dreams are not a... Read more

Foundations of Educational Thought — fifth meeting (more…) Read more

Thanks to all who’ve written in already. It’s very nice to know who you are, even though many of you I know quite well already. Please, if you haven’t had a chance yet or just showed up today, take a few minutes to send me message via the ‘ASK’ button to (a) let me know who you are and (b) what you use this site for. There is change on the horizon and I want to assure that it does... Read more

In the weeks to come there will some exciting changes affecting how I use this site. But first I want to see who it is presently serving. If you are a regular visitor to my site, it would help for me to hear from you and (a) know who you are and (b) what your business is here, so to speak. I am conducting a census of sorts.  Please, if you visit this website with any regularity, click on the the word... Read more