As a writing instructor, academic writer’s block is something I deal with almost every day. I like to help students think through their ideas when they get blocked because I know how that feels. Nothing is worse than sitting down in front of your laptop, fingers on the keys, and…nothing. Here are a few ways […]
Nine Ways to Deal with Academic Writer’s Block Read More »
“To love truth for truth’s sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.” Locke “The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.” Machiavelli I am certain that I am not the only writer who is having difficulty
Of Tribes, Truth, Nostalgia, and Devolution Read More »
Back in the early 1970s, I wrote a talking blues. I had gotten to be a halfway decent picker, and I managed to record the song acceptably, I thought. My old friend Andy Abbott was passing through town, and we sat down with a couple of Manhattans to listen to it: Talking Thomas Edison Back
When Gary Nicholson, conductor of the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony, first announced what our major project would be for the second semester, I admit that I wasn’t overly thrilled with playing the Shostakovich Fifth Symphony. At the time, I viewed the composer as one who drifted in limbo between the romantic era of classical music.
The Shostakovich Fifth: Revealing the USSR Read More »
I remember the moment I learned that teachers get no respect anymore. “So what are you going to do to help him, Mr. Parent?” asked the mother of a student failing my eighth grade physical science class. My principal then repeated the question, leading to my stunned silence. The child failed my class because he didn’t
Teachers Get No Respect Read More »
The babushka is the one constant iconic figure in Russian culture. The first thing you need to know about them is how to properly pronounce their title as westerners often mispronounce it. The emphasis is on the first syllable: BAH-boosh-ka. This title can mean elderly woman, grandmother or granny, but in general it gets treated
The Babushka: A Fulcrum of Russian Life Read More »