Halloween: Carnival Day for Children’s Imaginations
The DeLand Beacon, November 17-20, 2011, p. 5A
Halloween is a day of the child. Most days, children have to do what they are told, or even try to be someone who doesn’t come naturally to their natural impulse: follow rules, learn challenging things, play to win. Halloween is a day for them to follow their imaginations, learn fun things, and play just to play. Continue reading
September 2011
William James (1842-1910) died one hundred years ago this last month. My study of his life and work has been a liberal education worthy of Stetson’s mission.
His career spans the arts and sciences. He resolved first to be a painter, beginning at age eighteen in the art studio of William Morris Hunt. He had a strong avocational appetite for literature that began with his friendship with his brother, the novelist Henry James, and continued his whole life, with frequent literary references and abundant lively correspondence with writers. And he had a strong interest in spirituality…and which he used to understand the relation of science and religion, and to address the limits of their institutional forms.
January 2011
Another act of gruesome violence offers a painful reminder of the seething angers that lurk beneath daily life. The suspected shooter in Arizona (I avoid his name to keep from promoting his dark celebrity) may have no connection to extremist politics himself, but his depraved act is a reminder of the intense political views that have spurred violence of word and deed, as they have for years.
Most people lament the level of polarization that has overtaken our political discourse almost as much as they are horrified by the violence, but the polarization persists and even grows.
Just a few months ago, respected education professor William Ayers approached retirement at the University of Illinois, Chicago, but he was denied his bid for professor emeritus status. His case is a symbol of how we have not escaped our history—or our anger.
Pub Classroom 