O.K., this is the kind of thing I'm always searching for when I'm trying to find a good video for this blog. This video was done by the homeschooled kids of a friend of mine. The director is 13 years old, the star is 11, and the costars are 5 and 7. I love the special effects!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Time to Plan the Revolution
Wouldn't it be great to spend the day surrounded by other revolutionaries, talking about the revolution and learning how to go about doing revolutionary acts? Well, if you're in the Phoenix area on March 7, you can have that day. That's right, it's almost time for the HENA Conference! This year it's just a one day affair at Memorial Union on the main ASU campus. Sign up before February 15 to get a discounted rate (there will be no tickets sold at the door).
Full disclosure: I will be presenting a talk about classical education at the HENA Conference. You don't have to show up for it, though, if there's something more interesting happening at the same time. Really. I won't feel bad at all.
Really.
Full disclosure: I will be presenting a talk about classical education at the HENA Conference. You don't have to show up for it, though, if there's something more interesting happening at the same time. Really. I won't feel bad at all.
Really.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Bedside Table Reading
This is what my friend, Scott, has on his bedside table (well, not really, but read on). Scott is not only a homeschooling dad, but also a business owner, a writing professor, and an author. You can read his latest published short story here.
What's on the night stand.
Actually, these are in my closet, with only one book on the night stand itself. Said picture of that reality, however, would have been rather boring. From right to left to top, the books are in order of longest time gone without being touched.
Hayden's Ferry Review #42
I haven't read anything from this journal, but it was given to me as a gift when I did a reading at ASU Polytechnic. It sits there patiently waiting for me to have time to read something I know little about.
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide To Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Bauer
I started reading a library copy of this book about 8 months ago. I then decided that it was important enough to warrant my own copy. Such is the kiss of death. I bought the book and with no pressing deadline to read it, I haven't opened the new copy.
A Cavalcade of Arizona History by Marshall Trimble
This is more of a reference book that I sometimes open while I'm working on my novel. Since it takes place in Arizona, it helps to steal some interesting things from history.
Climbing Parnassus by Tracy Lee Simmons
I forget who loaned this book to me, but I read about half of it before getting distracted. In this case, the distraction was the end of the semester grading, then indulging in lots of other reading over the holidays. I'm certain to get back to it at some point in the near future.
The Heath Anthology of American Literature: Vol B
I'm reading Melville's "Billy Budd" because I got into an argument with a friend over Christmas about the story. I hadn't actually read it, so I my points were a bit blunted. However, I'm pretty sure "Billy Budd" is not "The Caine Mutiny."
This is Our Music by Iain Anderson
A Christmas gift from my wife. My friend wrote this and I've been promising that I would buy it for myself, if only because I make an appearance in the acknowledgments. It's about jazz in the 1960s.
The Philosopher's Apprentice by James Morrow
I don't really know how this made it into the stacks. I suspect when I was at the library I liked the font, picked it up and decided I would check it out. The unambiguous good of the public library system. God bless Ben Franklin.
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
Of all the books in the photo, this is the one I really wanted to read, and am now doing so. This made it on to a lot of top ten for 2008. It's about a psychiatrist who believes his wife has been replaced by a simulacrum. But it's also about perception, literariness, language. It's funny, intriguing, and reminds me a whole heck of a lot of Orhan Pamuk, the great Turkish writer.
Escape by Carolyn Jessop
I heard Jessop interviewed on NPR one day, and when I stumbled across the book on the library shelves I grabbed. I actually have finished this one, about the FLDS up in Colorado City, on the Arizona-Utah border. I believe some FLDS members might make a cameo appearance in something I'm working on, so this was research. Horrifying research.
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
Essays like chocolate truffles, but less fattening.
What's on the night stand.Actually, these are in my closet, with only one book on the night stand itself. Said picture of that reality, however, would have been rather boring. From right to left to top, the books are in order of longest time gone without being touched.
Hayden's Ferry Review #42
I haven't read anything from this journal, but it was given to me as a gift when I did a reading at ASU Polytechnic. It sits there patiently waiting for me to have time to read something I know little about.
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide To Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Bauer
I started reading a library copy of this book about 8 months ago. I then decided that it was important enough to warrant my own copy. Such is the kiss of death. I bought the book and with no pressing deadline to read it, I haven't opened the new copy.
A Cavalcade of Arizona History by Marshall Trimble
This is more of a reference book that I sometimes open while I'm working on my novel. Since it takes place in Arizona, it helps to steal some interesting things from history.
Climbing Parnassus by Tracy Lee Simmons
I forget who loaned this book to me, but I read about half of it before getting distracted. In this case, the distraction was the end of the semester grading, then indulging in lots of other reading over the holidays. I'm certain to get back to it at some point in the near future.
The Heath Anthology of American Literature: Vol B
I'm reading Melville's "Billy Budd" because I got into an argument with a friend over Christmas about the story. I hadn't actually read it, so I my points were a bit blunted. However, I'm pretty sure "Billy Budd" is not "The Caine Mutiny."
This is Our Music by Iain Anderson
A Christmas gift from my wife. My friend wrote this and I've been promising that I would buy it for myself, if only because I make an appearance in the acknowledgments. It's about jazz in the 1960s.
The Philosopher's Apprentice by James Morrow
I don't really know how this made it into the stacks. I suspect when I was at the library I liked the font, picked it up and decided I would check it out. The unambiguous good of the public library system. God bless Ben Franklin.
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
Of all the books in the photo, this is the one I really wanted to read, and am now doing so. This made it on to a lot of top ten for 2008. It's about a psychiatrist who believes his wife has been replaced by a simulacrum. But it's also about perception, literariness, language. It's funny, intriguing, and reminds me a whole heck of a lot of Orhan Pamuk, the great Turkish writer.
Escape by Carolyn Jessop
I heard Jessop interviewed on NPR one day, and when I stumbled across the book on the library shelves I grabbed. I actually have finished this one, about the FLDS up in Colorado City, on the Arizona-Utah border. I believe some FLDS members might make a cameo appearance in something I'm working on, so this was research. Horrifying research.
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
Essays like chocolate truffles, but less fattening.
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