Balls and Walnuts
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Gud riting
From Acquariando’s photostream. Pretty. Not particularly relevant, but this is Random Flickr Blogging Day.
With regard to writing, our homeschooling strategy has been simple: give Jake something worthwhile to read, then have him write one or two essays about what he has read. We’ve hit the wall, however. He’s older and we’re beginning to expect more from him. We want him to produce college-level essays.
Yeah, he’s eleven, and we’ll probably give him ulcers. On the other hand, Karen and I both wonder what we could have accomplished if we had been given the most challenging regimen possible.
There’s “challenging” and there’s “discouraging,” of course, and the art is pushing the “challenging” envelope without falling into the Veil of Angst that is “discouraging.” We’ve bombed out on more than a few projects — the kid won’t read The Great Gatsby, for example, no way, no how. And one of the key elements of our strategy is to keep it interesting (rather than detestable).
With his most recent project (Ethan Frome), we realized our approach has reached its limit of usefulness. Time for a more organized approach to writing. And so this afternoon, I spent a few hours putting together thirty-five assignments which will, I suspect, last him until the end of the school year.
Here’s the general strategy.
1. Draw exercises from two solid books on writing: Watt’s An American Rhetoric, which was my writing bible in high school, and Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers, a book used in Berkeley’s introductory composition course.
2. To keep things interesting, intersperse these exercises with exemplary paragraphs and essays from a wide range of other authors.
This last point: since I had to draw from books in our personal library, these exercises were idiosyncratic, easily not the “best” essays in the English language, but hopefully good enough to get the job done. Here’s a short list of what I tapped:
The intro to The Wind that Swept Mexico, a remarkable history of the Mexican Revolution
Readings from Mark Twain’s Letters from the Earth, including his essay on James Fenimore Cooper
Walter Cronkite’s preface to Charles Darwin’s The Origin of the Species
A couple of Stephen Jay Gould’s essays in Ever Since Darwin
Chapter 1 of Marvin Harris’s The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig
Readings from Alistair Cooke’s America
The intro to P. J. O’Rourke’s Parliament of Whores
. . . and more.
My question: right this instant, are you thinking, “Oh good Lord, they’re not making him read X?” And if so, what is X? Remember, the goal is to give him exposure to exemplary writing. Great stuff. Because that stuff was the best I could do with the books at hand (remember, Karen and I were both chem majors, so our library ain’t exactly an educator’s paradise) but I’m sure we could do better.
Time to make dinner. See ya later!
D.
Flan de mosca
For you Spanish-challenged readers, the secret ingredient will soon be obvious.
Adapted from the Traditional Flan recipe in Cuba Cocina. Preheat oven to 300F and ready your ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar, for caramelizing custard cups
2 cups whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Come home from the grocery store and spend an hour vacuuming up the tiny flies which discovered your house a few months ago, spread the word to quadrillions of their friends, and returned to stay. Make three passes around the house, vacuuming at each window. Each pass is better than the previous, but no matter how many times you vacuum, there will always be flies.
What, no rectum?
Erin just had to get me back for the Aneros prostate stimulator (pictured), so she sent me to the Erotech website.
Erin, I’m not going to ask how you found out about the LoveLumpTM; but I picture you up way past your bedtime, cursing the Goat for falling asleep while you were working on your daily blog post, figuring you’d find some porn satisfaction on the Web, and racking your brains for the most twisted search terms possible.
“Hmm,” Erin sez. “How about appendage, organ, reactive, and warm? Ah, here we go!”
Good thing this is Friday, because the photo below the fold is sooo not work safe. You’ve been warned.
Eight steps
Here are the rules:
1.Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
But this would be too easy. To make it more of a challenge, I’m going to begin at age 5 and share some memories in eight easy steps, five years at a time. Sound like fun? I think so. See me under the covers.
Chihuahuas
My parents’ 60th wedding anniversary is coming up next January, and for the occasion, my sister wants to put together some sort of scrap book. My sister, my brother, and I each have our own collection of photos. It’s always something of a shock when we compare photos. For example, my sis had never seen this photo of my grandfather.
My brother turned up a few black-and-white photos of our chihuahuas, Chi Chi and Perrita. That’s Chi Chi on the right. I’ve told you about her before — my canine sibling rival. My mother still blames my father for Chi Chi’s failed pregnancy. As far as my dad was concerned, a dog ought to be able to deliver her puppies without assistance. My mom wanted to let the vet deliver the litter. Chi Chi gave birth to live pups, but somehow, she smothered them within the day.
I suspect every family has stories like that one — something which, on the face of things, isn’t all that big a deal, yet it becomes emblematic for so much of the deeper pathology of the marriage.
I’m not sure what happened to Chico, Chi Chi’s mate. I remember him vaguely as a hyper hairless who wouldn’t leave Chi Chi alone. I also remember being very disturbed by his bright red penis, and by the way he would get twisted around (tail-facing-tail) when mating with Chi Chi. We didn’t have him for long.
Almost a Vegetarian, Day 3
No, she doesn’t have much to do with food.
Over the weekend, I decided I would kinda sorta turn the family vegan. Not in any moralistic stick-up- the-ass “We won’t kill anything” way — we’ll still eat stuff that’s been brutally slaughtered — but as a general goal, an acknowledgment that less meat, more vegies = healthier diet.
I haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet. For lunch today, I swung by the supermarket. Without giving it a second thought, I bought a ham sandwich, ate it and liked it. Can’t quell the carnivore overnight, I guess.
In the comments to my Daily Kos diary about the Safe Food Act, Kate (yeah, our Kate)(who has a CONTEST, doncha know) griped,
It’s a good diary but would be better with a few recipes.
Thought I would make amends here. Follow me below the fold for black bean cakes — major league YUM.
Talk about ridiculous
Sometimes I think airline attendents should strut the aisles naked, present themselves at each row, and demand passengers kiss their aging asses. From MSNBC.com this morning:
Man convicted for mile-high makeout
Jury punishes affectionate passenger for interfering with flight
WILMINGTON, N.C. – A California man was convicted Thursday of interfering with flight attendants and crew members in a case that prosecutors said began when he became too affectionate with his girlfriend on a Raleigh-bound flight.
Carl William Persing, 41, will likely serve jail time for the federal felony conviction, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bowler said. A jury convicted Persing after a three-day trial in U.S. District Court in Wilmington.
Persing and his girlfriend were seen “embracing, kissing and acting in a manner that made other passengers uncomfortable” during the flight, according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors said Persing twice threatened a flight attendant who told the couple to stop and refused to serve them alcohol.
Defense attorney Deb Newton said her client will appeal. Persing, of Long Beach, Calif., could get up to 20 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, she said.
I’d like to know what language he used when he “twice threatened a flight attendant.” But can you think of any language which would warrant a federal felony conviction and a possible 20 year prison term?
While the Air Traveler’s Bill of Rights addresses pricing, comfort, and appropriate care for disabled or sick passengers, it does nothing to address the inequity in the relationship between passengers and airline personnel.
In 2002, a passenger asked an America West flight attendant if the pilot had passed a sobriety test. He was kicked off the plane for asking the question. Last year, a man was arrested for trying to carry on a rubber band ball. And in ’05, a woman who accidentally left a knife in her luggage was fined $500, told she was going to be put on a terrorist watch list, and also told (when she asked for documentation) that she had no constitutional right to ask for it.
Given unlimited time, I could undoubtedly find dozens of examples of this abuse of power. What I can’t seem to find is any indication that folks are fed up and interested in changing the law. I’ll keep looking.
For the time being, y’all be good sheeple, and don’t talk back to the stewardess, y’hear?
D.
Three beautiful women
A quick one for your pleasure. Surely you don’t object to a quick one?
Today’s Random Flickr Blogging number is 3655. Here are three women who caught my eye.
And now give me some love . . .
Over at Daily Kos, I’ve posted a diary on the Safe Food Act. If you’re not a Kossack, you won’t be able to give me a recommendation. But a few of you are Kossacks.
The rest of you — well, it wouldn’t hurt to edumacate yourselves about the food supply.
Anyone up for live blogging tonight?
D.