Professor Carol
The grandkids are in their bedroom dancing to The Wabash Cannonball blaring from a cassette of Texas history for children. I spotted it yesterday while sorting through a box of things slated to be tossed away. Snatching it up, I popped it into our “retro” … Read more
The 2020 Symposium of the National Classical Educators here in Phoenix was packed. Consequently, the architecturally fabulous Great Hall, sky bridges, and courtyards of Arizona State University’s BEUS Center for Law and Society overflowed with mission-driven teachers, historians, poets, headmasters, and curriculum developers. Everywhere you … Read more
Wednesday morning, on the way to an Ash Wednesday service with my little grandkids, questions about the ashes came up. What were the ashes? Where did they come from? And why are they placed on our foreheads? All good questions these. We don’t see many … Read more
Farmers! Well, I intended to write about music historiography this week. The subject is on my mind as I prepare for talks at the early March National Classical Education Symposium in Phoenix. Keeping things as lively as possible, I will attempt to lay out the … Read more
We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. — John Steinbeck I found a book club! Rather, it found me. The catalyst was fairy hair. Standing slightly miffed in a roped-off spot ten feet back from … Read more
In an interview conducted via Skype yesterday, I learned the real reason why Brian Shaw, trumpet player extraordinaire and professor of music at LSU, took up his instrument. His story illustrates a number of things, including what frequently happens when children begin to play in … Read more
Okay, it’s not really Episode 37, although I do weave nostalgia into much of what I write. Still, sometimes I cannot resist hitting the topic squarely, like today. So here it goes. I couldn’t believe it. For twenty minutes I thought I was twelve years … Read more
Our society has hit a brick wall on education. We are into a state of hopelessness about the decline of educational standards, lifting our heads only to mutter something like: “Well, you know, uh, these kids won’t do what you tell them, and, uh, too … Read more
It’s early in the semester, so few students are thinking about their term papers. But for those of us engaged in work where something written always is due (or overdue), there is no vacation from writing. Long have I claimed not particularly to enjoy writing. … Read more
