Author Archives
In 2018 I semi-retired by retiring from Weston High School after my 21st year teaching mathematics there. This was also my 44th year as a teacher altogether. In 2023 I retired fully, adding in my 18 years at Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy each summer. For 21 years I had taught at the Saturday Course in Milton, MA, and I used to serve on the board of the Dorchester Historical Society.
I read, cook, and spend a lot of time building my model railroad. For some reason I’m left with less free time than would be ideal, considering that I’m supposed to be retired, but somehow I also manage to devote time to my wife, Barbara, and to our varying number of cats (once up to six, but now sadly down to one).
Larry Davidson
ljd@larrydavidson.com
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Three cheers for the heroes at Beth Israel!
As you know if you’ve been following this blog, I spent 18 days of this past July as a patient at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Unfortunately, since I was unconscious or confused most of that time, I remember… Read More ›
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“My cat likes to be pet.” Does that sentence sound grammatically correct to your ear?
To my ear, at any rate, it does not sound correct. Shouldn’t it be “to be petted”? But I’ve recently heard this use of pet as a past participle (more on that below) from at least two well-educated native speakers… Read More ›
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Truly Vera [get it?]
Apparently I’m the last person in the Western Hemisphere to learn who Vera is. Truly. That is because I watch so little television, and television is the main way in which Americans know Vera. But this post is about a… Read More ›
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Read Desert Star again (but maybe it would be best for you to wait until you’re in your seventies)
Actually, don’t wait until then! If you’re in your thirties or forties or whatever, read Michael Connelly’s Desert Star now…and then read it again when you’re in your seventies. It will be a different book. Of course if you’re already… Read More ›
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Vietnamese and Chinese Food on the Dot
Where oh where do you go for Vietnamese and Chinese lunches? Dorchester, of course! Over the past week, one day for the Davidson-Bean household was Vietnamese food day and two were Chinese food days. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures… Read More ›
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Happy Ἐξελαύνω Day!
This is my not-quite-annual “march forth” post wishing everyone a happy Exelauno Day. In case you’ve forgotten, here is my post from two years ago, which happens to be mostly about learning Ukrainian (!) but opens with remarks about Exelauno… Read More ›
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I’m back!
Where, you may be wondering, have I been for the last eight months? Actually, I’ve been in Boston the whole time, so why no blog posts? For those who don’t know the answer, here’s the Readers Digest condensed version. Like… Read More ›
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You think it’s a coincidence…
In my post of June 25 I wrote: Was “42” ever a Jeopardy clue? If so, I suspect that most readers of this blog would respond with “What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and… Read More ›
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Instead of the Neponset Cafe…
Barbara and I used to go to our local Neponset Cafe (the Dorchester one by that name) whenever we needed a ramen fix, as their ramen was the best around. But alas they were another victim of the pandemic and… Read More ›
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Fireworks
And not just puppies. Cats too. Not to mention veterans who suffer from PTSD. And homes that catch fire because of fireworks. Leave the fireworks to the official sites!
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Flicka says…
Flicka says that I don’t really want to sit in my favorite chair. And that I take altogether too many pictures of her brother anyway, so she needs an opportunity to show off her extra toes and her stripey nose.
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What do you do when you’re too exhausted to cook?
So…think about this schedule: you teach a one-hour class of 33 high-school juniors, immediately followed by a one-hour faculty meeting in a different building, immediately followed by a four-hour class of 39 high-school sophomores in yet a third building! And… Read More ›
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Somebody is confused.
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42
Was “42” ever a Jeopardy clue? If so, I suspect that most readers of this blog would respond with “What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?” or maybe just “What is the meaning… Read More ›
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Where do you go for that special occasion?
It used to be easy. We always went to the Ashmont Grill. Sadly, the Grill is no more. Happily, there is Tavolo. Same owner, same manager, some of the same staff. So we went to Tavolo for our special occasion… Read More ›
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Randy Rainbow for President!
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What happened in Peekskill? And why have I never learned this?
All across the nation the people heard the taleAnd marveled at the concert, and knew we had not failedWe shed our blood at Peekskill, and suffered many a painBut we beat back the fascists and we’ll beat them back again!… Read More ›
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Listen to Me
No, not the movie by the same name. I’m talking about Tess Gerritsen’s excellent new Rizzoli and Isles novel. As you expect from a Rizzoli and Isles story, there is a medical angle to the plot of Listen to Me…. Read More ›
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Rethinking grading
“You got an A in Algebra One in your previous school, but you clearly don’t know very much algebra. How did you get that A?” was my question to a certain high-school freshman I was teaching. No, it was not… Read More ›
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The Freedom Caucus shouts “Ban these books! It’s the American Way! Freedom!!!”
What does it remind you of? 1984? Fahrenheit 451? I don’t mean that people want to ban those particular books (though I’m sure they do); I mean that both of them are cautionary tales that remind you of the dangers… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 