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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Think globally, eat locally…at Tavolo.
Another delicious destination last night, all of half a mile away, a relaxing evening at one of our neighborhood’s pair of favorites: Chris Douglass’s Tavolo Ristorante. We started with rosemary focaccia, which always comes with chili flakes, parmesan, and evoo…. Read More ›
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Reading Latin and Ancient Greek for fun and profit. For what? Fun? Yes, fun. Really. And the profit was purely intellectual, not financial.
Even in my circles, Latin and Greek are not exactly common topics of conversation. Friends and relatives are surprised whenever I read something in Ancient Greek—or even in Latin—for fun. OK, I’m weird. But you probably knew that already. What… Read More ›
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“A round kitty bed…
…is the perfect shape for curling up in,” says William. “Circles rule!” he added geometrically.
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Do you say Shábbos or Shabbát?
Shabbos (stress on first syllable, second vowel “o,” ends in “s”) or shabbat (stress on last syllable, second vowel “a,” ends in “t”)? Why can’t we agree on how to pronounce Hebrew? How about beth, bet, or beis? Shibboleth or… Read More ›
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Revisiting Jane Langton
No, not revisiting her in person: she died four years ago, and I had never met her. The title of this post means that I have just finished rereading two of her Homer Kelly novels. If you know the first… Read More ›
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Why was this esteemed professor fired?
Apparently because his organic chemistry course was difficult (“too hard,” some students said). Organic chemistry, of course, is supposed to be difficult. So there must be more to the story than that. But what is the rest of the story?… Read More ›
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Standardized tests: what (if anything) do MCAS results tell us?
You can readily find both sides of the ongoing MCAS debate, a debate that has been ongoing for 30 years now. Like many—most? all?—other states, Massachusetts has a threshold score on a set of standardized tests as one of its… Read More ›
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The library had Something to Hide.
No, no. The typography is wrong in that title: it should be “The library had Something to Hide,” not “The library had something to hide.” Something to Hide is the latest novel by Elizabeth George; I had to wait for… Read More ›
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So you think you don’t have an accent?
You do have an accent—even if you think you’re speaking unaccented English. And you do speak a dialect—even if you think you’re speaking “ standard English.” In an amazing three-part must-see video, dialect coach Erik Singer takes us through a… Read More ›
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Remember the Ebonics controversy?
Just over a couple of decades ago, the whole country was buzzing about something called Ebonics, now known as AAVE (African-American Vernacular English). You may or may not remember this, depending on your age and ethnicity. Go watch this short… Read More ›
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Have you read For Whom the SUV Rolls and Farewell to Legs?
Those two titles may remind you slightly of a couple of books by some guy named Hemingway, who was famous mostly for his many six-toed cats. Actually, however, I cheated slightly: the first title is really For Whom the Minivan… Read More ›
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“Scottish cuisine”: an oxymoron?
Think of the world’s great cuisines: French, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Turkish, Japanese, Indian, Thai, and Spanish (though YMMV). You’ll note that most of these are from warm or even hot climates. Very few people list Norwegian, Russian, or Scottish among… Read More ›
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Revisiting Chinatown. (That’s Chinatown, not Chinatown.)
After nearly half a century, I finally decided to rewatch Chinatown, which I only dimly recalled. I remembered that it had been one of my favorite movies at the time. Would it hold up after so many decades? The answer… Read More ›
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What did you read in high-school English?
Just over three months ago I wrote a post about the pros and cons of my high-school experience. One paragraph, in the list of cons, focused on what my classmates and I read in my English classes: When I asked… Read More ›
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We have Open Streets in Dorchester!
Yesterday was Dorchester’s turn to participate in Open Streets Boston. A 2-mile stretch of Dot Ave was closed to traffic and open to pedestrians, bicyclists, pedicabs, community activities, booths for non-profits…and even math! Pictures speak louder than words, right? So,… Read More ›
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Lies, Politics, and Democracy
Knowing the facts is not the same thing as seeing them all put together in a single two-hour documentary. Yes, we all know the story of Trump’s attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021, and we may even know the surrounding… Read More ›
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Jewish gatecrashers in the Ivy League
“Harvard’s run by millionaires,Yale is run by booze,Cornell’s run by farmers’ sons,Columbia is run by Jews. Give a cheer for Baxter Street,another one for Pell,and when the little sheenies die,their souls go straight to Hell.” [Popular song at Ivy League… Read More ›
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Bond. James Bond.
Apparently there are 27 James Bond movies (so far). I had seen only four of them—all before 1970, back in the Connery era—so I figured it was time to start watching again. I was wrong. But I’m getting ahead of… Read More ›
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This philosopher explained Donald Trump before Trump ever became president.
Not only before he became president, but even before he had won the Republican nomination, in fact. Nevertheless, the explanation still holds today. The philosopher in question is Professor Aaron James, head of the philosophy department at UC Irvine. The… Read More ›
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How old is this old movie musical that I watched just now? Well, it was made in 1957, so…hmm…must be 65 years old!
To paraphrase Jamie Oliver (in a very different context), if you want to appreciate this 1957 musical, you have to get your classic Broadway musical mindset on. I’m talking about the Gershwin brothers’ Funny Face, starring Audrey Hepburn and a… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 