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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What would you do if you could predict the future?
First, you would read this book! You can’t predict the future, but you’ve got to read the book. Maybe once every two or three years I read a novel that I can’t put down—except that in those cases I usually… Read More ›
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What is a city?
Massachusetts has 50 cities and 301 towns—collectively known as “municipalities.” Does it matter which ones are cities and which ones are towns? And should you care about the definition of “city”? Perhaps; perhaps not. If you’re studying civics anywhere in… Read More ›
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Judging a movie that was made 60 years ago
What a cringy movie! Oddly enough, I had never seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s—neither when it was first shown in 1961 nor subsequently on TV or DVD. But now I have. So here’s the problem. In the throes of cancel culture,… Read More ›
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What lies on the other side of the River Styx?
Who knows? You’ll have to read the engaging novel Across the River Styx to find out. You might have a rough voyage, but the reading won’t be rough. Looking at the cover image below, you’ll see what this novel is:… Read More ›
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How does gerrymandering harm you?
Elbridge Gerry has a lot to answer for. As you probably once knew—but have now forgotten—Gerry was vice president of the United States under James Madison, a role for which nobody remembers him (as is the case for most vice… Read More ›
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Who knew?? Iterating Dorchester takes you to philosophy!
TIL what TIL means. No, wait! I learned that last year. Let’s start again: TIL that an extremely simple iterative process always takes you philosophy. Here’s how you do it: Go to any article in Wikipedia. Click on the first… Read More ›
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Taking creative risks in the classroom
John Spencer’s essay, “What Happens When Teachers Take Creative Risks,” is well worth reading if you’re a teacher. Actually, it’s also worth reading if you’re teacher-adjacent, such as a parent or a student. I was particularly struck by his initial… Read More ›
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One pączki, two pączki? Fat Thursday, not Fat Tuesday? Are you confused yet?
Let me unconfuse you, as I earlier had to unconfuse myself. Unless you are Polish, or live(d) in a predominantly Polish neighborhood (like the northern tip of Dorchester), you surely think that a Polish pastry is called a pączki (pronounced… Read More ›
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The source material for… (Episode II of these episodic posts: The Queen’s Gambit)
Should you read the book or see the movie? If you do both, what’s the right order? And does a mini-series count as a movie? I promised a couple of months ago that I would re-read The Queen’s Gambit—the original… Read More ›
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Five pennies (not 5¢?)
What an under-appreciated musical! I’m talking about The Five Pennies, a 1959 movie starring Danny Kaye, along with Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Tuesday Weld, and others. If you’re unfamiliar with it—as I had been until last week—it’s basically a… Read More ›
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It was just ducky!
Barbara and I had a simple but extra-delicious dinner yesterday at Tavolo: focaccia; seared duck breast with roasted fingerling potatoes, baby kale, roasted beets, and cranberry-and-orange jam; and carbonara consisting of house-made chitarra, pancetta, romano, egg, and parsley. Then I… Read More ›
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How worried are you about “learning loss”?
Parents and teachers alike are understandably worried about learning loss during the pandemic. How real is the worry? Is there something else that should worry us more? And what exactly does “learning loss” mean anyway? John Spencer helps you and… Read More ›
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You’re wondering what a “book word” might be. Right?
Here are some examples of book words: awry, bedraggled, biopic, cache, calliope, Greenwich, Hermione, misled. So, what do these words (and a few dozen more) all have in common? The answer is that they all are (or might be) words… Read More ›
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Murder Under her Skin
Read this book! About six months ago I reviewed Fortune Favors the Dead, the first Pentecost and Parker novel by Stephen Spotswood. Now I’ve read the second book in the series: Murder Under her Skin. It’s even better than its… Read More ›
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Surely schools are not supposed to teach critical thinking. Right?
As you know, there has been a recent uptick in banning books, in attacking teachers for teaching inconvenient truths, and in promoting undemocratic ideas and ideals. As Diane Ravitch has pointed out, schools and libraries are being pressured to remove… Read More ›
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What‽ Ashmont Grill again‽
It seems that Barbara and I visited the Ashmont Grill just two weeks ago. It seems like that because it’s true. But we just had to go again last night when we saw the list of specials: I couldn’t resist… Read More ›
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The Rival Jewish Dynasties that Helped Create Modern China
What an eye-opener! I learned so much from The Last Kings of Shanghai, a truly informative and engaging book by Jonathan Kaufman. So what’s with the headline of this blog post? Well, that’s not my phrase; it’s the subtitle of… Read More ›
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Are we embarrassed to be Bostonians? Should we be?
Patrick Maguire’s blog, Server Not Servant, is always worth reading. Those of us who treat restaurant servers well—those of us who consider respect toward essential workers to be an important American value—have been sorely tested by some of our fellow… Read More ›
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The Synagogues of Dorchester, Roxbury, & Mattapan (but are there any?)
Yesterday afternoon the Dorchester Historical Society sponsored a fascinating presentation by Jeff Calish titled “The Synagogues of Dorchester, Roxbury, & Mattapan” [Oxford comma added by me for those who care]. There used to be 56 synagogues in the area. A… Read More ›
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The Source Material for… (Episode I of these episodic posts: The Bicentennial Man)
About five weeks ago I reviewed the movie The Bicentennial Man. I pointed out that it was based on two sources: on Isaac Asimov’s novelette of the same name and on the later adaptation of that novelette into a full-length… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 