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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An outstanding dinner from Tavolo
Barbara and I had an outstanding dinner tonight from Tavolo, with lots of leftovers: chef’s burrata with basil pesto, prosciutto, grape tomatoes, parmesan & parsley crumb, and vincotto; seafood fregola with shrimp, mussels, tomato broth, and garlic butter; confit duck… Read More ›
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What’s in a (color) name?
Who cares what names Crayola chooses to use for the colors of its crayons? Do you? Do I? There was only one color name that used to bother me when I was a kid: “flesh.” Even then, I guess, I… Read More ›
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Adequate Yearly Progress
If you write a novel about teaching, how realistic should it be? If, in particular, it’s supposed to be a satire, then how realistic should it be? Can you distinguish a satire from reality? Sometimes it’s hard to do that…. Read More ›
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That Day the Rabbi Left Town
Way back in the Before Times—in 1964, when I was still in high school—local author Harry Kemelman wrote Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, thus inaugurating a series of a dozen cozy-style mysteries featuring Rabbi David Small of a Conservative synagogue in Barnard’s… Read More ›
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Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life
Quick: What is the meaning of life? You said 42, right? No, wait a minute—that’s a different book. In Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life, philosopher John Gray explores what cats think about the meaning of life, what… Read More ›
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Have you read Robert Heinlein’s Coventry?
Are you old enough to know the English phrase “sent to Coventry”? According to Merriam-Webster, if you were “sent to Coventry,” you have been ostracized. Although the cover story of the July 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction featured a… Read More ›
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Boston in Transit
Boston’s rich history of public transit deserves your attention if you live in, work in, or have visited The Hub. That’s short for “Hub of the Universe,” in case you missed the memo. Boston is nothing if not proud of… Read More ›
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William’s 17th
William is preparing for his upcoming 17th birthday by taking a power nap on his kitty couch to make sure that he remains cute enough.
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The book called The Book—plus a lagniappe: a book about type
Read The Book in hardcover! Not in paperback. Nor on your Kindle. And don’t listen to it as an audiobook! The hardcover is essential. The full title is The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time, as you… Read More ›
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Hwæt?Beowulf? newly translated for your enjoyment
The world is atwitter at the arrival of a new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahvana Headley. Well, a certain segment of the world, anyway. And you may well wonder why. The idea of reading this epic poem has never appealed to… Read More ›
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“Guess the Language”: quite a challenge!
If you heard a short sample of a language that you didn’t know, could you still guess which language it is? Quite a challenge, no? Well, in this video, you have the opportunity to see Latvian linguist Julie Maksimova face… Read More ›
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Troubled Blood
Robert Galbraith has a secret identity, though you won’t spot him changing in a phone booth. What’s his secret identity? Well, many people know him better by his pseudonym, J.K. Rowling. No, wait! That can’t be right. J.K. Rowling is… Read More ›
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A really important dispute about “OK boomer”
According to a post the other day in All Things Linguistic, it is widely believed that the correct translation of “OK boomer” into Middle Egyptian is whereas they point out that a more accurate translation would of course be Perhaps… Read More ›
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The Font of the Baskervilles
The Hound Font of the Baskervilles? We’ve all learned, particularly in the last few years, to be cautious about believing what we read. Some people (though not nearly enough of us) have even learned to be cautious about what we see… Read More ›
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Pi(e) day: not actually a national holiday!
OK, I tried to release this at precisely 3/14 1:59:26.535897932384. How well did I do? But why would the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) lie to us about Pi Day? This is just too distressing for words: Declared a… Read More ›
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O chess pieces, what are your names (in 79 languages)? And what did my dad have to do with it?
Chess, of course, is endlessly fascinating. For some reason, however, I no longer play chess. I never became good at it, even though my dad started me on it at an early age. Chess meant a lot to him because… Read More ›
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So, Classics, which is it? Are you Latin + Greek? Or are you Racism + White Supremacy?
I started thinking about college, as one does in certain families, when I was in eighth grade. I had no idea where I wanted to go, but I was pretty sure that I would want to major in Classics. What… Read More ›
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At least somebody appreciates teachers!
For the last few months it has seemed that nobody in Massachusetts appreciates teachers (I’m talking to you in particular, Governor Baker). But then I spotted this sign on someone’s front lawn during my walk today. It is on Msgr…. Read More ›
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Ashmont Grill yet again
Last night it was once again time for Barbara and me to enjoy takeout from our favorite local restaurant, the Ashmont Grill! Of course takeout is not the same—either gastronomically or socially—as dining in, and it’s not warm enough yet… Read More ›
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Do you speak Abruzzese? What is that? Can I understand any of it if you say something in Abruzzese? Is it a language? a dialect of Italian? a dialect of Neapolitan? Or have you never even heard of it?
This great video will repay your close attention! And it does demand close attention. Also, you should definitely turn on closed captioning, unless you happen to be fluent in Catalan, French, Latin, and Spanish. And of course you’ll be listening… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 