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 of the veterans. And think of the cats… and dogs.
Think of the veterans who are your neighbors. Think of the cats and dogs who are your pets and your neighbors’ pets. They are assailed by endless illegal fireworks every night. Fireworks can trigger PTSD in veterans, and they can… Read More ›
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Justice Alito has strong views about pronouns (and gender).
Justice Samuel Alito warns that Bostock not only opens up bathrooms and locker rooms to sexual predators, it runs afoul of the First Amendment by forcing people to use gender pronouns against their will. … Alito implies that somehow this deluge… Read More ›
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Tavolo is back!
It was so nice to be able to see our friends at Tavolo last night for the first time dining there (not just takeout!) since the pandemic began. We’re talking safe dining on the improvised outdoor patio on Dot Ave,… Read More ›
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Zoom vs. MCET: compare and contrast.
Everyone knows Zoom (the teleconferencing platform, that is, not the old PBS kids’ show). Everyone knows Zoom. Now, raise your hand if you know MCET. I thought so: everyone knows Zoom, but very few know MCET, which provided my first… Read More ›
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It can’t happen here.
In 1964, when Barry Goldwater was running for president, Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here came to my attention, so I promptly checked a copy out of the library and read it right away. In case you’ve never heard of… Read More ›
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I survived my first week of Zoom-based teaching.
Today, on July 3, I am telling you that I survived my first week. Not my first week of teaching, of course: what I survived was my first week of teaching with Zoom — although sometimes it did feel like… Read More ›
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On the other hand… Gödel (but not Escher or Bach)
In my previous blog post, I wrote about — and included a cartoon about — one aspect of math teaching. The cartoon asserted that “no one can impart perfect universal truths to their students,” with the punch line “…except math… Read More ›
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Sanity through math
Why is Jonathan Halabi called “Mr. D.”? I mean, it’s an excellent way to refer to a math teacher — isn’t it? — but I’m puzzled by “D” as the abbreviation for Halibi. Oh well, who am I to object?… Read More ›
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Is this an offensive slur?
QOTD: Is it OK for a young Jewish woman to call another young Jewish woman a JAP, or is it an offensive slur? Here’s the three-part context behind that question: A friend (Jewish and female) replied to my post about… Read More ›
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Finally venturing out to a restaurant (outdoors, of course)
Yesterday evening was the first time since the shutdown began that we actually went out to a restaurant to dine, instead of getting takeout or delivery! Strictly outdoors, of course, at dbar on the patio. All in all, it was an… Read More ›
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Eye chart
Stand 20 feet away. Good luck!
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Resources for non-linguists
So you want to dip your toe into the waters of linguistics, but you don’t want to take a linguistics course? A course would be full-body immersion, after all, not just dipping a toe. So what do you do? There… Read More ›
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Beautiful trigonometry
You would be forgiven if you had the misimpression that I don’t like trigonometry, because I hadn’t been clear, as I pointed out the very next day. I definitely do like trig. In fact, I love trig! To see one… Read More ›
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Move to Strike
Partly a courtroom drama, partly a mystery, partly a suspense thriller, this novel by Perri O’Shaughnessy (a pseudonym for sisters Pamela and Mary O’Shaughnessy) is a great choice when you’re stuck at home, as most of us are right now…. Read More ›
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Zia Gianna (and a bonus visit from William)
Delicious caprese pasta takeout tonight from Zia Gianna: cavatappi with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and nut-free pesto — all prepared by the owner and founder, native Sicilian and new American citizen Nino Barbalace. Also a bottle of Nero D’Avola. As a… Read More ›
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Karen
Who is Karen? As Gretchen McCulloch explains, language changes more rapidly today than in the past, because internet. One current meaning of Karen is new. According to Wikipedia: Karen is a term used in the United States for a person perceived to… Read More ›
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Minority languages
Simon Agre says: Speakers of majority languages often belittle them, claim they are not proper languages, that they don’t have their own grammar, and/or that they are ‘just’ dialects, patois, or distorted / corrupted versions of a majority language, and… Read More ›
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Grim fairytales
That’s grim, not Grimm. Well, both, actually. As some Americans — and all Germans — know, the Grimm fairytales can be quite grim. Some of us have gained a particular perspective on this point from Stephen Sondheim’s wonderful musical, Into the… Read More ›
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Special dinner from Tavolo
Example of unaware white privilege: A middle-class white guy complains that meals during the shutdown have included too much pasta, too much pizza, too many casseroles. I’m not going to be that guy. We’re not complaining. Still, it was great… Read More ›
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What does “defund” really mean?
“Defund the police.” That means… what? Does it mean eliminate police departments? Does it mean reduce their funding? Does it mean anarchy? Here are three posts I saw on Facebook yesterday — one posted by a friend, two from a… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 