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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Dinner at Henrietta’s
Barbara and I just got back from the middle-of-the-day Thanksgiving dinner buffet at Henrietta’s in Cambridge (in the Charles Hotel, if you’re not familiar with it). Henrietta is a pig, by the way. No comment on that, please. This all… Read More ›
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Cloud Cuckoo Land
Have you been fortunate enough to have studied ancient Greek theater (either in the original or in English translation)? You know which playwrights I mean — Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes. If those are all Greek to you, just keep reading…. Read More ›
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We solve murders.
Richard Osman reassures us: “Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim remain immortal.” I do feel reassured (despite the absence of the Oxford comma). I think. The issue, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, is that Osman’s new mystery novel does not… Read More ›
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A close-up view of Neighborhood #1, Center City
As you know, if you’ve been following this blog, the semi-fictional Rose City is the locale of the model railroad that I’ve been constructing with the assistance of my friend Meredith. You may also recall that there are nine named… Read More ›
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Math for English Majors
No, I was never an English major (although my mom was). I wasn’t even a math major (although I taught math for decades). But, as a linguistics major, I had entwining connections with both English and math, as linguistics intersects… Read More ›
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Developing the new development
As we discussed last month, a new development is in store for Rose City: Rose City’s wealthiest real estate developer, J. Elon Mark Jorgensen — who happens to be the mayor’s brother-in-law, but that of course is just a coincidence… Read More ›
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“We need a little Xanax.”
Click to listen.
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Says Who?
My mom would have hated this book; I loved it. My dad, as a psychiatrist, would have had some thoughts about this family disagreement — but he would have kept quiet about it. (Apparently that’s the role of a Jewish… Read More ›
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Another Day’s Pain
Two very different mysteries: K. C. Constantine’s Another Day’s Pain is quite a contrast to Maria DiRico’s The Witless Protection Program, which I recently reviewed. As Constantine’s mystery is dark, serious, and grim, it might seem strange when I say… Read More ›
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The Witless Protection Program
As you can see in the cover image below, the publisher claims that The Witless Protection Program was written by Maria DiRico, even though we all know that it was written by Ellen Byron. This, of course, must be because… Read More ›
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RIP Flicka, 2006–2024.
She was a very good cat, 🐈⬛😢 She always brought along her extra toes and her stripy nose.
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I can see clearly now…
No, not the famous song from the ’70s! In this case I mean it literally: I have just completed going through cataract and glaucoma surgeries in both eyes (a month apart), and the world looks different. Even though the surgeries… Read More ›
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All nine neighborhoods
So here’s the thing about neighborhoods. In some cities, neighborhoods have official names, and precise boundaries, and even signs telling you which neighborhood you’re in — often with the name of the mayor attached (you might wonder why that’s done,… Read More ›
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The Killings at Kingfisher Hill
What a deceptive cover! Take a look: You can see immediately that this is the new Poirot novel by Agatha Christie, right? But how is that possible? Was it just recently discovered, lurking in a file cabinet somewhere? Well, no…. Read More ›
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A new development
Rose City’s wealthiest real estate developer, J. Elon Mark Jorgensen — who happens to be the mayor’s brother-in-law, but that of course is just a coincidence — has proposed building a new development of ranch-style tract houses on a piece… Read More ›
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“You can’t possibly be asking me to read an entire book!” he exclaimed.
At his public high school, [this first-year student at an Ivy League university] had never been required to read an entire book. He had been assigned excerpts, poetry, and news articles, but not a single book cover to cover. That… Read More ›
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Never Saw Me Coming
This fast-paced novel by Vera Kurian will hold your attention from beginning to end. Never Saw Me Coming falls clearly into the psychological thriller subcategory of the mystery genre, although it has aspects of the traditional mystery as well. Without… Read More ›
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This song is for you, Donald.
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Santa
So here I was at CVS, waiting patiently to pick up a prescription, right behind a mother and child, when I heard the kid (maybe four years old or so) exclaim: Mama, mama, look, look! Santa is black! I looked… Read More ›
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The house under construction: the final phase
The “house under construction” kit for my model railroad is finally completed! I remind you that that does not mean that the house is fully constructed, just that Meredith has completed it up to the snapshot in time provided by… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 