Life

Friends of Dorothy

In my naive youth, I had no idea what a “friend of Dorothy” was; in-group descriptors, after all, are always known to members of the in group (and allies) long before they are known to the general public. “Friend of… Read More ›

Happy Exelauno Day!

Schools in this entire area (not just Roxbury Latin!) are closed today in honor of Ἐξελαύνω (Exelauno) Day. Or maybe there’s some other reason.  

How many Tater Tots?

Great Fermi problem that I just heard on the Ask Me Another quiz show on NPR: Estimate how many Tater Tots were consumed in the U.S. during all of 2017. Correct answer will be posted in this space tomorrow.

Are you Gen Z?

What’s Generation Z? I’m just starting to hear that terminology being used. We’re all familiar with the Baby Boomers (I’m near the older end of that generation), and I grew up hearing about the preceding ones, the Silent Generation and… Read More ›

Welcome, Flicka!

Please welcome the newest member of the Davidson-Bean household. Flicka was an abandoned cat who has lived on our front porch for two years now, and today’s weather report was enough to convince Barbara and me that it was time… Read More ›

Weird uses of food

“When my very hairy German shepherd dog got tree sap in his fur we couldn’t get it out. I tried rubbing the sap covered hair with olive oil and the sap came off. Saved a trip to the groomers.” That’s… Read More ›

A beautiful concert

Three of my students — Laura Sullivan, Thea Schwallie, and Mimi Gotbetter — joined a dozen other young people in a beautifully inspiring multilingual and multicultural concert yesterday afternoon by the group Youth pro Musica at the Second Church in Newton…. Read More ›