Recent Posts - page 66

  • Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction

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    Oddly, I had never read James Gunn’s work of literary criticism, titled Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction, before this week. I say “oddly” because Asimov had absolutely been one of my favorite science fiction authors ever since I was,… Read More ›

  • Five languages in five days?

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    “Five languages in five days” is the name of the four-day course I have just finished teaching. Yes, you heard me: despite the name, it’s a four-day course. So which is it, five days or four? Let’s see what Lewis… Read More ›

  • William thinks he’s a hamburger.

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  • Famous alums Josh and Anne

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    While clearing out my personal belongings from my office and my classroom (it’s amazing how much stuff one can accumulate in 21 years) I came across a copy of The Scarlet Letter that some miscreant had abandoned in our office. (That’s the… Read More ›

  • How do you get teachers to smile?

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    Do you smile when taking or grading final exams? Not likely. Those are two different activities, of course: when you take a final, at least it’s over in two hours, but grading dozens of them can get… well… tedious at… Read More ›

  • We have a winner!

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    Congratulations to Weston sophomore Andrew Yao! Andrew has achieved the rare distinction of being a winner of the American Math Competition — one of only two underclassmen nationwide to reach this exalted rank (and one of only 12 students altogether,… Read More ›

  • Problem solved

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    While cleaning out my desk, I came across this copy of our high school newsletter from 14 years ago. Notice the headline on the lead article. Fortunately, that problem has been solved. Right?

  • Progress

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    Time have changed! Remember John Silber? Here is a Facebook post from a few hours ago: And here are some excerpts from a letter John Silber sent out two decades ago: We have received a number of letters questioning the… Read More ›

  • Powerful K–12 art show at Weston

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    You have one more week to see the powerful art show by Weston K–12 students. (If you click on that link, you may need to wait a minute for all the images to render.) I particularly want to single out the… Read More ›

  • What happened to the ceiling?

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    Came home to find that the ceiling in our den now looked like this:

  • Barbara’s ancestry

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    The day before yesterday, I reported the results of my DNA test to determine my ancestry. Barbara had her DNA tested at the same time. To the surprise of no one who knows us, her results were very different from… Read More ›

  • Godspell at Weston

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    Go see tonight’s performance of Godspell at Weston High School! The Theater Company really outdid itself in this terrific ensemble-based production of the famous musical. As I’m sure you know, gentle reader, Godspell is superficially the story of the time before and immediately after… Read More ›

  • My ancestry

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    They got it right! According to ancestry.com, my DNA sample shows And here is the detailed map:

  • New England Math Championships

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    Please congratulate the Weston High School Math Team for their outstanding performance at yesterday’s playoffs for the New England Medium-Size Schools Championship: After a close-fought contest, Weston is now #1 in all of New England! It was all very much… Read More ›

  • Your future?

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  • Winthrop

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    Never would I have picked the town of Winthrop as the ideal vacation spot… until the confluence of two events: Barbara and I had wanted to find a nearby long-weekend getaway that wouldn’t take much time to travel there and… Read More ›

  • The Vocal Fries (yet another linguistics podcast!)

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    Yet another linguistics podcast has come to my attention! It’s The Vocal Fries, subtitled “the podcast about linguistic discrimination.” This series, now four months old, is of course named for the phonological register commonly called “vocal fry,” but that’s only the starting point…. Read More ›

  • Cats and geometry

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    Three of the cats, doing their best to sit at the vertices of an equilateral triangle (even though William isn’t paying attention and Vincent is messing up the covers):

  • Campaign posters

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    Randomly chosen campaign posters for candidates for class officer positions as seen on the walls of Weston High School this morning (identifying images have been deliberately blurred to protect student privacy):          

  • Ready, Player One (the movie)

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    So, what’s the verdict? … It lived up to my expectations and more so. Last week I reviewed the book; yesterday, when I saw the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to see how closely Steven Spielberg’s vision matched my own…. Read More ›