I’ve just started a class on library materials for children, and it has me recalling a few children’s books I’ve enjoyed. You’re welcome to share your recommendations below! 1. One of my favorite books as a child was Robert Lopshire’s Put Me in the Zoo, which my grandma would read…
So I have to say, one of the perks of working here in Central Asia is that you get some pretty cool job titles. And if there’s flexibility in your organization, you can take your pick. Unlike in America, where you would be laughed at for trying to take…
“In weekly visits to my American public library when I was young, I had a vague idea of how it all worked. A bunch of numbers, and you’ve got to search along the shelves of books until you come across a sudden area with books on Greek mythology, as…
It started rummaging for records and relatives, because I did not want to be a white American. It started with the chart on the wall, held up in a cheap poster frame. Inez Meeker. Amarantha Borealis Corintha Delphina Rogers. Who has a name like that? And moving on to the pale gray binder in…
“Tack! Tack to starboard!” The instructor shouts. I swing the rudder towards my grandmother’s house on the shore, heat and oily sunblock on my arms—but it isn’t enough. Students in two other sailboats grow larger as we approach. Yanking the rudder further, the boat leans, then tips, the sail…
1995. Pastor Danny is drumming, people are chanting. Around me children sing, wave their hands in the air, kneel down on the tarp laid on the ground, and pray. We’re in a row of metal folding chairs, at the Vineyard Kids camp, kids surrounded by adults. It’s getting towards…
Yes, yes, yes! Ruth Ann Dandrea writes here about the writing tests her 8th grade students are obliged to take each year. I’d be curious to know more about the 150 page info packet that’s given to teachers, but I can tell you from experience that students and teachers…
Note: Yes, this is long, but I hope you’ll help me sharpen my thinking. Among other things, I’m very interested in labor economics — and especially given changes in the labor market: the growth of outsourcing, unpaid internships, and contingent/temporary work, and the decline of jobs with benefits and…
Note! A newer version of this is now posted over at Sociological Images. Although I left the U.S. this fall to find professional work, I’ve been reading the 99 percent for several months now. As of today, over 2700 individuals have submitted pictures of themselves (usually partially obscured) with letters and signs against…
With eight hours to kill on layover in Frankfurt, I sat down before sunrise with an overpriced McDonalds coffee, and pulled out my Russian primer to study a bit. I’d read for maybe twenty minutes, glancing over and smiling at people around me a couple of times, when a…