Category Archives: CiRCE Links

“Gibbs: When I was your age, I liked a lot of dark stuff, as well, and I liked it for that very reason. Student: Which reason? Gibbs: It wasn’t happy-clappy pop music about how great life is all the time. Although, let’s be honest. It’s not happy-clappy pop music I was rebelling against. It was happy-clappy Christian pop musicContinue reading “It’s Halloween. Let’s Talk About Dark Music.”

“Screwtape: What sort of things is this friend going to tell him to do? Wormwood: Shape up. Come to work on time, not look so hungover every Monday morning, stop being quite so flirtatious with the secretary. Screwtape: This coworker sounds like a bad influence, but you have a number of options. Wormwood: I knewContinue reading “Dilbert In Hell”

The latest episode of Proverbial is about one of my favorite topics. I believe it is one of only four shows I’ve done without any notes.

“Tom: So, what did you think of The Art of Reimagining Community by Carlos Carson? Harry: I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t like it. Tom: That’s interesting. Do you think it’s possible that you just didn’t understand it? Harry: No, I understood it just fine. I didn’t like it. Tom: Well, perhaps it’s not the kindContinue reading “When A Friend Recommends A Dumb Book”

“If you show a small child a wild, zany cartoon which concludes with the moral, “Don’t tell lies,” the child is ten times more likely to behave in a wild, zany manner than in an honest manner. We are all far more likely to absorb a vibe, a mood, or an aesthetic than we areContinue reading “Choosing Books and Movies for Kids and Teens (With A Little Help From Socrates)”

“Lastly, if classical schools more cautiously approached graduate degrees, a lot of us teachers might be out of some pay, but we might be made all the wiser and more honest for it. So, what if in the next interview, your administration stopped asking: what school did you go to, and instead they asked: what does thisContinue reading “Travis Copeland Has Guts”

“I would first like to offer you a lively, robust classroom conversation about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and then I’d like to offer you an explanation of why the conversation is rather pointless, and what the conversation needs in order to be productive.” -my latest for CiRCE

“The student who says lunch was the best part of the day isn’t necessarily griping. How many happy fathers would say the best part of their week was the time they spent in the office? None, and this doesn’t mean they’re ungrateful for their jobs, or that they find their work unsatisfying. Likewise, going toContinue reading “When The Best Part Of School Was Lunch”

“I had a lot of LEGO as a child, as did my friends, and we all knew there were two kinds of blocks: “regulars” and “specials.” Regulars were the kind of blocks you used to build a wall, a floor, a hull, a wing, a fuselage, or a roof. Most were solid, symmetrical, and theyContinue reading “What LEGO Taught Me About Life”

“The film’s greatest contradictions concern motherhood. Barbie wants motherhood to be noble, but not more noble than a swinging single life, which is to say that it doesn’t matter what women choose as long as they choose it for shallow reasons.” -from A Few Stray Thoughts on the Barbie Movie