If I remember correctly, this happened 40 years ago when we moved into our house in Fullarton, Ontario. This was before the days of 220 volt plugs, I had to hard-wire the kitchen stove. Then wed put a couple of frozen pizzas into the oven to feed those who helped us move. Pretty soon we … Continue reading Half-baked writing
learning
The hoary head and wisdom
Today I am 78 years old – it’s surprising how normal that feels. I knew old people when I was a little boy, they seemed like regular people, but I couldn’t imagine myself ever getting that old. Now here I am. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is the fear … Continue reading The hoary head and wisdom
Matthew Effects in Learning
“For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath” (Matthew 25:29). In 1986, Keith Stanovich published a study entitled Matthew Effects in Reading: Some Consequences of Individual Differences in the Acquisition of Literacy. The “Matthew Effects” … Continue reading Matthew Effects in Learning
Learning to see
Let us not forget that the greatest composers were also the greatest thieves. They stole from everyone and everywhere. –Pablo Casals Writers do much the same thing, though I do not believe it is proper to call it theft. We learn something from everything we read and everything we see. Often it is just a … Continue reading Learning to see
To better understand English, learn a little French
In its grammatical structure, English belongs to the Low German language family, a group of languages that developed from a common early Germanic root. The group includes Flemish, Dutch, Frisian, Afrikaans (the Dutch that is spoken in South Africa), Plautdietsch, English and Scots (not Gaelic but the variety of old English spoken by the lowland … Continue reading To better understand English, learn a little French
Good things come in small packages
Aphorisms give you more for your time and money than any other literary form. Only the poem comes near to it, but then most good poems either start off from an aphorism or arrive at one. -Louis Dudek
A time to learn
Suddenly, almost unexpectedly, we were parents. We placed our baby into the blanket lined oval laundry basket on the seat between us and drove home. Up to this point we had thought we knew all about how to raise a child. What we really had were strong ideas about the mistakes our parents had made … Continue reading A time to learn
Prejudice + Poverty ≠ Hopelessness
Some years ago I read an article in Ebony magazine written by a man who had grown up in one of the worst black tenement ghettos in Chicago.Drug dealing, crime and violence were the everyday reality and the police felt the area was too dangerous to send in individual officers to patrol. Like almost all … Continue reading Prejudice + Poverty ≠ Hopelessness
It’s all my father’s fault
It seems that I've been trying to learn French all my life, always getting a little closer but never quite arriving. I can speak French, but with a wooden tongue (that's a French expression for someone whose pronunciation is somewhat lacking). I fear that my ears may be made of the same material, for I … Continue reading It’s all my father’s fault
Why Couldn’t I Be The Healthy One?
It was the morning after my father's funeral and my cousin Dennis and I were sitting at a table with my mother looking at old photographs. Here was a school phot from when I was in Grade 2 in a one-room school. There were two little boys in the front row, one bright-eyed, smiling and … Continue reading Why Couldn’t I Be The Healthy One?
Flatlander Faith 