The biggest publishing sensation during my younger years was On the Road by Jack Kerouac. He had taken a long roll of paper, aligned the top edge of the roll on the platen of his typewriter and never stopped typing until he had filled the roll from top to bottom. A publisher decided to take … Continue reading Spirit-led writing
reading
The confession of a bookaholic
The past does not need to cast a shadow over the future. Thirty five years ago I wrote those words in a letter to a friend who was afraid his unsettled spiritual past would make it difficult for him to live a stable Christian life in the future. Since then he has settled down, married, … Continue reading The confession of a bookaholic
To build and to plant
Starting this blog was an attempt to get myself motivated to do more writing, and to improve my communication skills. I want to be able to write like C. S. Lewis or G. K. Chesterton. Since I'm already 71, that may be beyond my reach. Still, I don't want to set my sights any lower. … Continue reading To build and to plant
Remeniscences
My cousin Julia was 18 years old when I was born. I think she started teaching in a one room country school in the fall of that year, taught for two years, then married Ed Ludke. Their first child, Doreen, was born a year later. I knew nothing of Julia without Ed until he passed … Continue reading Remeniscences
Public Schools: mediocrity is the goal
There was a time, about 120 years ago, when almost everyone in Canada could read and write well, could do the math calculations needed in their daily life and work, often without pencil and paper, knew a good bit about world history and understood how governments worked. It is not that way today. It is … Continue reading Public Schools: mediocrity is the goal
No-fault schooling
A friend told me how he had applied for a job as a technician at a chemical plant, claiming diplomas that he did not have. When he got the job, he spent the weekend cramming with chemical textbooks, started work on Monday and quickly became an expert technician. After a number of months, he told … Continue reading No-fault schooling
Problematic behaviours in children and adolescents – Our family’s experience
I listened with bemused interest as my daughter described racing the Moose Jaw city bus to the end of the block. There was a bus stop in front of the second house on our block and she would wait there on the sidewalk with her trike until the bus left the stop and then pump … Continue reading Problematic behaviours in children and adolescents – Our family’s experience
Illiteracy in Elementary and Secondary Schools
[The decline in the public education system did not begin yesterday. These paragraphs are excerpted from a book published almost 60 years ago. The difference today is that most people accept this as normal - they don't remember a time when things were different.] Is it possible that this timidity, this excessive appeal to "interest", … Continue reading Illiteracy in Elementary and Secondary Schools
Why I prefer the AV Bible
Critics of the Authorized Version often appear to be more than a little disingenuous. Some make an issue of minor variations in words and say that Peter, Paul & Jesus did not always quote from the same version of the Old Testament. It is commonly accepted that Old Testament quotations in the New Testament come … Continue reading Why I prefer the AV Bible
What is this world coming to?
In the home where I grew up there was a marvellous old gramophone and a hundred or more cylinders with recorded music. The gramophone consisted of a well crafted wooden case with a crank on the side that provided the power to turn a spindle under the lid. To play, I would first wind it … Continue reading What is this world coming to?
Flatlander Faith 