Journalism

15 11, 2016

The human difference? (David Robson, BBC)

By |2016-11-14T17:55:47-05:00November 15th, 2016|2016, Debate / dialogue, Europe, Everything Else, History, Journalism, Language, News, November, psychology, science|0 Comments

The human difference? Perhaps the humanities: fluid language and historical sensibility. From the article: The first astonishing fact is that we can speak at all, of course. No matter what you’ve been thinking and feeling throughout the day, you will be able to find words to express the experience and describe it to those around [...]

6 11, 2016

Voices heard: humanities in the public media (April Simpson, Current)

By |2019-07-10T18:11:57-04:00November 6th, 2016|2016, Academia, education, Employment, Everything Else, History, Journalism, News, November, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Voices heard: humanities in the public media. How the arts of communication allow deeper and broader conversation. From the article: Eric Garcia McKinley [a History Ph.D.] will eventually try to engage with underrepresented communities, informing how Minnesota Public Radio’s journalists approach issues of identity and perspective. His academic background has prepared him for that job, something journalists [...]

1 11, 2016

On Politics and Poetry: a dialogue between a poet and a politician

By |2016-11-06T11:07:34-05:00November 1st, 2016|2016, Arts, Debate / dialogue, Economics, education, Everything Else, History, Journalism, Language, Literature, November, Observations, Philosophy, poetry, U.S. / Canada, Writing|0 Comments

On Politics and Poetry: a dialogue between a poet and a politician Politician: What’s going on, poet? Are you able to scrabble together a living? Poet: Rich enough, I suppose, though it’s hard to earn my bread. What about you: still hungry for attention? Politician: That’s rich, coming from you! I have the best interests of [...]

26 10, 2016

STEM requires the humanities to grow (Scientific American)

By |2016-11-02T16:15:35-04:00October 26th, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, Economics, education, Employment, Everything Else, Journalism, Literature, News, October, Politics, science, STEM, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

STEM requires the humanities to grow: why learning classics along with coding is the best way forward. From the editorial: Promoting science and technology education to the exclusion of the humanities may seem like a good idea, but it is deeply misguided. Scientific American has always been an ardent supporter of teaching STEM: science, technology, engineering and [...]

21 10, 2016

No time for thinking

By |2016-11-02T11:52:03-04:00October 21st, 2016|2016, Debate / dialogue, Everything Else, History, Journalism, Language, October, Philosophy, Politics, psychology, Quotes, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

No time for thinking: does this observation, nearly two hundred years ago, still hold? On the restless impatience of American society, among both commentators and their public. Men who live in ages of equality have a great deal of curiosity and little leisure; their life is so practical, so confused, so excited, so active, that but [...]

8 10, 2016

Death by technology (Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine)

By |2016-11-02T11:52:04-04:00October 8th, 2016|2016, Europe, Everything Else, History, Journalism, Libraries, News, October, Philosophy, Religion, Technology, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Death by technology: how living with technology deprives us of silence, inwardness, and the ability to find the well-springs of life. And this condition has its own, overlooked history. From the article: The English Reformation began, one recalls, with an assault on the monasteries, and what silence the Protestants didn’t banish the philosophers of the Enlightenment [...]

7 08, 2016

A letter about writing

By |2023-04-28T17:09:43-04:00August 7th, 2016|2016, Academia, Arts, August, Debate / dialogue, Europe, Everything Else, Journalism, Language, Libraries, Literature, Observations|0 Comments

A letter about writing: a correspondent argues against the mania for writing Editor’s note: The following letter, printed below in its entirety, was written in response to an earlier post, Against Reading. The editorial staff does not typically sanction the placement of readers’ letters in the monthly Observations, yet found that the author’s candor [...]

3 07, 2016

Against Reading

By |2016-11-02T11:52:09-04:00July 3rd, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, education, Everything Else, History, Journalism, July, Observations, Philosophy|0 Comments

Against Reading: why life is better spent doing other things. Ferreus. Hi, Procopius. What are you up to? Procopius. Hello, Ferreus. I’m just catching up on my reading. Ferreus. What magazine is that? Procopius. The Economist. It’s a bit stilted, but it helps me understand world affairs. Ferreus. I looked at it once. It was [...]

19 06, 2016

In Praise of Encyclopedias (Joseph Epstein, Wall Street Journal)

By |2016-11-02T11:52:11-04:00June 19th, 2016|2016, Arts, Europe, Everything Else, History, Journalism, Language, Literature, News, Philosophy, Technology|0 Comments

Has the age of the encyclopedic excellence passed us by, or can (or should) it be revived? The author praises the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica (1910-11) as "the last great encyclopedia." From the editorial: Its greatness derived not alone from its contributors or its organization but from the spirit infusing it. This spirit [...]

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