A Brief History of Victorian Art
02:46pm MST, 5 Feb 2007
We recently receiving feedback on our Swing Dynamite promotional material from someone who complained that the work "sucks" was sexually explicit. This is "sucks" as in "I should take classes because my dancing sucks." I'm sure that most of the millions of six-year-olds who use this term do not mean it in a sexual way. It's a fascinating example of how vulgarity is in the eye of the beholder, and the more sexually-minded you are, the more obscene things seem to you. This all reminds me of the history of Victorian art.
Quebecois the Only French in North America?
09:18am MST, 10 Apr 2006
Michel Tremblay, a renowned Quebecois author I happen to like, has declared he no longer supports the movement for sovereignty in Quebec. Apparently the separatists lost him at the word "economics," whereas Tremblay says the important rallying point is that the Quebecois are North America's only French-speaking people. I wonder what the Cajuns of Louisiana and the folks in New Brunswick think about that?
Andragogy, Not Pedagogy
11:34pm MST, 18 Jan 2006
Many people, including some teaching professionals, toss around the term "pedagogy" to refer to teaching, but it's not the right term for so many reasons.
Feng Shui, From China to Your Cubicle
02:12pm MST, 1 Aug 2004
Here's a short but sweet article on putting Feng Shui to work at the office. As with all things Asian, Feng Shui has been appropriated and morphed from a spiritual and superstitious system with a religious side, into simply an elaborate interior design philosophy.
Don't Mourn for Murderers
10:37am MST, 24 Mar 2004
It's a sad statement that some around the world are mourning the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the man who orchestrated countless mass murders of innocent civilian women and children. Yassin led Hamas, a branch of the PLO that targets civilians with bombings to further its political aims.
"Yassin died the victim of what he preached — undiluted, unbridled hatred and the veneration of violence to achieve political ends. [L]et's dispel with... the notion that any agency can be simultaneously humanitarian and murderous." (Rosie Dimanno, Toronto Star)
That's the provocative title of a NYT article that Aaron passed me: "Sharon Was Right," referring to Sharon's insistence that peace could never happen through dealing with Arafat or the PLO. The author makes some points about the Middle East conflict that I heartily agree with.
