I was surprised and delighted this week to discover two essays bemoaning the state of mathematics education and, in particular, high-school geometry. I had always imagined that my pet obsession with the interactions between mathematics and culture was just that, but apparently the movement contains . . . . Continue Reading »
While it could be argued that youth is wasted on the young, it is indisputable that commencement addresses are wasted on young graduates. Sitting in a stuffy auditorium waiting to receive a parchment that marks the beginning of one’s student loan repayments is not the most conducive atmosphere . . . . Continue Reading »
In part two of my Atlantic interview , I say a few words on a subject that brings pomocons and front porchers together (for a bench-clearing brawl or a bout of hope and healing)? . . . . Continue Reading »
Events in Iran have been riveting. The presidential vote on June 12 was rigged to ensure the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or so most suspect. Supporters of Ahmadinejad’s main opponent, former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, have rejected the outcome, and for a few heady days they . . . . Continue Reading »
Joe, you are spot on . A “hypocrite” could technically behave consistently with what he proclaims while not really believing it. This is why Jesus referred to some hypocrites as “white washed tombs.” In the words of Bob Dylan : “When the deeds that you do Don’t . . . . Continue Reading »
In the eyes of the media, Mark Sanford has committed the unpardonable social sin. No, not adultery—is that even frowned upon anymore?—but the sin of being a hypocrite. For example, the inexplicably popular Rachel Maddow of MSNBC had a segment on her show last night on Sanford’s . . . . Continue Reading »
Fr. King was my theology professor, in the mandatory theology course I took as a freshman at Georgetown. He’d had throat surgery of some kind, and his voice was soft and ghostly—lost in the hum whenever the air-conditioner in White-Gravenor Hall would come on. I saw him far more rarely . . . . Continue Reading »
In this season of ordinations, I’m sure some of you out there are searching for gifts for the ordinands in your lives. Rather than giving a brand-spanking-new chalice, crucifix, statue or vestment, why not rescue some church good which has lost its original home? For example, save these . . . . Continue Reading »
We like observing saints’ feasts, maybe because we like feasting, period, and any excuse will do. I have in my time made rosary cakes for the Feast of the Holy Rosary and lavender butter for the Assumption, when herbs have traditionally been blessed; my friend Debbie, mother of Annie the . . . . Continue Reading »
House speaker Nancy Pelosi intends to bring the Waxman-Markey bill to a vote on Friday over the objections of farm- and coal-state Democrats and almost all Republicans, figuring that she has the votes to pass it. Then it will go to the Senate, where everyone expects it will die. The opposition . . . . Continue Reading »
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