psychology dector

I am performing my yearly ritual as school starts: cleaning out my files. I happened upon a gem. The article was a Los Angeles Times obituary from February 18, 2005. Eleanor Gould Packard, grammarian for The New Yorker magazine for 54 years, was dead on that day at age 87. In my life as a teacher, I have been deeply disturbed by my colleagues’ and students’ disrespect for grammar. Nouns, verbs, active voice, pronoun-antecedent agreement— these are the building blocks of our language. When grammatically correct, writing has a symmetry and beauty that supports meaning and nuance. Teachers disparage it—grammar is pointless when it’s taught in a vacuum, they say. Teaching whole writing is better. The bottom line is, they can’t teach it. It does not lend itself to touchy-feely writing assignments that stress putting down feelings, putting down anything, really, on paper. Corrections to grammar and spelling come later, they tell their students, if they come at all. Grades are awarded fo...

Here are some shots from my first week back on campus in my new office.  It's a small piece of real estate, but it is all mine.  Now all I need are my writing students. By the way, anyone want to take a shot at identifying the writers and artists on the board?

A thousand lifetimes ago, I believed with all my heart that I would be a musician. The impulse began in childhood with the accordion, and later, the piano and percussion. It took me halfway through college as a music major to realize the music life was not for me, but I was left with some indelible memories. One such memory occurred when I was nearing the end of my freshman year in high school. The year was successful, and I felt as if I had found my niche in the difficult hierarchy of secondary education—not an athlete, but I had a front row seat at all the football games, and I was part of the percussion section, the coolest subgroup within the band. In April, the band traveled to San Antonio, Texas for the annual Battle of the Flowers Festival , an event that commemorated the much-mythologized siege of the Alamo during the Texas War of Independence in the 1830s. We arrived in San Antonio for some sightseeing leading up to our performance on a Thursday evening at an open air stadium ...

A Day in California from Ryan Killackey on Vimeo . Just one more time lapse film, I promise.  This one is by Ryan Killackey with music, once again, by Cinematic Orchestra (seems they have the market cornered for time lapse music soundtracks).  Enjoy.

LA Light from Colin Rich on Vimeo . It took photographer Colin Rich six months to put together this montage of the lights of Los Angeles. It's a beautiful piece with haunting music by Cinematic Orchestra.