Erin O’Connor points to an article on academic freedom from the Chronicle of Higher Education. “Academic freedom is no longer the guiding principle of academic employment, but the privilege of the increasingly select, tenured few.”
Dürer et al
World magazine has a few good arts and literature articles in the current issue (subscription required–sorry). The cover story is on Albrecht Dürer, “a true graphic entrepreneur during the first century of the printing press” and “interesting theologically, as he became a fan of Martin Luther during the last decade of his life.”
Also, there’s a feature on Dana Gioia, an article by artist Makoto Fujimura, and a review/interview with novelist Andrew Klavan and his latest book, Empire of Lies.
What Do the Swedes Know?
Nothing is the correct answer for those of you at home keeping score. Harrison Scott Key notes the Swedish Nobel Prize doesn’t prefer American literature and offers a response: Invade.
On the Making of Poets
Samuel, the name under which he comments on BwB, has contributed to The Rabbit Room, an interesting group blog I learned about recently. His post is Only God Can Make a Poet. “I have come to believe that beauty and the arts, creation and sub-creation, are as vital in the reflection of the glory of God to an unbelieving world as is the finest intellectual answer,” he says. Good on you, sir.
Speaking of Getting Rid of Books
I enjoy hearing from publicists–by email preferably. When they drop by the house for a minutes of “fellowship” or whatever they call it, it gets a bit intrusive, but I enjoy getting emails and book offers from them. Some of them send books without checking first. That is, I got such a book the other day. Teen romance, not my thing. Written by three authors, unless the one author had a very long, comma-ridden name. Flipping through it, I saw preppy lifestyles, casual drug use, open air sex–my good wife said I needed to get it out of the house quickly.
Still, I appreciate hearing from publicists. It makes me wonder if this blog is discussed at those little meetings they have up in New York City.
“Yeah, I sent that one to Phil Wade at Brandywine Books.”
“Oh, you did?”
“Had to get rid of somewhere.”
“Isn’t he the guy who blogs with Lars Walker?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“D’you actually read that stuff?”
*cough* “Nobody around here actually reads it. We just know about it.”
“Walker has a new book coming out. Wonder if we can do the rounds for it?”
You can see where the conversation would go from there.
Legitimately Barring Books
World’s Emily Belz points to a protest over a high school library which would not take certain donated books. “Librarians had banned [so to speak – phil] their collection of books against homosexuality. While the teens argued this was intolerance of their views of homosexuality, the librarians said the books did not meet their standards for donated books which require recommendations from two positive reviews from professional journals.” I don’t know if these books are worth fighting for. The protesters were apparently informed only by Focus on the Family info sheets, not by scanning the books themselves. But a commenter, Michelle, gave good insight on reviewing books for schools. She said:
This is what drives me crazy about those who listen to Focus on the Family but don’t do their own research. There may be legitimate reasons to add books, or even to ban some books, but when you show up waving papers and talking about resources you’ve never examined, you look silly and you do damage. Continue reading Legitimately Barring Books
Tell Me Why We Need a Bailout Again
“The legislation is like this: some boats are sinking, so rather than bailing those boats out, you blow up the dam and drain the whole lake,” says economist John Cochrane in this article on the fact economists don’t quite buy the idea of a coming financial armageddon.
Mice Led the Vikings to New Worlds
Scientists are conducting genetic studies again. They are examining patterns in mice genes. “What this suggests to us is that the Norwegian Vikings were taking these mice around and they were taking a particular genetic type,” leading to an understanding of how men migrated in the early world. Real men, you know–viking men.
Frederick Douglass: Reading Fosters Freedom
This seems appropriate for this week. It’s an excerpt from Frederick Douglass’ My Bondage and My Freedom.
The frequent hearing of my mistress reading the Bible — for she often read aloud when her husband was absent — soon awakened my curiosity in respect to this mystery of reading, and roused in me the desire to learn. Having no fear of my kind mistress before my eyes, (she had then given me no reason to fear,) I frankly asked her to teach me to read; and, without hesitation, the dear woman began the task, and very soon, by her assistance, I was master of the alphabet, and could spell words of three or four letters.
My mistress seemed almost as proud of my progress, as if I had been her own child; and, supposing that her husband would be as well pleased, she made no secret of what she was doing for me. Indeed, she exultingly told him of the aptness of her pupil, of her intention to persevere in teaching me, and of the duty which she felt it to teach me, at least to read the Bible.
Here arose the first cloud over my Baltimore prospects, the precursor of drenching rains and chilling blasts. Master Hugh was amazed at the simplicity of his spouse, and, probably for the first time, he unfolded to her the true philosophy of slavery, and the peculiar rules necessary to be observed by masters and mistresses, in the management of their human chattels. Mr. Auld promptly forbade the continuance of her instruction; telling her, in the first place, that the thing itself was unlawful; that it was also unsafe, and could only lead to mischief.
To use his own words, further, he said, “if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell;” “he should know nothing but the will of his master, and learn to obey it.” “Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world;” “if you teach that nigger — speaking of myself — how to read the bible, there will be no keeping him;” “it would forever unfit him for the duties of a slave;” and “as to himself, learning would do him no good, but probably, a great deal of harm — making him disconsolate and unhappy.” “If you learn him how to read, he’ll want to know how to write; and, this accomplished, he’ll be running away with himself.” Such was the tenor of Master Hugh’s oracular exposition of the true philosophy of training a human chattel ; and it must be confessed that he very clearly comprehended the nature and the requirements of the relation of master and slave. His discourse was the first decidedly anti-slavery lecture to which it had been my lot to listen.
Mrs. Auld evidently felt the force of his remarks; and, like an obedient wife, began to shape her course in the direction indicated by her husband. The effect of his words, on me, was neither slight nor transitory. His iron sentences — cold and harsh — sunk deep into my heart, and stirred up not only my feelings into a sort of rebellion, but awakened within me a slumbering train of vital thought. It was a new and special revelation, dispelling a painful mystery, against which my youthful understanding had struggled, and struggled in vain, to wit : the white man’s power to perpetuate the enslavement of the black man. “Very well,” thought I ; “knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.” I instinctively assented to the proposition . . .
Seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost, I hit upon many expedients to accomplish the desired end. The plea which I mainly adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of using my young white playmates, with whom I met in the street, as teachers. I used to carry, almost constantly, a copy of Webster’s spelling book in my pocket; and, when sent of errands, or when play time was allowed me, I would step, with my young friends, aside, and take a lesson in spelling. I generally paid my tuition fee to the boys, with bread, which I also carried in my pocket. For a single biscuit, any of my hungry little comrades would give me a lesson more valuable to me than bread. Not every one, however, demanded this consideration, for there were those who took pleasure in teaching me, whenever I had a chance to be taught by them. I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or three of those little boys, as a slight testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear them, but prudence forbids ; not that it would injure me, but it might, possibly, embarrass them ; for it is almost an unpardonable offense to do any thing, directly or indirectly, to promote a slave’s freedom, in a slave state.
Of course–not to restate the obvious–reading the Bible is particularly beneficial to fostering freedom.
Good Words
Just keep them as words. Good “in theory”