Monthly Archives: January 2007

Margaret points me to The Story’s interview with Rafe Esquith, superstar teacher in the LA public school system. I haven’t heard this particular show, but he’s making the rounds on public radio these days, supporting his book Teach Like Your … Continue reading →

I was interested to read that one reason that Mr. Bush’s War has taken relatively few mortalities in the U.S. Armed Forces involved the significant improvements in military medical treatment. If what Dr. Blimes reports is sound, the ratio of … Continue reading →

Today was a full day for me, with committee work in the morning, then preaching and mass, then a course planning meeting over lunch, then the NT II field trip to the library. I was a little stressed out about … Continue reading →

Often enough, Pippa delights us by her imaginative participation on family life — such as the day she manufactured a black cloth moustache: This morning, she delighted us by affirming her conscientious participation in the life of the congregation, serving … Continue reading →

Margaret’s here for her last visit before her exams (at Duke they’re “preliminary exams,” other places “comprehensive exams,” either way “the last essay exams she’s likely ever to take, and for that matter she hasn’t taken any in years beforehand”). … Continue reading →

(Foreword: I frequently think of advice about preaching when I hear sermons that instantiate counter-examples of the principle I’m propounding, and since I blog among people with whom I also worship, I end up not blogging what I thought, so … Continue reading →

I hereby endorse the Chris Locke weight loss program. Pippa’s been after me about my waistline for a few weeks now (yeah, Joi too) — this would be the least I can do.

LHB points to a Stylus “Top Ten Beatles Songs for Lapsed Beatles Fans” list, reminding me that no matter how compromised they may look in jaded retrospect, those very few years of productive creativity effected incalculable changes in the pop … Continue reading →

I’e been wrestling with the question of how to frame the “postmodern Christians” essay (and Margaret rightly reminds me to be skeptical about claims pertaining to “the postmodern age,” as though Euro-American and global cultures had unambiguously and necessarily modulated … Continue reading →

Nate will make his academic-conference debut this spring at the 2007 Great Lakes Chapter Annual Conference of the College Music Society, the music-theory professional organization. Working title is “Deck of Trick Chords: Tonal Analysis and Chromatic Substitutions in the Songs … Continue reading →

Of late, I’ve been suppressing awareness of my obligation to write an article with an uncomfortably close deadline. I was invited to write an article about “living as a Christian in a postmodern world,” and I have 3500 words to … Continue reading →

Since I am a committed, long-term fan of Elvis Costello (so much so that I can still say that after his series of unfortunate collaborations), let me point to him as a perpetrator of bad rhyme. In the Oscar-nominated “Scarlet … Continue reading →