Category: Culture

What I Learned Last Week

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It’s a bit awkward when you sit down to write a blog post about everything you learned last week and your mind goes completely blank. I know that I didn’t do much besides studying, but I don’t remember a thing, haha. At that point I pull out my trusty binder and refer to the prodigious notes created last week. And now I remember one thing: I got a 100% on my chemistry exam! That literally stunned me. I am not strong in science or math, so I’ve thought it impossible for me to do well in a subject like chemistry….

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Creation vs. Evolution Debate: Tonight!

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For those who haven’t heard, Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis will be debating Bill Nye the Science Guy tonight. You can read more here. Note: When I give a name and colon afterwards, I’m loosely quoting the general statements of the presenters. If it is an exact quote, I’ll put it in quotation marks. My own side comments are either addressed to a specific presenter or put in parenthesis. [liveblog]    If all goes according to plan, I will attempt live-blogging the debate, so check this post tonight for updates. I am bit disappointed the whole event will last only 2.5…

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I Will Hold on Hope

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This song has been on my mind lately. It is one of my all-time favorite songs and I’m perpetually amazed by the abundance of references to ancient Greek literature and philosophy.     “The Cave” It’s empty in the valley of your heart The sun, it rises slowly as you walk Away from all the fears And all the faults you’ve left behind The harvest left no food for you to eat You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see But I have seen the same I know the shame in your defeat But I will hold on hope And I won’t…

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What is Classical Education?

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This morning I braved the snowy roads (the city apparently decided to not bother plowing even the major roads) to hear Matt Bianco, the national director of education for Classical Conversations speak on what classical education means. It was very informative, as well as entertaining, and I wanted to share what I learned… To make decisions about education, we have to know what our goal is. This really goes for anything in life. And as an aside, this fits perfectly with the human action axiom. We act to achieve ends, and it makes sense that we ought to consider what…

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Link Love

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This is an interesting article arguing that it isn’t necessary to formally teach math. Who invented writing? This charming video from TED Ed describes the development of writing. This looks like a neat writing curriculum, Brave writing. What does it mean to remember? I haven’t watched this TED video yet, but it looks really fascinating. I enjoyed reading about a Day in the Life of a Waldorf Kindergarten. Some thought-provoking ideas about reading from Albert Mohler. I haven’t completely watched this video either (for some reason I have a really hard time watching videos) , but the subject, why MOOCs still matter,…

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A Great Mind: The Remaking of Sherlock

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There’s so much that could be said about Sherlock, I keep thinking, “where do I even start?” But before I even attempt to start, let me fill you in on the background. Sherlock is the current BBC adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle. These stories have been adapted to film many times, both in the UK and in the US. This BBC series is written and produced by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Moffat is currently producing Doctor Who as well, and Gatiss has been involved with some Doctor Who episodes as well. In fact, it was during…

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Frost and Woolf: Tradition and Modernity

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This is an essay I wrote last semester for my Ideas of the 20th Century course. The assignment was to explore two modern artists who had contrasting views about progress and modernity.  Robert Frost, a 20th century American poet, opposed the disintegration of tradition. He called for a return to convention both in the content and structure of his poetry. Some poems directly confront the erosion of civilization; others indirectly support his conservative tendencies in the overall structure. Mending Walls is an early poem by Frost, published in 1914. The poem  tells of two rural New England neighbors who meet…

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Rousseau and Marx on Historical Progress

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This is an essay I wrote last semester for my Modern and Postmodern Philosophy class.  For Rousseau, historical progress only further removes man from his natural state of living. He argues that the cultivation of civilized studies weaken the natural virtues of men; in his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, Rousseau writes, “our souls have become corrupted to the extent that our sciences and our arts have advanced towards perfection.” He cites Romans of old as saying, “Since the learned men began to appear among us, good people have slipped away.” Rousseau attributes this decline to the intentional pursuit…

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Things We Lost in the Fire

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Things We Lost in the Fire is another favorite Bastille song, and this is why. There is no guarantee of anything in this life. We have this incessant desire to collect and amass. We forget that we are sojourners–we try to make our home here. Whether it is material possessions, memories, relationships, whatever we find valuable we store up and treasure. We hold on so tightly to this world. But what happens? It is “shattered into ash.” It won’t last. What we hold so carefully crumbles at our touch. How hard this lesson is to learn. There is so much that…

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The Future is Upon Us

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Over the past year or so I’ve become a huge fan of epic music. This is the kind of music you hear in movie trailers, epic movies (think Lord of the Rings) and video games, or so I’m told. Not having ever played video games, I wouldn’t actually know, haha. But, epic music is perfect study background music. Most of time I can’t listen to vocal music while studying because it is so distracting. I used to listen to classical music instead, but it is hard to find classical music intense enough to keep me awake. Epic is like classical music except far more intense and motivating than most classical songs. So at 11pm when  you’re desperately trying to stay focused, epic music makes you feel like with this essay assignment you are conquering the dread evil that threatens humanity’s existence. It makes you feel like you could truly just walk into Mordor. Anyways…I just discovered that one of my favorite epic groups, Audiomachine, released a new album this year, called Existence. So I listened to it several times last night while studying chemistry. This, I determined, is my favorite song from that album. Lest you think I listen to nothing but Bastille, I thought I’d share it with you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eHQvQeH4qg