In the History of Bad Idea the — the worst one, in my humble estimation, is the practice of teaching students of American Sign Language with a stick. Yes, a stick made of wood. In some ASL programs, instructors use a stick during class to manipulate — and intimidate! — their students.
Continue reading → Teaching American Sign Language with a Stick
“Deconstructionism” is a dangerous political application that has taken root in universities as a serious method of discovery and recognition of textual art in performance. Deconstructionism is nasty because — like Peer Gynt’s endless onion without a core — the whole attempt to pull apart and redefine the whole of something falls apart in your hands the moment you try to apply Deconstructionism’s molehill to a mound of merits.
When you live in a city as exciting as New York, there is always somewhere to go. Normally when you’re trying to go from point a to point b, the only thing stopping you from getting there in a timely manner is the distance — and if you’re driving, the possibility of traffic.
All good drama should convey the essence of the human condition and melodrama can never meet that mandate. A righteous dramatic experience can be uplifting, serve as a warning against degraded morality, and every play must end with a proper catharsis.
I love the Beatles. Their songs have informed the joys and the sorrows across the arc of my life.
One of the best Beatles songs is “Hey Jude” — written for Julian Lennon by Paul McCartney upon the dissolution of John Lennon’s first marriage — and I have always wondered about the meaning of a particular bit of lyric in that song.
Tai Chi is a method of gentle movements that will help direct the positive flow of Qi in your body. When I was a graduate student at Columbia University, I would see students practicing Tai Chi in a small park near the campus off Amsterdam Avenue. I would silently watch their soothing movements and I found myself drawn in to their level of deep meditation.
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