A brief recap of things I wrote on during September 2009.
I started the month with two pieces in reaction to rereading Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard. The first on the difficulty of faith and the second on the stages of psychological and spiritual development.
Two articles on economics prompted some thoughts on the link between money and producerism and the rhetoric of consumerism and choice. Too often the latter becomes a substitute for public and political choice.
Let’s see what’s been on my mind for April 2009
On education. Two interesting articles on stress and the purpose of art education lead me to write about Educational Responses to Stress - Emotion and Arts A long essay by Bruce Western on reentry to society by former prisoners leads to Prisons and Punishment in America More thoughts on talent and justice: Talent, Work, and Justice Our crazy perception of time makes me ask Just How Long Ago Was the Civil War?
March 2009 blogging themes.
Money, wealth, morality. Borrow and Leverage, different languages of debt among the rich, the government and individuals; Poverty is Good for You, conservative scolds telling people that struggles, including poverty or a recession, are really good for you; Parables of Global Talent, a reaction to the entries for the “best job in the world” on an Australian barrier reef. Education. Profesionalizing Academia and Breaking Bad, a television series and the revolt of the managerial class; Saving Education - the Bill Gates Way, Bill Gates is interested in education but he’s just another person essentializing talent over social structure.
Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Rereading after seeing previews for the upcoming movie. Movie looks good. Book is still pretty good as well.
Choices, by Michael D. Resnik Primer on decision theory, probability, and game theory from a philosopher’s point of view. Good stuff as a reference. 3. Fashionable Nonsense, Bruce Wilshire
Rutger’s philosopher attacks ‘analytic philosophy’ and over-professionalization of philosophy. Not quite clear on what his alternative program would be but he does give some good props to the American pragmatists and hints at a more phenomenological point of view.
The blog has languished for many months but this will hopefully be the beginning of a new wave of publishing around here at EcEc. To the whopping 16 Feedburner subscribers, most of whom are probably bots, I ask you not to hold your breath for too much. For those looking for archives: things are broken temporarily until I get the new software sorted out and import my old entries in a format that I can tolerate
A class assignment in 503 asked for the top favorite books and movies. So it here it is for another audience. I notice that the movie list is a lot more variable than the book list. The book list is more stable than the movie list. I’ve seen so many movies it’s hard to remember the ones that really make an impression. It’s also a temperament thing. For books I often remember the place and time I was reading them, the connection is more emotional.
The year has to come to a very quiet end here at chez Suomela. I finished my third of four terms on December 18, drove home to Minneapolis on the 19th, and spent the last twelve days relaxing, reading, watching TV, and exchanging gifts with the family.
To be thankful for:
A life without drama. You know the kind of drama where everything becomes a production and life is continually lived on the edge.
Another month has come and gone on this blue globe. The annual marks of mortality have left another ring and my weblog has been mostly silent. It’s not because I don’t like you, all half dozen of you who have subscribed to my feed, it’s because I pretend to myself that I’m busy, that there are other demands on my time. It’s a poor excuse my friend.
In “real life” I’m nearing the end of my third semester as a master’s student at the School of Information at UMich.
October was a sparse month for weblog updates. To the few who might be reading, I’m sorry. I’ve been putting my head down and plowing through a bunch of midterm papers, exams, and presentations. The last major one was today.
In theory that would give me a week to relax, but the inevitability of looming deadlines at the end of the semester make any relaxation feel like procrastination. Pleasure just turns into anxiety.
It’s the end of another month and time to review my mind. A lot less material has been published on this site since school began at the beginning of September. My classes are finally starting to feel like a routine. I’m currently taking Information Culture, Information Ethics, Recommender Systems, and Intellectual Property.
The month began with a look back at what I learned through half of my MSI program at Michigan.