Memorization: It Isn’t for Fools

August 17, 2011

I saw a commercial the other day in which a young man who appears to be traveling in Europe speaks some English into his cell phone, presses a button, and the phone translates to the frowning older man he’s talking to that the boy’s “grandfather is from this town.” The old man smiles and takes [...]

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Promotion, Attention, and Making Great Art

July 20, 2011

I came across an excellent post about John Mayer’s recent Master Class at his alma mater, Berklee College of Music, that resonated with me as an essayist and artist. With the advent of social media has come a new era of business expectations and new definitions of businesspeople; it’s largely considered insufficient to be only [...]

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The Closer Look: Creativity Starts with Examination

July 13, 2011

Bad news/good news. You’re not necessarily being creative if You’re doing something with “flair.” You’re being unorthodox. You used glitter. You’re painting a painting. Meanwhile, you might be doing something extremely creative if Your solution is simple. You’ve only made a slight change. You’re repairing a fence. When we want to enhance our own creativity, [...]

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Tech Alternatives Don’t Foster The Imagination of Humanness

June 8, 2011

This marks the last in a three-part installation of clips of Martha Craven Nussbaum’s 2011 Commencement address at Mount Holyoke College. Nussbaum’s commentary is incredibly timely, having come just before the announcement of Peter Theil’s pay-to-drop-out program for college students to start businesses and the heated conversation that entrepreneurs are having around education, illegal unpaid [...]

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Tech Alternative Ed is Not a Path to World Peace

June 3, 2011

In case you missed the previous post that sets the stage for the following clip, we’re taking a three-part look at Martha Craven Nussbaum’s address to the graduating seniors at Mount Holyoke College this past May. Ms. Nussbaum’s comments are timely, as we’re seeing a spate of people/orgs encouraging kids to drop out of college [...]

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Tech is Not An Education Replacement: Part 1

June 1, 2011

A few weeks ago I attended Commencement at my alma mater, Mount Holyoke College. The commencement address was given by education philosopher and theorist Martha Craven Nussbaum. Admittedly, I’m a big fan of the “go-get-‘em kids!” style commencement address, and that’s not really what we had here. However, what we heard that afternoon was probably [...]

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The Artist Interviews: Ned Canty, Opera Director

May 10, 2011

Ned Canty is a stage director with credits from companies such as Glimmerglass Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Santa Fe Opera and New York City Opera. The New York Times has described his stage direction as having “a startling combination of sensitivity and panache,” and Opera News said, “The future of [...]

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David Sedaris on Tobias Wolf: Writers on Writing

May 4, 2011

A few weeks ago I went to see David Sedaris read some of his work at The Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale. I’m a huge fan of personal essays (Sedaris and Bailey White are favorites) and listening to the radio programs “The Moth” and “This American Life.” I don’t consider myself an auditory learner by [...]

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Dan Brown’s Open Letter to Educators

May 2, 2011

Let’s get real here. I write a blog called Stay Out of School. Why? Years ago, as a recent college graduate, I read David Mamet’s admonition to actors to avoid graduate school in his book True and False. I use the title just as much to be provocative as to sound the alarm about the [...]

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The Artist Interviews: Baratunde Thurston, Comedian and Writer

April 18, 2011

Baratunde Thurston is a comedian, author and vigilante pundit who successfully combines technology, politics and comedy. He co-founded the black political blog, Jack & Jill Politics in the summer of 2006, hosted Popular Science’s Future Of on Science Channel, and works as the Director of Digital at The Onion. Baratunde has contributed to Vanity Fair, The UK [...]

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