Blogs

Apparently, San Jose State University has contracted with Udacity to run credit-bearing basic algebra classes -- both developmental and college-level -- at a cost to students of $150. Some folks are already manning the battle stations.

In October, I went to see the Pearl Cleage play, What Happened in Paris. During one scene, Evie, the glamorous globetrotter asks Lena, the savvy political consultant if she had ever been to Paris. When Lena said that she had, Evie asked, “Looking for answers?” Lena, responded, “I don’t know about answers, but I sure was ready for a new set of questions.”

When I was an undergraduate in the mid-to-late 1990s, I worked for one of the many Canadian Federal departments where I wrote/edited/translated/coded for their internal (aka intranet) newsletter. While I was there on a work term, ergonomics was all the rage.

Earlier this month The Washington Post Magazine ran a story titled "Can Parents Share Child-Raising Responsibilities Equally?" This article is a good contribution to a larger discussion about work / life balance,

Back when I was a nervous, first-time instructor, my colleagues and I decided to include a multi-class blog in our First Year Comp classrooms. We figured this would be a good way to keep tabs on each other: all of our students would write in the same place, and with three of us running it, there was no way we could screw it up.

As a kid, I remember being fascinated by the idea that all my cells regularly die and get replaced over an interval of several years, that at age 10 my body was all different from the body I was born with: what did this mean about who I was? We know even more about cell turnover now - I just looked up human cell longevity, and studies using modern cell dating techniques show that the cells in our body average about seven years of age (except for most brain cells, which survive our whole lives with stable wirings, perhaps answering my question of my identity also being stable, I guess).

I was shocked and saddened to hear of Aaron Swartz’s death. He was a bright, creative, and principled young man who helped build tools I use every day. He helped start the Open Library, helped defeat ill-conceived legislation that would limit freedom on the Internet, and courageously set public information free.

Death by suicide is always disturbing, even if a decision after a well-lived life facing terminal, painful illness. When committed by a young, talented person with a seemingly invisible illness, it takes on even more pathos. Think of Sylvia Plath or Tyler Clementi or so many whose names do not evoke immediate recognition. In cases such as these, and in reflection now of Aaron Swartz, I cannot help but feel how sad it is because it should not have turned out that way.