Happy Friday,
It has been a refreshing Sabbatical week, filled with my favorite hobbies of journaling and photography. Taking the time to practice curiosity in a different medium is always time well spent.
Here is the best from around the Internet.
One of my favorite things about subscribing to Ted Gioia’s Substack is the sheer number of interesting episodes in history I would never have otherwise heard about. One example is this piece on the history of jazz vinyl cafes and how they transformed from being sleazy back-alley escapes to swanky establishments. And who would have thought they were a Japanese export? Fascinating stuff.
The author, a high-school English teacher who previously sounded the death-knell for high-school English, provides an update: AI may render the decade-long practice of cultivating students’ writing skill obsolete, but it can reignite the wonder of reading in students. He argues that the stress of writing a perfect paper crowds out what should be the enjoyment of reading, and the contemplation of art. I don’t think he is wrong on that last count. I am frustrated by the notion that the only justification for writing essays in high school is “you’ll be expected to do so in college” both lacking and dismissive. Learning to take a text, summarize it, distill its arguments, determine whether the author has succeeded in making their case or not; these are the basis of thinking. Sure, you’ll be expected to think in college, but that is a sorry reason to learn to do it. Thinking is fundamental to making wiser, more profitable decisions in every aspect of life. Just as we have to learn math and the basics of the scientific method, so we have to learn to think clearly and deeply. Why these truths are not (apparently) conveyed to students, I don’t know or understand.
Edward Wilson details the victuals of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s 1901 Discovery expedition.
In Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Strenuous Life” speech, the then-governor of New York, praises his audience, the men of Illinois and Chicago, for not only their hard labor in building American enterprise and infrastructure, but for passing on those lessons of hard work, diligence, and self-satisfaction in their children. He also encourages the listeners to be knowledgeable about the proceedings of the government – to ‘read the Congressional record’ – and to take note of how Congress voted. Those are all still effective and important aspects of being an engaged citizen in a democracy.
Lastly, an answer to the burning question, “What nations are we referring to when we say, ‘Scandinavia’?” Are Iceland and Finland included? Both? Neither? Your guide to the Scandinavian countries.
Currently reading: Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
Have a creative weekend.
Photo by Thomas Despeyroux on Unsplash
