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To home educate or send them back (Opinion piece)
Many parents have been fretting over whether to send their children to school in-person or to have them continue home-based online learning offered by the schools. For some parents it’s a matter of the coronavirus and having somebody that is immune-deficient at home. For other parents it is a matter of the parents need to work and they work in person and they need somewhere to send their child so that their child is not home alone. These are two situations where the parents do not have as much a choice. There are other situations where the parent does have a choice and it is to these parents that I am writing this essay. What are some of the issues that these parents are facing? One of the issues is socializing with other students of their age. A second is the quality of person-to-person education versus distance-education. Thirdly, is the feeling of inadequacy on the part of the parent. And finally, it is the level of patience of the parent when dealing with educational matters. Socializing with other students of their age. Having peers around you that are going through the same things as you are seems very important to…
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Advice to Parents on their Children’s Media
For several years now I have carried around a little pocketbook called “One Hundred and One Famous Poems with a Prose Supplement.” This book has prompted many a conversation as I read a poem or a short prose selection from the book. The Covid-19 scenario has put a major damper in the number of opportunities for me to bring out this book, as I along with many others have curtailed our social lives. Being that as it may, I decided to share the following from the book: In choosing books for children these rules, recently laid down by an author of books for boys, are worth the consideration of parents: “Read your children’s books yourself. Or better still, get your boy or girl to read them aloud to you. Ask yourself during the reading: Does this book lay stress on villainy, deception, or treachery? Are all the incidents wholesome, probable, and true to life? Does it show young people contemptuous toward their elders and successfully opposing them? Do the young characters in the book show respect for teachers and others in authority? Are these characters the kind of young people you wish your children to associate with? Does the book…
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A quick review of using ARGweaver-D to map gene flow in ancient hominins
Having read the paper “Mapping gene flow between ancient hominins through demography-aware inference of the ancestral recombination graph”, which used ARGweaver-D, I would like to explain some of the subjects discussed. I am an amateur in the field but find it fascinating. The research performed in this paper took genetic information from other studies and ran the information through a new(ish) computer program to attempt to find the amount of genetic material that transferred from one human ancestral group to another. The groups that were investigated were homo sapiens (us), Neanderthals, Denisovans, and multiple unknown ancient ancestral groups (super-archaic humans). They used a new extension of a computer program, ARGweaver, called ARGweaver-D, using Bayesian algorithms. ARG stands for ancestral recombination graphs which is a way of saying there is a common ancestor, a number of generations pass, and some descendants of the common ancestor have children together. The genes of the descendants have re-combined to form a new set of genes. The difference is that the number of generations that pass can be counted over some number of millennia. This study was intended to see if the new ARGWeaver-D computer model update will work as accurately as hoped. The mixing…
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Homeschooling in 2020
Parents have been “homeschooling” their children for the past five weeks, and it seems like they will continue to do so till the end of the school year. How many of these parents will decide to continue homeschooling next year.
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How to Read Poetry Like a Professor
Title: How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse Author: Thomas C. Foster Published: New York: Harper Perennial, 2018 I recently read his book How to Read Novels Like a Professor, so this is my next Foster installment. I was not disappointed. He continues to educate in a light-hearted manner. Poetry is just a little different as in many can read a novel and for the most part jump right in with one go and get the gist of it. But poetry is a different animal. Personally, I love poetry. Foster explores the definition of poetry, how it “uses language to take us to a place beyond language… and reading poetry requires more than just your brain.”[1] Now this doesnt really give us a definition of poetry, but it gives you the idea that were dealing with a different type of animal. Poetry is almost a different language, or it can appear that way. I like to see it going beyond language. I do agree with Foster that it is best to read poetry out loud. Especially when first starting out with a new poem. Also, a good piece of advice he gives is…
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Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Today is the feast of my local parish’s patron saint, St. John the Baptist. It being a weekday we had a morning Mass, which I normally attend, and a special evening Mass due to this solemn occasion. I was able to attend both. Today also marks the first novena I have ever completed, the novena of St. John the Baptist. A novena is a prayer over a span of nine consecutive days. It is usually timed so that it ends on a special feast day. It is a traditional Catholic prayer and I may have done one when I was a child in grade school, but I do not remember doing one. Focusing, meditating, praying, and pondering over the life of St. John the Baptist over these last nine days has given me pause to rethink about my own life. When am I called to be a “voice in the wilderness?” Am I proclaiming “Behold the Lamb of God” for all those who need to hear it in my life? I think of John leaping for joy in his mother’s womb when Mary pregnant with Jesus arrives for the Visitation. Do I leap for joy? May we all be filled…
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The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Today was the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This is a very important day for Catholics as it represents one of our core beliefs, the real presence of Christ in the body and blood at Communion. Today at Mass I happened to be both a greeter and an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist. Since our patron saint is St. John the Baptist and his feast day is tomorrow, we also had fellowship after Mass. This consisted of beverages, donuts, and cookies. A nice time to meet and talk with those you know and any new faces that you might not know. I wish more people took advantage of it, but unfortunately, many left right after Mass. Perhaps they had other pressing things to attend to. I am not trying to judge; it is just that I feel it was a missed opportunity. I was born and raised a Catholic, but I drifted away over the years and it was not till 5-6 years ago that I earnestly “came home.” It really did feel like home. It is one of the tales where you go off and search every where else only to find that what…
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The Adventures of Augie March
Title: The Adventures of Augie March Author: Saul Bellow Published: New York: The Viking Press, 1953 I am an American, Chicago born – Chicago, that somber city – and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. But a man’s character is his fate, says Heraclitus, and in the end there isn’t any way to disguise the nature of the knocks by acoustical work on the door or gloving the knuckles.[1] And that my friends is how Bellow begins The Adventures of Augie March. It truly is an American story. One that captures the hopes, dreams, and disappointments that many may experience. The characters are alive and believable. There is a little bit of Augie in each of us I believe. We want to do our own thing and make the best of life, but very often we are carried along by the current. It is almost as if the inevitable has a way of grabbing us by the coattails and dragging us along. The experiences and encounters that Augie experience are very wide in what…
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The Everlasting Man
Title: The Everlasting Man Author: G. K. Chesterton Published: Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1974 (Originally 1925) There are two parts of this book, “On the Creature Called Man,” which points out how special mankind is in relation to all other creatures, and the second part, “On the Man Called Christ,” which points out how special Christianity is to all other religions and myths. Now I believe Chesterton did not write this with the aim of instructing those that are already enlightened and members of the Christian way. But rather, he had in mind those lost souls who were bored, confused, or perhaps even intolerant of Christianity. He understood that they may be too close to the issue and their senses had become deadened and that they no longer were able to feel wonderment at what is truly wonderful. It is also written to the crowd that may have been caught up in Darwinism or those that just couldn’t see mankind as special anymore. So, he provided a path by starting outside and looking in. If one is having trouble understanding something it is usually best to try a different angle or paradigm. On reading this I thought I would have…
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Grendel
Title: Grendel Author: John Gardner Published: New York: Vintage Books, 1989 I’m back. For the last three hours I have been Grendel. Caught up in the story by John Gardner. From its opening page it held me spellbound. My heart is racing. I am caught up in the story. I close the book, lean back in my recliner and take a deep breath. Slowly my breathing returns to normal. I hear the clock ticking on the wall. The sounds of birds outside. The faraway sound of highway traffic. Reality returns to me. Gardner weaves a spellbinding story of the creature Grendel from the story of Beowulf. From the first page I was hooked. The many anachronisms just seemed to naturally fit and become part of a mystical weave that Gardner created. It is a philosophical work, one that is sure to bring questions. I wrestled with Grendel as he struggled to understand and give a meaning to his life. He covers a wide scope of Western philosophy over the ages. I feel it would be a good conversation starter for a class of students. Let them all read it and discuss what they identified with, what they struggled with, and…
