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Hearts & Minds

Homeschool Moments: Dishing Out BOF, Dealing with Prejudice

Overcoming prejudice and distrust is not a one-time attitude adjustment, but a continuing journey in the company of people who are not like us, but who may become our civic friends. Such a strategy might go a long way toward more important goals: building a supportive environment for homeschoolers, and reinvigorating the varied practices of education & learning in America today.

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On Manifestoes

So here are some manifestos of the present day on books, education, faith, and civic life. Though their weight for good or ill, for much or little, is as yet unknown, these are some of the words that will shepherd us into our shared future.

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The Hundred-Mile Diet Map and More

A new map of food sources within a hundred miles of Madison, Wisconsin, shows kind of connection and sharing that will allow us as human societies to learn to be conscious of and take responsibility for the earthly places in which we live and move.

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Total Recall

Wired magazine has published a profile of Piotr Wozniak, developer of Super Memo, who has figured out how to remember everything you’ll ever learn. Ironically enough, the author refers to an article I remember reading when it came out in American Psychologist: “The Spacing Effect: A Case Study in the Failure to Apply the Results […]

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Katie Kalmerton & Clyde Squire–Requiescat in Pace

The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a […]

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Arranging a Memorial Service for Dr. King

April 7th, 1968: “You can’t have it here,” the man snapped at my father as we walked toward his study at the church on Sunday morning. “This is our church, and you cannot have it here. This ain’t your church, Vernon, this is our church. And I am telling you right now, you ain’t having no Martin Luther King service in our church…You can’t have a church full of niggers in here. This is our church.”

“The last time I checked, it was God’s church,” my father replied…

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Protected by a Child

This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood

How many times do my children protect me from harm? How does their innocence move me to seek innocence? Their natural desire to explore, learn, grow and create often protects me from losing context.

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Family, Heroes, and History

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Reading Aldo Leopold

One thing that Aldo Leopold did to become great was find, and use, his voice. His family was in many ways similar to mine and to thousands of others here in Wisconsin; his famous shack seemed completely familiar to us–just like Grandad’s place up north. But he made a difference in the world by figuring out what he had to say that was worth saying, and saying it wisely and well.

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Do you breathe the water?

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood

During my first pregnancy, I lived on a truck route. My pregnancy manual, the ubiquitous and sometimes disturbing What to Expect When You’re Expecting, said that unless I was living in a bus terminal or a tollbooth, “breathing in the big city…isn’t as risky as you might think…. Even in the 1960s, when pollution was […]

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State of the Union, and the Best Speeches Ever

Now that American Gladiators is over (go, Wolf!), we are sitting in the living room watching the State of the Union Address. For us, this has become an Event, like the World Series or the Olympics. It is something bigger than our family, something that we share with our kids and try hard to help […]

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A Good Day for the Beginnings of Journeys

This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood

I must admit that I think it a bit ironic that the maiden book discussion here at RCB is about a journey to birth. This has been a dream of my husband’s for a while, but I never thought I would be leading the first discussion! I first began reading Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey […]

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