March 7
Believe it or not, I am teaching today and tomorrow.
1965
We had a grass fire today. Our incinerator fell over and set fire to the field next to us. Dad yelled to me to call the fire department. I did and with a minute a volunteer fireman was here. The 3 of us had it almost out when the 2 fire trucks and 31 firemen came. We put it out with brooms. Wotta day!
Comment 2006
Yes, children, we had an incinerator in our back yard -- large metal barrel standing in its end and designed to burn trash and leaves. The wet garbage from the kitchen, and anything not flammable, went into the trash can to be picked up and taken to the dump. Everything else was burned, every few days or perhaps once a week. It was evidently dry, despite all the snow earlier that winter, so when the incinerator tipped over the grass caught on fire, spreading into the pasture next door.
1979
Between Bronowski’s “The Abacus and the Rose” and Blanshard’s “Machines”, I have thoughts and opinions. One of the primary tasks of education today is the reconciliation of human values and technology. The humanists, with all their interest in the creation and preservation of culture, can’t do it if they don’t understand technology. To understand the technical world, how it works and how to use it, Knowing its possibilities (good and bad) and causes and effects (good and bad) is essential for everyone, not just scientists and engineers. It should be our creation, not our master.
Comment 2024
Translation: My dissertation committee was having a tough time agreeing to a quantitative thesis. These were both readings from an American Studies seminar I was taking. The Blanshard piece was an essay in his book “The Uses of a Liberal Education”. I just perused an online version and think it’s time for me to revisit it.
1985
Feeling like a bad mom. Too confused, too inconsistent. It’s all [art of the adventure, I guess, but it’s not the fun part.
1997
Well, I don’t need a “comfort drawer”, Sarah, and I don’t feel comfortable with the materialism in your philosophy. Yes, I like chocolate and sweet smells and warm baths, but I don’t really need to assemble a cache of goodies in a drawer with scented liner paper, or buy a British decorating magazine. Really.
2021
I resolve (whatever!) to prioritize writing this week. Writing whatever and wherever and however. Also whenever. It may not be the dreaded book. It may not be one single thing. It doesn’t need to be for publication in any form. Ever. But I have words that want out.
2023
Believe it or not, I am teaching today and tomorrow. And thinking about teaching some more. Today, I am giving a guest lecture on sustainable fashion in a friend’s “Everyday Science” class here in our retirement community. Tomorrow, I facilitate a session in a different class. While my hands have been knitting, my thoughts keep straying to how much fun it would be to teach a version of one of my last courses before I retired. The best part: no grading!
I loved teaching. It was the creative career I was craved, yet I avoided it for years, believing that “creative” work meant art, or music, or writing. My “comfort drawer “ has paper, pens, and other school supplies. The chocolate is stored elsewhere.
When Dad wasn't around to do it (which became more frequent the longer we lived in Sunny Valley), it was usually my job to burn the trash. I sort of remember the grass fire, but not the start of it. Was I even there? Anyway, anytime we set out a fire in our backyard fire pit here in Callander, images of that trash barrel come to mind. Not too often anymore, though, as the wildfire hazard here in Northern Ontario has been high most of the last four or five years. Where will budding pyromaniac get their jollies in this new world?