No Other Uncommon Truths
I have been thinking about a recent NYT Magazine piece on the "immortal" jellyfish and the science of researching the mechanisms by which this organism "reverses" the inevitable. I've posted a couple of things elsewhere (here and here and here) but what struck me as useful and interesting for this blog was that the piece opened with The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh: What exists materially of the two-thirds-divine Gilgamesh? Nothing. A name (sometimes spelled with a "B") and a story...words. Sure there's likely some minor pile of dust somewhere that might be the magnificent walls of Uruk. And yes, there's a tower in Babel somewhere too. But listen, the grandeur was never very grand. At least not to our bionic eyes.
Still, if the walls crumbled and the man who was king was as much or more myth than man, there are the pyramids you exclaim! Yes, yes...they are human babel-ing too at least that is as they seem; Melville calls them observatories and bakehouses and it is interesting that he imagines the astronomer as taking "prodigious long" strides as if this was another form of being (an alien) long faded away like the "truth" of the buildings
The cure for California’s vocabulary crisis: Invest in libraries and librarians
Sent to the San Jose Mercury News, December 7, 2012
California’s low performance on the NAEP vocabulary test is no surprise (“California eighth-grade students score fifth from bottom in national vocabulary tests,” December 6, 2012).
Research done over the last few decades, published in numerous scholarly books and scientific journal papers has informed us that advanced vocabulary knowledge is a result of reading, especially self-selected reading that young people are genuinely interested in reading. Research also tells us that young people read more when they have access to interesting reading material.
California has consistently ranked at or near the bottom of the country in support for both school and public libraries, the major source of reading material for many students, especially those living in poverty. In the America’s Most Literate Cities report, California cities captured six of the bottom seven places out of 75 cities in library quality, with Los Angeles placing 70th.
Research also informs us that the presence of credentialed librarians in school libraries has a positive effect on
California’s low performance on the NAEP vocabulary test is no surprise (“California eighth-grade students score fifth from bottom in national vocabulary tests,” December 6, 2012).
Research done over the last few decades, published in numerous scholarly books and scientific journal papers has informed us that advanced vocabulary knowledge is a result of reading, especially self-selected reading that young people are genuinely interested in reading. Research also tells us that young people read more when they have access to interesting reading material.
California has consistently ranked at or near the bottom of the country in support for both school and public libraries, the major source of reading material for many students, especially those living in poverty. In the America’s Most Literate Cities report, California cities captured six of the bottom seven places out of 75 cities in library quality, with Los Angeles placing 70th.
Research also informs us that the presence of credentialed librarians in school libraries has a positive effect on