teacherken at Daily Kos This Week
which I informed the community I had begun in something new at age 67. My first class was Monday. I have since taken classes on Thursday, Friday, and today. I have a one month pass and I am taking advantage of it. I had not planned yesterday, but with school closed it seemed a good time. All of these are listed as level 1 Vinyasa flow classes, at Flow Yoga Studios on NW P Street in DC. The fir
infidels are deserving of your enmity, not your empathy
Those words end a column by Charles M. Blow titled Indoctrinating Religious Warriors. He uses the data from the recent Pew Poll on Public views on Evolution that shows increasing numbers of Republicans rejecting evolution while increasing numbers of Democrats accept it. Blow quotes Gregory Paul from a piece in Evolutionary Psychology as writing “The level of relative and absolute societal pathol
DEC 31
Has the Republican big tent evolved into a house of worship?
That is the opening line of The GOP’s Darwinism, a Washington Post column by Dana Milbank that went up online a few hours ago. Milbank examines survey data that shows the Republicans becoming more White, more Evangelical Christian, older, and less likely to believe in evolution than even a few years ago. You can read the data. On evolution, what is important to note is that the overall views of t
DEC 30 2013
Eugene Robinson on Unemployment benefits, the cruelest cut of all
He begins by saying to the 1.3 Million who as of Saturday had lost their long-term unemployment benefits: The Republican Party wishes you a Very Unhappy New Year! He say there is no rational reason reason for the cutoff: On both economic and moral grounds, extending benefits for the long-term unemployed should have received an automatic, bipartisan vote in both houses of Congress. The economic g
something new at age 67
Tonight I did something I have never done before I took a yoga class. It was level 1. It was vinyasa flow. Most of the students had some experience, some a fair amount. Because I was concerned about cramps, I had drunk a lot of water - which meant I was sweating all over myself and my mat. Turns out that was the only real problem. Oh, I had to stop a couple of times. I decided as a newbie I was n
DEC 29 2013
Brothers and Sisters at Daily Kos - an Orthodox Wedding
Yes, I know my last name is Bernstein 28 years ago today Leaves on the Current and I got married in an Orthodox Wedding. It was a Sunday afternoon. It was not an Orthodox synagogue, because I was not religiously Jewish. It was at St. Mark Orthodox Church in Bethesda, MD, part of of the Orthodox Church in America. This will post automatically at 8 PM. Since it is our wedding anniversary, I apologi
DEC 28 2013
28 years and counting . . . .
In 1985, December 29 also fell on a Sunday. Friends and family gathered from near and far. And shortly after 4 PM, after more than 11 years of seeing one another, Leaves on the Current and I were married at St Mark Orthodox Church in Bethesda MD, where she still attends. Almost three decades and we have seen our share of times both good and bad. There were times when we thought we would lose the
A brief Saturday meditation on teaching and life
because it is Saturday, a day on which I usually reflect on my purpose. I am now less than a week away from returning to my classroom - although why we are coming back for Thursday and Friday, when many students will be absent and most of the rest will be unfocused is beyond me. It would have made more sense to have those days off and not have been off the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
Charles M. Blow on Greeting the New Year
This is the time of year when many, especially pundits, either look back at the year ending, or look ahead with resolutions, or both. There is some of each in this New York Times column this morning, but the focus is primarily forward, with four resolutions Blow offers as his commitment for the forthcoming year. Let me list them, in bold since this is not a continuous quote, but is word for word,