The Amish

In his new book, Plain Secrets, Joe Mackall charts the tightly knit society of Ohio's Swartzentruber Amish (6/18/07 - 8:20). In this piece, Mackal discusses how he gained the trust of his Amish neighbor, and how "the community takes care of its own members even as it subverts their individuality, the plight of Amish women, and what it's really like to ride in a buggy."


Musings

• What do you find most surprising about Mackall's observation of the Amish way of life? What lessons, if any, can we draw from his work?
  
  
• Nearly everything about the Amish is controversial, except perhaps the undeniable visual beauty of their world, at least as captured in Bill Coleman's photographs. Which photographs do you find especially appealing and why?
  
  
• Here's an NPR piece on Amish teenagers (3-28-2009 - 12:28) and their unusual practice of Rumspringa. What lessons can we learn from this aspect of Amish life?
  
  
• The Amish use all sorts of complex technologies; what they reject basically is something we take for granted (except during hurricane season)--that is, electricity. Still, when you think about it, as much as we depend on electricity, almost all of us have special times, activities and so forth (even something as simple as taking a walk) that requires needs electricity or even batteries. Describe one such pleasurable experience or activity in your life that is free of electricity or batteries.
  

French Quarter

New Orleans's French Quarter is one of the most photographic and most recognizable landmarks in the United States, and, post-Katrina, remains the heart of the city. Yet how much do we actually know about this neighborhood? In this NPR piece (4/8/202 - 8:31), from the series, Present at the Creation, Renee Montagne provides a surprising overview of an area that is more Spanish than French, and maybe more American than Spanish.

Musings

• One outstanding characteristic of the French Quarter is that it is pedestrian friendly, and, as such, related to the contemporary movement for re-creating traditional neighborhoods, called New Urbanism. Describe a setting (urban or otherwise) in which you enjoy walking, people watching, or just spending time?
  
  
• The French Quarter is an entertainment area for tourists but also a neighborhood. What, in your opinion, are the chief characteristics of a good neighborhood?
  

Raising Cain

From "News & Notes (1/11/06 - 6:23) comes this discussion of boys and their problems, with child psychologist Michael Thompson, the host of the documentary Raising Cain.

Here's an older and longer NPR piece, Violence and the Emotional Life of Boys.

The PBS Website has material on the documentary, Raising Cain, including a message by its creator, Michael Thompson and a special section on raising boys with clips from the documentary.

Musings

• Gender differences represent a continual subject of controversy and fascination. What's your take on the general premise that boys have a particular set of problems to overcome in growing up?
  
  
• Behind many of the discussions of helping boys in schools, as a step in growing up generally, is the even larger issue of masculinity, and whether or not boys (and maybe men generally) need help in achieving masculinity or, some would argue, overcoming popular conceptions of masculinity. Here two related questions arise: Is the end result of education to narrow the differences between the genders, and do adult males have any special role to play in helping boys become men? What do you think?
  
  
• What does this general discussion of raising boys have to do with school violence and issue of bullying?
  

Bullying

Here is a commentary by Carlos Overstreet, a 15-year-old who has overcome the trauma of being bullied. You can also read an article by Overstreet, My Fight for Respect, in LA Youth magazine, and listen to a commentary on a report on bullying (4/25/2001 - 3:35) from the Journal of the American Medical Association. Finally, listen to this NPR report, Ganging Up on Bullying (10/2/2002 - 5:43), and check out some of the many links it has on the subject.

Musings

• Compare or contrast any two of the four selections from above in terms of what they have to say about bullying. Which selection seems to be most insightful to you? Why?
  
  
• Historically bullying is not considered a big deal, just a regular part of growing up. Do you agree this view? Why or why not?
  
  
• This academic article by Kimmel & Mahler, "Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence," (in PDF format) raises a number of important, but seldom discussed issues related to bullying and violence, including the assertion that masculinity is "the single greatest risk factor in school violence." What do you think they mean by this assertion?
  

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain, an event that is the focus of the new movie Amazing Grace. The film tells the story through the career of just one key player in this effort, the British politician, William Wilberforce. Here are two film reviews, by John Powers (3/15/07 - 6:39) and Kenneth Turan (2/23/07 - 2:48).

Musings

• Powers's piece ends with speculation abut our own moral blindness today. What makes such speculation so difficult? Why is it so much easier to see the moral blindness in the past?
  
  
• On Talk of the Nation (2/22/2007 - 30:08), the film director's Michael Apted and Eric Metaxas, the author of Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, discuss many of the contemporary parallels with Wilberforce's struggle, especially those that involve talking truth to power and going against entrenched interests. Which, if any, of these parallels do you see as valid?
  
  
• Here is a feature by Liane Hansen on John Newton's hymn, "Amazing Grace" (12/29/2002 - 10:39). What is the connection between the song and the abolition of the slave trade? Also see the brief entry at Wikipedia.
  

The 1950s

Here's a twist for AudioLinks101, a link to a video slideshow, Take Me Back to the Fifties.

Baby-boomers, now turning sixty, grew up in the 1950s, and this slideshow reveals some of the intense nostalgia some people have for the period.

Musings

1. What are some of the aspects of life in the 1950s that seem most attractive to the creator of the slideshow? What, if any aspects, seem attractive to you?
   
   
2. The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture says that the 1950s "continues to be perceived as the ultra-American decade." (You can read the full article here, where this assertion is, in part, challenged.) Part of the assertion that the 1950s represent some sort of ultra-America has to do with the perceived conformity of the decade--a widely felt pressure for people to look and act "normal." Do you see any of these pressures in the slideshow? What are some of the negative aspects of such pressures? What's are some potential problems with too much concern with being normal?
   

James Dean

From All Things Considered (June 3, 2005) comes Bob Mondello's remembrance of James Dean, the actor who became an icon after making only three movies. Also from the same year (the 50th anniversary of Dean's death) comes this second piece by Steve Proffitt.

Musings

• Some, possibly even much, of Dean's appeal seems to be visual--capturing a certain look. Here's just one online gallery, the JamesDeanGallery.com, or, perhaps even more iconic, a collection of art posters. How does these images relate to traditional notions of masculinity, then or now?
  
  
• Dean is forever associated with the phrase "rebel without a cause." What does this phrase mean to you?
  
  
• In the film, Rebel Without a Cause, Dean's character, Jim Stark, occupies a difficult and increasingly dangerous relationship with the real guys, the "tough guys," of his high school. What role did seemingly strong guys play in your high school in deciding who or what was "cool"?
  

Frank McCourt and Other Teachers

"Long before he was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Frank McCourt was a teacher in the New York City schools. Relationships formed with 12,000 mostly teenaged students over 30 years form the basis for his new memoir, Teacher Man. McCourt tells Jacki Lyden about life in the classroom." Listen here, from All Things Considered (1/14/06 - 8:14)

Musings

1. What do we learn from reading the Prologue from Frank McCourt's book, Teacher Man?
   
   
2. How would you characterize McCourt's attitude towards teaching in his interview? Would such an attitude likely to make him a good or a bad teacher? Or to these teachers: math teacher George Nobl, Kimberly Oliver, the 2006 Teacher of the year (NPR interview, 6/5/06 - 6:31), a math teacher, Louis Leithold, music teacher Johanna Grussner, or Alix Black discussing her teacher-mom. Compare or contrast any two of these teachers.
   
   
3. Does McCourt or any of these other teachers remind you of any teachers you have ever had?
   

Steven Spielberg

In 1984, the already popular American film director Steven Spielberg sat down for an interview with the BBC's Anthony Holden. Spielberg's dual position as immensely popular entertainer and a serious artist is apparent in how the BBC introduces this discussion: "Steven Spielberg's highly entertaining and suspense-packed films, have been criticized for a tendency towards escapism and sentimentality. However he is probably the most commercially successful film director of all time."

Five segments of the interview are available online:

• his father introducing him to the cosmos (4:43)
• ET and religious symbolism (3:23)
• Indiana Jones - fears and flaws (2:57)
• his sense of responsibility to his audience, Walt Disney and his forthcoming production of Peter Pan (2:45
• Gremlins and commercialisation (3:14)

Musings

• There is a form of film criticism (called auteur theory--the French word for "director") that looks at films as the personal statement of their directors. In these interviews Spielberg discusses a number of personal feelings (regarding wonder, childhood, fears, and so forth) that have clearly helped shape his films. Draw a connection on your own between one or more statements by Spielberg and one or more of his films. You can read more about Spielberg at Wikipedia.
  
  
• Auteur theory also impacts how we view two or more films by any director--that is, two different films as coming from a single creative source (the film's director). AllMovie.com defines directors as "Supervisors par excellence, . . . responsible for everything that goes before the camera including action and dialogue. The director . . . . is responsible for the function of the entire crew bringing about the desired results through technique and interpretation. Lighting, camera positions, sound and movement are all within the purviews of directorial dictums."
  
  Consider any two films by Spielberg as an expression of a single creative source. (Spielberg's filmography here.) Note that this response can involve contrast or difference as well as similarity, even on such a basic point as the movie being a commercial or critical success versus a commercial or critical failure.
  
  
• Consider two films by another director, and how they show something interesting if see see them as part of a single creative output. Here is a list of "great directors," and here a list of the five people nominated for an Oscar as "Best Director."
  

Favorite Films

This is Oscar season, a time when more folks discuss their favorite movies, usually what they consider the best films of the previous year. In this NPR piece, the co-directors of the surprise hit, Little Miss Sunshine, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, join in with a list of their favorite DVDs (2/9/07 - 7:19).

Musings

• Little Miss Sunshine is itself a good example of a little-heralded film that people enjoy discovering for themselves and then recommending it to their friends--as compared to joining in with wide acclaim of well financed blockbuster like Dreamgirls. Discuss a favorite film of yours that you feel most of your friends have not seen or may not even have heard of.
  
  
• Look up reviews on any one of the films recommended by Dayton and Faris, and see how much agreement there is among the critics. The IMDb has long been the major repository of film information, although now there are many emerging hub sites collecting reviews like Metacritic.com.
  
  
• A personal favorite little-known film is Duel, a 1971, made-for-TV movie by then unknown director, Steven Spielberg. Reviews for such older films are much harder to find online, and are generally limited to the re-issue of the film on DVD.
  

Greatest High School Band Ever

David Brown's retrospective piece (All Things Considered, 8/4/06) on the Kashmere High School soul band--dubbed the "greatest high school band ever"--reveals the value of audio files in delivering a wealth of information in compact form (in this case, 8:19 minutes).

Musings

1. Much of the piece here is a touching interview with the now 92-year-old master teacher, Conrad Johnson, someone who dared to break the mold—and that’s exactly what Johnson did with the Kashmere band, producing a full, commercial-sounding funk band when other high school bands were playing tired and timid semi-classical pops standards. Try reminiscing about a favorite teacher, especially an eccentric one like Conrad Johnson.
   
   
2. Besides the audio in the piece, the NPR site has links to three Kashmere classics: “Super Bad,” “Do You Dig It, Man,” and a soul-drenched version of the Paul Desmond ultra-cool jazz classic (with the Dave Brubeck Quartet), “Take Five.” The NPR is a near-limitless well of materials and here is a page devoted to the original “Take Five,” on the Dave Brubeck album, Time Out. One possibility here is to contrast of the two versions--between the broad cultural categories of cool and hot, about which even tone-deaf students might have something interesting to contribute.
   
   
3. Another writing topic might focus on the ongoing debate over the value of music and arts educations generally in the schools, K-12, the subject of the 1995 film, Mr. Holland's Opus. In general the role of arts education in public schools has lessened with the emphasis on testing. How do you feel about this change, about the role of arts in high schools specifically?
   
   
4. What special qualities do any of these two teachers share that makes them special: math teacher George Nobl, Kimberly Oliver, the 2006 Teacher of the year (NPR interview, 6/5/06 - 6:31), a math teacher, Louis Leithold, music teacher Johanna Grussner, or Alix Black discussing her teacher-mom?
   
   
5. Here's a list of films about educators from UAB and one from Amazon.com. Here's a list of books about great teachers, from Amazon's listmania: Very Special Teachers. Describe a noted teacher from one of these films.
   

Home Grown

In this piece, Home Grown (Living On Earth - 8:13), environmentalist Bill McKibben describes a bet he made that he could live through a whole winter eating food grown only in his native Vermont. Also see McKibben's article on this same material: "A Grand Experiment," from Gourmet Magazine (July 2005).

Musings

• Use the MicKibben "bet" as an introduction to a broader discussion of the value of locally grown and locally produced goods in your own area. Such a discussion could describe foods that rely largely, if not entirely, on locally acquired ingredients.
  
  
• Not everyone will immediately think of music as a local product, but some of it surely is. Here's a piece by Cajun singer Michael Doucet on a favorite song.
  
  
• A related issue has to do with local and usually one-of-a-kind businesses, although admittedly they may be getting harder to find in some communities. At one time, every community had some local restaurants and specialty stores. McKibben is enamored of his native area (Vermont's Champlain Valley)--listen to this NPR interview (4/11/05 - 7:46) about his book Wandering Home. Describe a special, one-of-a-kind business or other location in your world?
  

Clutter! What clutter?

In Favor of Mess (Talk of the Nation: 12/28/06 - 30:19). "Dave Freedman, co-author of A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder, and Kathy Waddill, an author and professional organizer, discuss whether the moderately messy are more efficient, more resilient and more creative."

Cleaning House, and Cherishing Memories (All Things Considered: 6/14/06 - 3:31). "Housecleaning is a necessary evil. But at what point do mementoes become clutter -- and when should the memories of a home be taken out to the curb? Commentator Marion Winik pondered those questions recently when she helped her mother clean out her house. It made her realize that some people are "things" people -- they define home as the place where their things are. But others are "places" people -- home is a specific familiar location. Marion Winik is the author of Above Us Only Sky. "

Resolving to Clean House (News & Notes: 1/11/06 - 3:55). "Commentator Joseph C. Phillips is cleaning up the clutter in his house as his new years resolution. He has good reason to consider his excess more of a blessing than a curse."

Musings

• Clutter is a universal phenomenon. Use one of these 3 pieces to introduce an account of your own experience with too much stuff; or, vice versa, introduce a comparison of the opinions presented in these pieces, with a brief account of mess in your life.
  
  
• One of the most beloved comedy skits is George Carlin's A Place for My Stuff. Compare Carlin's take on our stuff with the somewhat more serious take by 19th-century essayist, Henry David Thoreau (in an excerpt from Walden):
  
  Furniture! Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse. What man but a philosopher would not be ashamed to see his furniture packed in a cart and going up country exposed to the light of heaven and the eyes of men, a beggarly account of empty boxes? . . . I could never tell from inspecting such a load whether it belonged to a so-called rich man or a poor one; the owner always seemed poverty-stricken. Indeed, the more you have of such things the poorer you are. Each load looks as if it contained the contents of a dozen shanties; and if one shanty is poor, this is a dozen times as poor. Pray, for what do we move ever but to get rid of our furniture, our exuviae; at last to go from this world to another newly furnished, and leave this to be burned? It is the same as if all these traps were buckled to a man's belt, and he could not move over the rough country where our lines are cast without dragging them, -- dragging his trap. . . . I cannot but feel compassion when I hear some trig, compact-looking man, seemingly free, all girded and ready, speak of his "furniture," as whether it is insured or not. "But what shall I do with my furniture?" -- My gay butterfly is entangled in a spider's web then. Even those who seem for a long while not to have any, if you inquire more narrowly you will find have some stored in somebody's barn.
  
  
• NPR commentator Daniel Schorr offers this short commentary (2:05) on Princess Diana and Mother Teresa ("Saint of the Gutter, Saint of the Media"). What do you see as the connection between this commentary and the points made by Carlin and Thoreau?
  

But Wait! There's More!

"Who can forget the Pocket Fisherman, the Veg-O-Matic or the Smokeless Ashtray? The Popeil family brought America those amazing products and more, all for ridiculously low prices -- 'if you act now!'"

In this report from Morning Edition (6/19/02 - 6:38), we learn more about Ron Popeil, called the Einstein of the Infomercial, from Timothy Samuelson, author of But Wait! There's More.

Musings

• What's the appeal of the products that Popeil sells, of Popeil himself? (For a list of products, and more on Popeil himself, see Wikipedia.) Why do we seem attracted to such blatant showmanship, even when we know better? Or put another way, imagine a world without Ron Popeil and the Veg-O-Matic--what would we gain, and lose?
  
  
• Describe your own experience with gadget or anything else you may have purchased on impulse.
  

Mechanical watches

Watch Repair Up Close. (Morning Edition - 5/20/02 - 6:27) -- "In the small town of Lititz, in southeastern Pennsylvania, architect Michael Graves designed a $9 million educational facility with the facade of an Amish barn. Inside the building, students pair a simple tradition with some measure of extravagance, as they practice watch repair, a craft that arrived in this Pennsylvania town with the Swiss and German immigrants of the 19th century."

Detailed analysis of a Seiko automatic. More on automatic watches @ Wikipedia. Here is a link to a page at the Breguet web site, briefly describing how they give a perpetual calendar function to a mechanical wristwatch--tiny springs and wheels that keeps track of whole years, even leap years. And here is a link to a web site of used ("vintage") Breguet watches for sale. Here is an article explaining how a perpetual calendar mechanism works in an IWC watch, a Breguet rival.

Musings

• Here's a conundrum: As a rule, mechanical watches (wind-up or automatic) cost most than those with a quartz (battery-driven) movement, sometimes considerably more. Why then would anyone buy a mechanical watch?
  
  
• When else do some people prefer older, often less efficient technologies, even if they cost more? Here's one suggestion--consider the extent that mechanical watches today are a little like horses: a fabulous, but out-dated technology on which people spend vast sums of money for little practical reasons.
  

Great Gadgets

Great Gadgets (12/4-8/06). In this week-long series from All Things Considered, we hear experts and others talk about their favorite gadgets.

Little Things that Make a Bike Ride Better
(12/4/06 -3:37) · "Bicycle designer Georgena Terry describes her favorite gadgets. They don't attach to her bicycle; they are little computer programs that tell her what the weather is before she gets on her bike. Georgena Terry is the president of Terry Precision Cycling."

Lead-Filled Anchor Is a Low-Tech Gadget (12/5/06 - 3:51) · "In part two of our series on favorite gadgets, we hear from Alex Lee, president of Oxo International. You might have one or two of their black-handled ergonomic kitchen tools in your house. Lee describes his favorite gadget: an anchor for his fishing boat that's made of two bags full of lead shot."

Gadget Design Gurus Pick for Grating and Wine
(12/6/06 - 3:00) · "Two men who design what they call "gadgets for gadgets" talk about their favorite small tools. Aaron Lown and John Roscoe Swartz are the creative directors of Built NY, where they make neoprene totes for computers, cell phones, cameras, baby bottles and the like. Their favorite gadgets are a sharkskin ginger grater and a volumetric flask designed to be used in a laboratory -- but instead used as a wine decanter."

Cleaning Up with Roomba
(12/7/06 - 3:49) · "Jason Toon and Luke Duff work for the Web site woot.com. Their favorite gadget is something they bought from themselves: a Roomba. It's a small robot that sweeps up dust."

The Listeners Weigh In
(12/8/06 - 3:55) · "This week we've been hearing about favorite gadgets - from people who design and sell them. Many listeners wrote in to tell us about favorite gadgets, too. Three listeners join us: John Sturdevant, Eve Leedy and Vince Lupo."

Musings

• Compare a gadget of yours with one of those mentioned in any one of these NPR pieces.
  
  
• Comment on what the American writer Henry David Thoreau had to say about gadgets (what he calls "our inventions"), in his 1854 classic, Walden: "Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at."
  
  
• What's the difference between a gadget and a tool? When does a tool become a gadget? Or, using a somewhat different approach, how are gadgets related to toys? Try to use one specific gadget to make your case.
  

Timeless Toys & Games

Timeless Toys. Weekend Edition Sunday: 12/25/05 - 5:01). "Toy inventor Tim Walsh's book Timeless Toys is full of stories about a century of all things playful. He fills Liane Hansen with facts about the Slinky, Play-Doh, Lincoln Logs and other fundamentals of fun."

Old-Fashioned Toys with a New-Fangled Twist (11/27/06) - "Tweens may have been sucked into a world of cell phones and MP3 players, but younger children still can find joy without a joystick -- which is good, because how else would parents get to indulge their inner child? Here's a selection aimed at pushing the old-fashioned buttons of creativity, free play and learning -- with a few modern twists."

Parker Brothers (2/11/04) - "Phil Orbanes discusses the rich history of Parker Brothers board games. Learn about George and his brother Charles Parker, who were responsible for many favorites, including Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Clue, Boggle and Risk." It seems that Hasbro now owns Clue and Monopoly, and here are two pieces (Clue - 8/11/08) and (Monopoly - 9/16/2006) on their planned makeover.

Musings

• The piece on the Parker Brothers mentions the continuing interest in old-fashioned board games. Discuss your own experience with one or more board games or jigsaw puzzles; include a detailed account of the context in which you played the game, and what, if anything, you learned from it. 


• There are 40+ toys enshrined at the National Toy Hall of Fame (more @ Wikipedia). Focus or one or two classic toys from this list that you can remember playing a role in your life, or mention one or two others that you think should be included in the list, focusing on toys without batteries.


• What is your own definition of a classic (or timeless) toy or board game? What makes such a toy or game endure? The best responses here will make effective use of examples, including lots of concrete details so we can see (or feel, taste, touch, even smell) the toys for ourselves.

Vermeer

Vermeer exhibit. "Morning Edition, November 24, 1999 · NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg reports that a painting by Dutch artist, Johannes Vermeer goes on exhibit today. "The Art of Painting," perhaps one of Vermeer's favorite works from Vienna's Kunsthistoriches Museum, is the focus of a small exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC."

Auction Displays Revived Interest in Vermeer. "Weekend Edition Saturday, July 10, 2004 · Until this week, the world had not seen a Johannes Vermeer painting publicly auctioned in 80 years. The small painting "A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals" -- a harpsichord -- sold for $30 million at Sotheby's in London. This is only the 36th known painting by Vermeer. Author Tracy Chevalier was seated squarely in the second row. Her novel Girl with a Pearl Earring and the film based on it brought major attention to the 17th century Dutch master. Chevalier describes the auction to NPR's Susan Stamberg."

Listen to author Tracy Chevalier discuss the movie based on her book, Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Musings

• How do you explain the popularity of Vermeer's Girl with a Gold Earring (called the "Mona Lisa of the North")? You can read about the painting at Wikipedia.
  
  
• View and read about other Vermeer paintings at Wikipedia, and speculate on the role you feel that simplicity or calmness plays in his paintings. What do you think it means that at the center of this simplicity or calmness is so often a woman?
  
  
• Wikipedia has a fairly long article on still of painting known as still life, a genre at which the Dutch like Vermeer excelled. What do you feel is the appeal of this genre--and what, if anything, does that appeal have to do either with the objects themselves? For example, do you think that these are objects intended (or valued) for consumption--why, why not?
  
  

Mitt Romney, A Mormon Running for President

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who recently declared his intentions to run for president in 2008, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- a matter that may cause some problems for him on the campaign trail. In this piece from Weekend Edition Sunday (1/7/07 - 5:02), John Ydstie speaks to John Green of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Musings

• The discussion begins with parallels with John Kennedy's run for President in 1960, and attitudes towards his being a Catholic. Can we understand today the concern with Catholicism in 1960?
  
  
• For the most part, Mormons are a paradox: quintessential Americans who seem to be strangers to most Americans. What makes that typically Americans? What makes them different?