Monthly Archives: November 2009

Yehuda Amichai, “Near the Wall of a House”

Near the Wall of a House (from poetry 180) Yehuda Amichai (trans. by Chana Bloch and Stephen Mitchell) Near the wall of a house painted to look like stone, I saw visions of God. A sleepless night that gives others a headache gave me flowers opening beautifully inside my brain. And he who was lost …

November 30, 2009 – 3:50 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Comments (4)

Maybe we’re looking at education wrong. Maybe it’s student-athletes that are the model for any given student

From Michael Lewis’ “The Ballad of Big Mike,” in The New York Times: His senior year he made all A’s and B’s. It nearly killed him, but he did it. The Briarcrest academic marathon, in which Michael started out a distant last and had instantly fallen farther behind, came to a surprising end: in a …

November 29, 2009 – 10:23 pm | By ashok | Posted in education | Comments (1)

Abraham Lincoln, “Proclamation of Thanksgiving”

By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, …

November 26, 2009 – 2:45 pm | By ashok | Posted in lincoln, politics | Comments (3)

Yes, I support President Obama on Afghanistan, and you should too

If this story is indeed true – that President Obama is sending 34,000 troops to Afghanistan – then for what it’s worth, he has my thanks. To support him more fully on this issue: If you think the Taliban are nice people who are only acting mean because of evil corporations or evil Western values …

November 25, 2009 – 1:08 pm | By ashok | Posted in politics | Comments (4)

Links, 11/24/09

A few articles that are important, not just of interest: Jeffrey Herf, “Hate Radio: Nazi Propaganda in the Arab World” (h/t Josh) – from the article: In his essay from the early 1950s, “Our Struggle With the Jews,” which became central in the canon of radical Islamist texts—the essay was republished in 1970 and distributed …

November 24, 2009 – 3:19 pm | By ashok | Posted in links | Comments (0)

How to Get the Digg Short URL (for Twitter users)

A few people are amazingly kind and Digg my posts, and I of course want to help them promote my work by sharing the Digg URL on Twitter. Trouble is, Digg URLs tend to be rather long for use on Twitter. For example, a recent post submitted: http://digg.com/arts_culture/Emily_Dickinson_Away_from_Home_are_some_and_I So I typically have wanted to find …

November 23, 2009 – 7:01 pm | By ashok | Posted in blogging | Comments (0)

Links Foreign and Domestic, 11/23/09

“Not at Home in Germany: Almost Half of Turkish Migrants Want to Leave” (h/t Ario) – from the article: …more younger Turks want to return to Turkey than their elders. This is despite the fact that almost two thirds of respondents to the study (61 percent altogether)– one of the first polls to compare the …

November 23, 2009 – 3:01 pm | By ashok | Posted in links, politics | Comments (0)

Emily Dickinson, “Away from Home are some and I” (821)

“Away from Home are some and I…” (821) Emily Dickinson Away from Home are some and I – An Emigrant to be In a Metropolis of Homes Is easy, possibly – The Habit of a Foreign Sky We – difficult – acquire As Children, who remain in Face The more their Feet retire. Comment: “Home” …

November 22, 2009 – 12:47 pm | By ashok | Posted in dickinson, poetry | Comments (0)

All Things Martha

Martha Argerich is an amazing piano virtuoso – you can read her biography at last.fm for some basic details. Her debut recital, performed at age 24 (!) in 1960 includes a performance of Chopin’s Scherzo No. 3 that is legendary. I bought the Deutsche Grammophon CD of that recital a day or two ago and …

November 21, 2009 – 3:34 pm | By ashok | Posted in music | Comments (1)

Mostly Political Links, 11/20/09

Jay Cost, “Have the Democratic Leaders Gone Mad?” – Senator Harry Reid’s current bill does indeed cut Medicare; perceived Medicare cuts undid the Gingrich/Dole led Congress when battling Clinton in the 90′s. The really important question I need to see addressed – at some point, we do need to cut entitlements; they skew the economy …

November 20, 2009 – 8:20 am | By ashok | Posted in links, politics | Comments (1)