Public School

 

Madness

 

Excursions

My latest long-term breakfast read. Excursions by Henry David Thoreau is a collection of essays. I'm usually a fan of Thoreau but I found most of the essays in this collection boring and pedantic. "Walking" was a good read. There were a few nice passages here and there. Most, however, went into nauseating detail about trees and plant life in New England. This might be appealing to a naturalist but I found it tiring. Well written, just not a subject in which I'm particularly interested. 

The Iliad

This was my third (maybe fourth) time reading The Iliad but Emily Wilson's translation is by far the best translation I've read. Her translation came out just a couple of years ago and truly gives the story the epic feel it deserves. It is clean and clear and bold. It felt to me like this is what the story sounded like when it was shared around the campfire for millennia. This is a superior translation and a real work of art just in terms of the translation process alone. I already have Wilson's The Odyssey on the top of my book stack all queued up. A remarkable achievement.

That being said, I find the story of The Iliad super depressing and dark. To modern ears it can seem repetitive, lots of heroes dying and dying and dying. The gods are capricious and manipulative. The Greeks and Trojans violent pawns in a hopeless tragedy of death and destruction. And not much gets resolved. Contrary to the popular imagination of those who haven't read the poem, the kidnapping of Helen is only alluded to and the Trojan Horse and the Fall of Troy not mentioned at all. 

The story takes place over just a few days near the end of the ten year war and it ends abruptly. It is not a feel good story! There are moments of grandeur, heroism and humor but so much of that is washed out in murderous and barbaric violence. War has always been a terrible scourge of the Human race. 

Of course, I'm reading it with modern eyes and those are modern observations. It is still a towering work in the western literary tradition and a good read. And this translation is fantastic. But at the end I felt like a lot of humanity's violent instincts have not really evolved all that much in three thousand years. And that made me sad.  

Time to Speak Up

On Easter Morning, the President of the United States posted a profanity laced social media post about killing Iranians. He also said in mocking fashion "praise be to Allah." This was posted the morning of the holiest day on the Christian calendar. 

This came two days after religious leaders such as Franklin Graham, Paula White, Robert Jeffress and others gathered at the White House to celebrate the achievements of Trump. During this meeting Paula White compared the trials and supposed persecution of Trump to the trials and crucifixion of Jesus. 

Also on Easter Sunday, the so-called Secretary of War, compared a downed airman's hiding in a cave and subsequent rescue to the resurrection of Christ. I saw Christian friends of mine re-post that statement as inspirational. 

Today, the president has threatened to kill an entire civilization and commit war crimes.   

My Christian brothers and sisters, now is the time to speak up. Now is the time to call out heresy and blasphemy. Now is the time to admit you were drawn down a rabbit hole. It is not too late to change course.  

You are being mocked. You are being used. If you continue to support this man and his regime, there is no going back. 

Workaday

Jack White’s 2025 Dallas show in the background during a teacher workday. 

Happy Easter

 Happy Easter!

Student

 My new student 

Launch

 

I was all in on yesterday's Artemis II launch to the moon. Pretty cool. As a Gen X'er, I have to admit I was nervous. Challenger memories are tough to shake even though those memories occurred when I was 13.

Waiting

Waiting outside on a beautiful afternoon for the Jeep to get inspected. 

Vent

Last day of March. It went by way too fast. 

And I end the month with a rant. I am so tired of the incompetence of many of my fellow colleagues. Three or four of my daughter's teachers are barely competent. At this point I've lowered my standards to the point that all I want is a base line of basic competence. Apparently that is too much to ask.  

 

More Believer

Always a good day when The Believer arrives! But I’m not even done with the last issue! 

Expectations

 

Hail Mary

Went and saw Project Hail Mary last night. Pretty good sci fi flick. I went in not knowing anything about the movie besides it was based off a book by Andy Weir and it starred Ryan Gosling. Very good although I’m not sure I’d rank it as high as The Martian. Very good nonetheless. Nice evening except when I had to tell the people next to me to stop talking as they were talking the whole movie. 

Farm Cat

 Keeping an eye on things.

T-Bird

Spotted this T-Bird in town the other day. Richard Dreyfuss would drive around all night looking for this vehicle in American Grafitti. 

Sink

 The cats want their water straight from the faucet. 

Morning

 

Radiohead Album Compass

 

Records

 

Whenever I Lay on the Couch

 

Bowling

 

Coincidentalist

Last LP from the stack I got last Friday. Howe Glen’s The Coincidentalist. Purchased at Good Records. I was late discovering Howe Gelb, only finding him after hearing him with Geckos. But better late than never and I started running through his discography and was wowed. And this is a fantastic album. I'm particularly drawn in by the song Triangulate. I'm a sucker for minor chord transitions.

As it Ever Was

Finally snagged this album on vinyl. As it Ever Was, So it Will Be Again by The Decemberists. This was one of my favorite releases of 2024. We saw them in concert two months before they released the album and were eagerly anticipating its release. I was working in Kansas City when it finally came out and I remember listening to it on I-35 on my way to see the house where I grew up. Great packaging. Double LP with mauve vinyl. 

Cars

Yesterday we went to look at some cool cars.

 

Blue

Sunday afternoon listening. Finally bought Kind of Blue on vinyl last Friday. I first bought the CD version back in 1991 and it blew my mind. One of the greatest recordings by humans in the history of recorded music. Miles Davis. John Coltrane. Bill Evans. Cannonball Adderly. Jimmy Cobb. Paul Chambers. Wynton Kelly. A real supergroup of geniuses. I remember listening to this with my dorm room window open while it rained outside hearing the sound of car tires hissing on a wet 42nd Street. Playing Miles Davis's part on All Blues with the Earl Enterline Quintet was one of my favorite pieces to ever play. Glad I finally have it on LP record.

Texas

Went down to central Texas to pay my last respects to someone who was very dear to our family. Stopped at Buccees four different times on the trip down and back. Grabbed some brisket on the way back. Only seemed appropriate to wear the LBJ hat when going to the Hill Country.

Yesterday

 

Cheers

 

Camus

No other philosopher or writer has had a more profound effect on my worldview than Albert Camus. This work is not a biography as such but four essays on four major formative moments in Camus's life. I enjoyed this book very much. It made the world feel somewhat larger. I can only hope to engage with the world with the type of clear, moral honesty of Camus...a man who actually earned his Nobel Prize. 

Charts

 This is not good for the stability of a nation. 

Kindness

 

Project

Film projector inherited from my wife’s Grandfather. Finally displayed it today in my classroom. 

DST

 The only difference between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time is now my cats wake me up at 3 am instead of 4 am. 

Student of the Week!

 

Back in the Saddle

Back in the saddle again. Another semester of equine therapy. This year I figured if I was spending so much time on the ranch I should get a hat appropriate for the occasion.  

 

T-Town

 Photo of Tulsa, Oklahoma taken by son, the pilot. 

Talarico!

Talarico won the primary! Now on to November.

My rationale for voting for James Talarico is that he represents a new paradigm for engaging in politics. He engages with others, including his political rivals, with love and respect. As a man of faith he doesn't demonize those who traditionally vote for an opposing party. Instead he reaches out and engages with them. However, he isn't someone who is weak and caves in just for the sake of keeping the peace. He is firm on his convictions and willing to speak truth to power. He speaks with nuance and refrains from simplistic and performative rhetoric. He doesn't just throw meaningless red meat out into the void to excite a base. 

He first came to my attention a year ago when he was the most eloquent defender of public schools in the Texas House of Representatives during the fight over private school vouchers. When I learned more about his platform and the bills he passed in the Texas House I became more and more impressed. Here was someone who believed in Direct Action. Actions over words. I was very glad when he announced he was running for U.S. Senate.

I grow weary of politicians on both sides of the aisle flinging sound bites and insults at the other side. That makes for good views on TikTok and Reels but doesn't accomplish anything but to widen the divide between us.  

I have also noticed this new type of engagement in the primary race for U.S. Senate in Maine. Graham Platner, a former Marine and Army veteran who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has also shown the ability to engage with those on the other side of the political spectrum. He stands by his convictions but refuses to allow his supporters to demonize the "other side." He says we all have the same fears, and people have been deliberately manipulated to play upon those fears. We should show compassion in our civil discourse, not animosity. 

This is a type of politics I can support.  

 

 

Present

I watched this short video over Albert Camus's principles for how to be present in this world. Obviously it's a simplified presentation of a complex theory. But I found it useful.  

 

Priorities

 

Cat Call

Our cats like to listen to our son when he calls from college. 

 

South

Oklahoma's own Jim Thompson was a great writer of hard boiled crime noir in the 40's and 50's and his books are always quick and entertaining reads. One of his later works, 1967's South of Heaven is a harrowing tale of deceit in West Texas of the 1920's. When people talk of pulp fiction you can't leave out this guy. But he elevated the genre. He was known as the Dime Store Dostoevsky. I'm glad to see the TV show The Low Down giving Thompson his due.