has in some ways been a very productive one. As I look back at the 357 diaries I have written before this one, there are some that I am quite proud of having written.
I have had occasions to go back and read through a number of them and decided that before the end of the year, I would go back and pick those of which I am most proud.
So below the fold I will offer, in no particular order, except for the last, nineteen links with explanations.
Yeah, I am being self-indulgent, but damn it, I am proud of these.
So I invite you to explore.
Then do with them - and this - this whatever you want.
. . . for the sake of the institution . . . posted in March, in which I examine how institutions of all kinds tend to want to cover up their wrong doing
Moral Priorities - posted the day before Thanksgiving, the impetus for writing this was reading a column by Katrina vanden Heuvel, and I described it as "a meditation on our priorities as a nation, and what they say about us"
This could be a very sad day - I choose differently was posted April 20, which is the birthday of Hitler and the anniversary of Columbine. It is also the day we commemorate William Shakespeare, so I used it as an occasion to meditate upon one of my favorite poems, his Sonnet XXIX. It is about teaching, about relationships, about live in general.
A teacher affects eternity . . . is a meditation sparked by the famous quote from Henry Adams.
All politics is personal what what I wrote in response to Speaker Pelosi saying "Another Speaker, Tip O’Neill once said: ‘All politics is local.’ And I say to you tonight that when it comes to health care for all Americans, ‘All politics is personal. "
September 5, 1972 - we remember was my looking back on the death of the Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympics
Hate has no place in the house of God is an exploration of and meditation upon an op ed by Desmond Tutu where he comes out against the hatred against gays.
I am often moved by what I read from Nicholas Kristof. I read a column about the Congo, and found I had to write Do not read this until you are prepared to be shocked. Yet for all the shock and horror one encounters, Kristof's column is ultimately about hope and going forward.
Sometimes I get angry or shocked, and just start writing. Perhaps it is because I have spent much of my life working for governments - 8 years for local government in Arlington, now my 16th year of teaching - I got angry on the attacks on government agencies and employees. That was the genesis of I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help you
At the beginning of 2010 Bob Herbert wrote a column quite critical of DC Democrats. I borrowed his title for a diary in which I explored the column as well as the political implications of what both Herbert and I were seeing in They Still Don't Get It
At the beginning of this month, I expressed my sense of frustration and disappointment with the Obama administration, even as I acknowledged what it had achieved. Apparently what I offered in For What It's Worth resonated with a lot of people.
I may be male, but I continue to be shocked at the mistreatment of women around the world. Sometimes I read something and pieces come together when I begin to write. They're killing women. are words that had stuck in my memory from an episode of West Wing, spoken by C. J. Cregg to the national security adviser. In addressing some real horrors in Africa they seemed an appropriate title, as I examined things from Eve Ensler, and more.
During the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, who had been a clerk to Thurgood Marshall, there were some attacks on and challenges to her because of that. His son, Thurgood Marshall, Jr., wrote an op ed in response, which I used as the starting point for Thurgood Marshall Jr. responds.
Malcolm Gladwell was critical of Harper Lee. Kathleen Parker chose to respond. Her column led to my writing To kill a mockingbird is a sin . . .. This is one where the comment thread is an essential part of why I value the diary.
I am often asked by authors of books on education to read and review them. I was honored when Diane Ravitch asked me, the result of which was Ravitch: The Death and Life of the Great American School System. After reading it, Gene Glass, who runs Education Review, asked me to cross-post it there, which is unusual: normally he wants first rights and only then can you cross-post. His emails about the reviews on education books have wide distribution. On December 30th I found out that this review had been particularly well received, as you can see here.
In In defense of teachers unions I tried to show how the way those unions protect the rights of teachers is parallel to how the Bill of Rights protects the rights of all of us - in each case those who seek to punish wrongdoers must abide by rules that provide safeguards for the rest of us.
Great art is not necessarily history. But it may provide an even deeper truth.
Unwillingness to look back, to hold to account, harms us all.
Justice deferred is a perversion of justice. It is even more than a denial of justice.
It is a judgment not to hold to account.
It is a decision to allow wrongdoing to be uncorrected, to allow wrongdoers to go free with impunity.
The words just blockquoted are from a diary simply titled Judgment written after watching the powerful film Judgment at Nuremberg. I think what I have just quoted will give you a sense of where I went with it.
Courage was posted in the wee hours of September 12, because I had just watched some powerful video about 9-11.
And finally, the diary my wife most appreciated, one of a series written as a result of finally meeting Parker Palmer, and (re)reading some of his words. Community is a reflection on the nature of community, including this one.
Nineteen posts. Out of almost 360.
Yeah, I probably write and post too much.
But occasionally at least I produce things that when I look back at them I am more than satisfied that the time was well spent.
And I thank this community for putting up with my verbiage.
Have a blessed New Year.
Peace.