Mary S., Mary W. and the pursuit of happiness
In Miranda Seymour's biography of Mary Shelley, I ran across an arresting quote from a novel by Mary's mother, the philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft.
Tag: Studying
Conducting research and organizing material.
Diary 1862, Part 4: War, Words, and Silence
At first glance, only one entry - the last - makes reference to the Civil War. But looking at the word frequencies in Catharine's diary hints at another, more oblique, more personal story.
Diary 1862, part 3: Over the River and Through the Woods and Up to the Quarry and Over to Earlville
She makes me and V.I. Warshawski look like homebodies.
Diary 1862, Part 2: The writer’s identity
Whoever the writer is, it's certainly not Catharine's husband Amos, unless he's in the habit of referring to himself in the third person.
No, YOU’RE upside down
Prepping for a meeting on the “History of Calculus” project, I was happy to learn that this old series of instructional physics films is available online. The “Frames of Reference” episode (below) is a classic, managing to engage its audience without pandering. If we can do something similar with “History of Calculus” I will be...
Grudge Match
I asked Stacey (over at the Alumnae Relations department at St. Kate’s) if they wanted any rewrites on the Mother Antonia piece before starting to rehearse it for this year’s reunion. Stacey mentioned that after last year’s performance, someone had shared the story of how Mother Antonia gave permission for the basketball team to wear...
The History of Pre-Calculus
Sunday night I attended a workshop with company members of Green T Productions, to bring them up to speed on the discussions Kathy Welch (Green T Artistic Director) and I have been having about the “History of Calculus” project. I was afraid that the company members would find the topic dry or not see any...
The History of Calculus
I’m embarking on a new project with Green T Productions. I’ll be a consulting playwright on a work developed by the ensemble, similar to my role on Silkworms, though in this case I’m involved earlier, helping to choose and focus the subject matter. The working title is The History of Calculus, but I’ve promised we’ll...
Calculating vulnerability
I’m reading Fred Kaplan’s The Wizards of Armageddon. Was struck by a quote from an Air Force colonel responding to projections of what might happen to U.S. bases in the event of Soviet nuclear attack. I hope none of you are taken in by all this slide-rule razzmatazz. Remember slide rules? I bet that only...
coalescing
For Worse: When I make a decision about one thing, it sometimes cascades. Michelle (Stacey’s character) is substitute teaching. The lesson plan she’s been given includes a list of vocabulary items. The list as I first drafted it didn’t seem to be organized in any way. I make a decision about how to organize it....